How to Change MySQL Password Policy Level

If you’ve ever encountered the error message “ERROR 1819 (HY000): Your password does not satisfy the current policy requirements” while setting a MySQL password, you’re not alone. This error occurs because MySQL enforces a password policy that requires passwords to meet certain strength criteria, such as length, complexity, and character variety.

Follow below tutorial to change password policy level for MySQL. Alternatively, you can also use this tutorial to remove the password policy plugin.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to easily change the MySQL password policy level, helping you avoid frustrating errors and manage your database more effectively.

Change MySQL Password Policy

To change the default password policy level, we can change the settings at runtime using the command line or in the config file (my.cnf/mysqld.cnf) permanently.

Login to MySQL command prompt and execute the below query to view current settings of validate_password.

SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'validate_password%';

Output 
+--------------------------------------+--------+
| Variable_name                        | Value  |
+--------------------------------------+--------+
| validate_password.check_user_name    | ON     |
| validate_password.dictionary_file    |        |
| validate_password.length             | 8      |
| validate_password.mixed_case_count   | 1      |
| validate_password.number_count       | 1      |
| validate_password.policy             | MEDIUM |
| validate_password.special_char_count | 1      |
+--------------------------------------+--------+
7 rows in set (0.01 sec)

The default level is MEDIUM, we can change it to LOW by using the below query. The LOW level required only password’s length to min 8 characters.

SET GLOBAL validate_password.policy=LOW;

Output 
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.02 sec)

To make this setting permanent edit MySQL configuration (my.cnf) file and add below settings.

[mysqld]
validate_password.policy=LOW

Save the file and restart the MySQL service to apply changes.