Changes in MySQL 8.0 This change applies only to new accounts created after installing or upgrading to MySQL 8.0 or higher. For accounts already existing in an upgraded installation, their authentication plugin remains unchanged. Existing users who wish to switch to  caching_sha2_password  can do so using the  ALTER USER statement: The following sections discuss the implications of the more prominent role of  caching_sha2_password : •The  libmysqlclient  library treats  caching_sha2_password  as the default authentication plugin rather than  mysql_native_password . •caching_sha2_password Compatibility Issues and Solutions •caching_sha2_password-Compatible Clients and Connectors •caching_sha2_password and the root Administrative Account •caching_sha2_password and Replication caching_sha2_password Compatibility Issues and Solutions Important That setting enables pre-8.0 clients to connect to 8.0 servers until such time as the clients and connectors in use at your installation are upgraded to know about caching_sha2_password . However, the setting should be viewed as temporary, not as a long term or permanent solution, because it causes new accounts created with the setting in effect to forego the improved authentication security provided by caching_sha2_password . The use of  caching_sha2_password  offers more secure password hashing than mysql_native_password  (and consequent improved client connection authentication). However, it also has compatibility implications that may affect existing MySQL installations: •Clients and connectors that have not been updated to know about  caching_sha2_password may have trouble connecting to a MySQL 8.0 server configured with  caching_sha2_password as the default authentication plugin, even to use accounts that do not authenticate with caching_sha2_password . This issue occurs because the server specifies the name of its default authentication plugin to clients. If a client or connector is based on a client/server protocol implementation that does not gracefully handle an unrecognized default authentication plugin, it may fail with an error such as one of these: 268 If your MySQL installation must serve pre-8.0 clients and you encounter compatibility issues after upgrading to MySQL 8.0 or higher, the simplest way to address those issues and restore pre-8.0 compatibility is to reconfigure the server to revert to the previous default authentication plugin ( mysql_native_password ). For example, use these lines in the server option file: ALTER USER  user IDENTIFIED WITH caching_sha2_password BY ’ password ’; [mysqld] default_authentication_plugin=mysql_native_password Authentication plugin ’caching_sha2_password’ is not supported Authentication plugin ’caching_sha2_password’ cannot be loaded: dlopen(/usr/local/mysql/lib/plugin/caching_sha2_password.so, 2):