Vulnerability · Published Oct 29, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M
CVE-2026-119281MariaDB Connector/J: Server could switch character_set_results away from UTF-8 without the client noticing
Medium 5.9
In plain English
A medium-severity security flaw in mariadb-connector-j from mariadb-corporation. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.3% (higher than 21% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
MariaDB Connector/J is used to connect applications developed in Java to MariaDB and MySQL databases. From 3.0.0 until 3.3.7, 3.4.5, and 3.5.11, the connector assumed result bytes were UTF-8 but guarded only changes to character_set_client. It did not reject non-UTF-8 character_set_results changes and relied on the server's global session_track_system_variables configuration to report character-set changes. A malicious or compromised server, or a machine-in-the-middle attacker, could suppress tracking or change the result charset so application strings differed from the returned bytes, potentially defeating application-side validation or escaping that depended on the decoded values. This issue is fixed in versions 3.3.7, 3.4.5, and 3.5.11.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian:12 | mariadb-connector-java | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-119281 |
| Debian:13 | mariadb-connector-java | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-119281 |
| Debian:14 | mariadb-connector-java | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-119281 |
| Maven | org.mariadb.jdbc:mariadb-java-client | 3.3.7 | GHSA-grfq-r75j-rw9x |
| Maven | org.mariadb.jdbc:mariadb-java-client | 3.4.5 | GHSA-grfq-r75j-rw9x |
| Maven | org.mariadb.jdbc:mariadb-java-client | 3.5.11 | GHSA-grfq-r75j-rw9x |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | mariadb-connector-java | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-119281 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | mariadb-connector-java | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-119281 |
| Ubuntu:26.04:LTS | mariadb-connector-java | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-119281 |
| Ubuntu:26.10 | mariadb-connector-java | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-119281 |
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| mariadb-corporation | mariadb-connector-j | >= 3.0.0, < 3.3.7>= 3.4.0, < 3.4.5>= 3.5.0, < 3.5.11 |
Weakness: CWE-838 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
References
- https://github.com/mariadb-corporation/mariadb-connector-j/security/advisories/GHSA-grfq-r75j-rw9x x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/mariadb-corporation/mariadb-connector-j/commit/af5e565eb171cfc66ea8e948ddc616abed0c4623 x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/mariadb-corporation/mariadb-connector-j/commit/d51b968c1b795c73d24e0b3f960205b7bc82d423 x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/mariadb-corporation/mariadb-connector-j/commit/fdabe74a7df6dce1d6c099f4d0ca1e2acc25919a x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/mariadb-corporation/mariadb-connector-j/releases/tag/3.3.7 x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/mariadb-corporation/mariadb-connector-j/releases/tag/3.4.5 x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/mariadb-corporation/mariadb-connector-j/releases/tag/3.5.11 x_refsource_MISC