MySQL Bugs: #41070: SET SESSION binlog_format requires SUPER privilege

Bug #41070	SET SESSION binlog_format requires SUPER privilege
Submitted:	27 Nov 2008 13:32	Modified:	2 Dec 2008 9:13
Reporter:	jocelyn fournier (Silver Quality Contributor)	Email Updates:
Status:	Closed	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Server: Documentation	Severity:	S3 (Non-critical)
Version:	5.1.30	OS:	Any
Assigned to:	Paul DuBois	CPU Architecture:	Any
Tags:	qc

Description:
Hi,

I'm trying to use SET SESSION binlog_format in my application, but it seems to require SUPER privilege (according to the doc, only SET GLOBAL binlog_format should require the SUPER privilege).

Regards,
  Jocelyn Fournier

How to repeat:
With a user without SUPER privilege :

SET SESSION binlog_format='ROW';
ERROR 1227 (42000): Access denied; you need the SUPER privilege for this operation

(note the root user has set before SET GLOBAL binlog_format='MIXED', don't know if it could have an impact)

Thank you for the report.

Verified as described: according to http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/binary-log-setting.html "To change a global variable you need the SUPER privilege.", but actually it requires super for session variable as well.

This behavior was changed in 5.1.29
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/news-5-1-29.html

The documentation needs to be fixed. Changed the bug category accordingly.

Hi,

Why not requiring the REPLICATION SLAVE privilege instead of SUPER privilege ?
Having the possibility to change the binlog format in the application is great, but I really don't want to give SUPER privilege to the app user to be able to do so...

Regards,
  Jocelyn

Thank you for your bug report. This issue has been addressed in the documentation. The updated documentation will appear on our website shortly, and will be included in the next release of the relevant products.

Hi,

Any comments about the REPLICATION SLAVE privilege controlling SET SESSION binlog_format ?

Regards,
  Jocelyn

The binary log has use outside of replication context. It's not a replication-only log, so a replication privilege isn't appropriate. (In my opinion.)

Ok about the binlog used outside of the replication context, but usually the binlog_format will be changed to have some speed up in the context of replication ?

Thx,
  Jocelyn

Hi Jocelyn,

This was determined to be a docs issue, and it's been dealt with that way and closed. Regarding a change in privilege to set binlog_format, you could submit a separate feature request. Thanks.