Password Reuse Check Plugin

The Password Reuse Check Plugin prevents users from reusing previous passwords, with a retention policy controlled by the password_reuse_check_interval variable.

password_reuse_check is available from MariaDB 10.7.0.

Description

The plugin is used to prevent a user from reusing a password, which can be a requirement in some security policies. The password_reuse_check_interval system variable determines the retention period, in days, for a password. By default, this is zero, meaning unlimited retention. Old passwords are stored in the mysql.password_reuse_check_history table.

Note that passwords can be directly set as a hash, bypassing the password validation, if the strict_password_validation variable is OFF (it is ON by default).

Installing the Plugin

Although the plugin's shared library is distributed with MariaDB by default, the plugin is not actually installed by MariaDB by default.

You can install the plugin dynamically, without restarting the server, by executing INSTALL SONAME or INSTALL PLUGIN:

INSTALL SONAME 'password_reuse_check';

The second method can be used to tell the server to load the plugin when it starts up. The plugin can be installed this way by providing the --plugin-load or the --plugin-load-add options. This can be specified as a command-line argument to mysqld or it can be specified in a relevant server option group in an option file:

[mariadb]
...
plugin_load_add = password_reuse_check

Uninstalling the Plugin

You can uninstall the plugin dynamically by executing UNINSTALL SONAME or UNINSTALL PLUGIN:

UNINSTALL SONAME 'password_reuse_check';

If you installed the plugin by providing the --plugin-load or the --plugin-load-add options in a relevant server option group in an option file, then those options should be removed to prevent the plugin from being loaded the next time the server is restarted.

Example

INSTALL SONAME 'password_reuse_check';

GRANT SELECT ON *.* TO user1@localhost identified by 'pwd1';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.038 sec)

GRANT SELECT ON *.* TO user1@localhost identified by 'pwd1';
ERROR 1819 (HY000): Your password does not satisfy the current policy requirements

GRANT SELECT ON *.* TO user1@localhost identified by 'pwd2';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.003 sec)

GRANT SELECT ON *.* TO user1@localhost identified by 'pwd1';
ERROR 1819 (HY000): Your password does not satisfy the current policy requirements

Versions

Version	Status	Introduced
1.0	Alpha	MariaDB 10.7.0
1.0	Beta	MariaDB 10.7.2
1.0	Gamma	MariaDB 10.7.4
2.0	Stable	MariaDB 10.7.7, MariaDB 10.8.7, MariaDB 10.9.5, MariaDB 10.10.2

The bump to version 2.0 required the change of the stored format to mitigate an implementation weakness (MDEV-28838) and as such the bump from 1.0 to 2.0 will invalidate previously saved password reuse protections.

See Also

• Password Validation

• 10.7 preview feature: Password Reuse Check plugin (MariaDB Foundation blog post)

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