It is entirely possible to give yourself mysql permissions without knowing SQL GRANT commands.
Example : Here is to create your own user with full privileges using SQL GRANT from anywhere called superdba with a password of ClarkKent:
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO superdba@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'ClarkKent' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Here is how you can do this without the GRANT command:
First of all, here is mysql.user for MySQL 5.1.51
mysql> desc mysql.user;
+-----------------------+-----------------------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-----------------------+-----------------------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Host | char(60) | NO | PRI | | |
| User | char(16) | NO | PRI | | |
| Password | char(41) | NO | | | |
| Select_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Insert_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Update_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Delete_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Create_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Drop_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Reload_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Shutdown_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Process_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| File_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Grant_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| References_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Index_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Alter_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Show_db_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Super_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Create_tmp_table_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Lock_tables_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Execute_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Repl_slave_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Repl_client_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Create_view_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Show_view_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Create_routine_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Alter_routine_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Create_user_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Event_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| Trigger_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | |
| ssl_type | enum('','ANY','X509','SPECIFIED') | NO | | | |
| ssl_cipher | blob | NO | | NULL | |
| x509_issuer | blob | NO | | NULL | |
| x509_subject | blob | NO | | NULL | |
| max_questions | int(11) unsigned | NO | | 0 | |
| max_updates | int(11) unsigned | NO | | 0 | |
| max_connections | int(11) unsigned | NO | | 0 | |
| max_user_connections | int(11) unsigned | NO | | 0 | |
+-----------------------+-----------------------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
39 rows in set (0.00 sec)
Just execute these SQL commands:
INSERT INTO mysql.user SET
Host="%",User="superdba",Password=PASSWORD('ClarkKent'),
Select_priv='Y',Insert_priv='Y',Update_priv='Y',Delete_priv='Y',
Create_priv='Y',Drop_priv='Y',Reload_priv='Y',Shutdown_priv='Y',
Process_priv='Y',File_priv='Y',Grant_priv='Y',References_priv='Y',
Index_priv='Y',Alter_priv='Y',Show_db_priv='Y',Super_priv='Y',
Create_tmp_table_priv='Y',Lock_tables_priv='Y',Execute_priv='Y',
Repl_slave_priv='Y',Repl_client_priv='Y',Create_view_priv='Y',
Show_view_priv='Y',Create_routine_priv='Y',Alter_routine_priv='Y',
Create_user_priv='Y',Event_priv='Y',Trigger_priv='Y';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
That INSERT is a legal SQL statement that can land in a binary log. Do you want someone to run this and have a visible password travel along the network? to sit in a binary log on the master? to sit in a relay log on the slave?
Having this directive
binlog-ignore-db=mysql
prevents giving away mysql permissions using such SQL. However, GRANTs cannot be stopped this way. Therefore, make sure you perform grants like this:
SET SQL_LOG_BIN=0;
GRANT ...
to prevents the GRANTs from traversing from master to slave.