# CVE-2026-119281: MariaDB Connector/J: Server could switch character_set_results away from UTF-8 without the client noticing


- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 29 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 29 Oct 2026

## What is CVE-2026-119281?

CVE-2026-119281 is a medium-severity vulnerability in mariadb-corporation mariadb-connector-j, published on 29 Oct 2026. 

### 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.

Weakness: CWE-838 (Inappropriate Encoding for Output Context)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-119281?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-119281?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-119281 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-119281 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-119281 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-119281 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-119281 is a medium-severity vulnerability in mariadb-corporation mariadb-connector-j, published on 29 Oct 2026. 
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-119281 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: mariadb-corporation mariadb-connector-j. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-119281/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-119281/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-119281
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-119281
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-119281

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-119281/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.