mariadb-connector-nodejs connection timeout with Cloudflare Hyperdrive

[medz]

mariadb-connector-nodejs connection timeout with Cloudflare Hyperdrive

Summary

mariadb-connector-nodejs v3.4.2 consistently fails with connection timeouts when connecting through Cloudflare Hyperdrive, while mysql2 v3.14.1 works perfectly with the same Hyperdrive configuration.

Environment

• mariadb: 3.4.2
• mysql2: 3.14.1 (for comparison)
• Platform: Cloudflare Workers
• Database Proxy: Cloudflare Hyperdrive
• Database: MySQL 8.0

Problem

When connecting to MySQL through Cloudflare Hyperdrive proxy, mariadb-connector-nodejs times out consistently, while mysql2 connects successfully using the same Hyperdrive binding.

Reproduction

mysql2 (works with Hyperdrive)

import { createConnection } from 'mysql2/promise';

const connection = await createConnection({
  host: env.DATABASE.host, // Hyperdrive proxy host
  user: env.DATABASE.user, // Hyperdrive proxy user
  password: env.DATABASE.password, // Hyperdrive proxy password
  database: env.DATABASE.database,
  port: env.DATABASE.port, // Hyperdrive proxy port
  connectTimeout: 10000,
});

const result = await connection.query('SHOW TABLES');
// ✅ Connects instantly through Hyperdrive

mariadb (fails with Hyperdrive)

import mariadb from 'mariadb';

const connection = await mariadb.createConnection({
  host: env.DATABASE.host, // Same Hyperdrive proxy host
  user: env.DATABASE.user, // Same Hyperdrive proxy user
  password: env.DATABASE.password, // Same Hyperdrive proxy password
  database: env.DATABASE.database,
  port: env.DATABASE.port, // Same Hyperdrive proxy port
  connectTimeout: 10000,
});

const result = await connection.query('SHOW TABLES');
// ❌ Times out after exactly 10 seconds

Cloudflare Configuration

// wrangler.jsonc
{
  "compatibility_flags": ["nodejs_compat"],
  "hyperdrive": [{ "binding": "DATABASE", "id": "your-hyperdrive-id" }],
}

Error

Error: Connection timeout after 10000ms

The timeout occurs precisely at the connectTimeout value when connecting through Hyperdrive proxy.

Key Evidence

• Same Hyperdrive binding: Both libraries use identical env.DATABASE.* values
• mysql2 works: Proves Hyperdrive proxy is functioning correctly
• mariadb fails: Times out consistently at exact connectTimeout duration
• Environment-specific: Issue occurs specifically with Hyperdrive proxy connections

Tested configurations

All fail with the same timeout when using Hyperdrive:

// Different timeout values
connectTimeout: 5000,   // times out after 5s
connectTimeout: 30000,  // times out after 30s
connectTimeout: 60000,  // times out after 60s

// Connection pool with Hyperdrive
const pool = mariadb.createPool({
  host: env.DATABASE.host,
  user: env.DATABASE.user,
  password: env.DATABASE.password,
  database: env.DATABASE.database,
  port: env.DATABASE.port,
  connectTimeout: 30000,
});
const conn = await pool.getConnection(); // times out

// SSL options with Hyperdrive
ssl: false,  // still times out
ssl: { rejectUnauthorized: false },  // still times out

Expected behavior

mariadb-connector-nodejs should connect successfully through Cloudflare Hyperdrive proxy, just like mysql2 does.

Additional info

• mysql2 working proves Hyperdrive proxy configuration is correct
• Same issue occurs across different Hyperdrive configurations
• Problem is specific to mariadb + Hyperdrive combination
• Cloudflare Workers with nodejs_compat enabled

[rusher]

I don't know if Cloudflare Hyperdrive can permit to have a wireshark log, if it permit that would be great to see what occurs, if not, could you give add debug info adding debug:true, like :

import mariadb from 'mariadb';

const connection = await mariadb.createConnection({
  host: env.DATABASE.host, // Same Hyperdrive proxy host
  user: env.DATABASE.user, // Same Hyperdrive proxy user
  password: env.DATABASE.password, // Same Hyperdrive proxy password
  database: env.DATABASE.database,
  port: env.DATABASE.port, // Same Hyperdrive proxy port
  connectTimeout: 10000,
  debug: true
});

const result = await connection.query('SHOW TABLES'); 

and send console output ?

debug log must look like :

<== conn:-1 Authentication.onPacketReceive (4,94)
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| 5A 00 00 00 0A 31 31 2E  38 2E 32 2D 4D 61 72 69 | Z....11.8.2-Mari |
| 61 44 42 2D 75 62 75 32  34 30 34 00 8B 00 00 00 | aDB-ubu2404..... |
| 4D 5C 67 6E 72 73 69 34  00 FE FF 2D 02 00 FF 81 | M\gnrsi4...-.... |
| 15 00 00 00 00 00 00 3D  00 00 00 68 2E 4C 72 7B | .......=...h.Lr{ |
| 32 26 64 47 75 3B 65 00  6D 79 73 71 6C 5F 6E 61 | 2&dGu;e.mysql_na |
| 74 69 76 65 5F 70 61 73  73 77 6F 72 64 00       | tive_password.   |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+

==> conn:139 Handshake(0,218)
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| D6 00 00 01 0A A3 BE 01  00 00 00 40 E0 00 00 00 | ...........@.... |
| 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 | ................ |
| 3C 00 00 00 72 6F 6F 74  00 00 74 65 73 74 6E 00 | <...root..testn. |
| 6D 79 73 71 6C 5F 6E 61  74 69 76 65 5F 70 61 73 | mysql_native_pas |
| 73 77 6F 72 64 00 FC 91  00 0C 5F 63 6C 69 65 6E | sword....._clien |
| 74 5F 6E 61 6D 65 16 4D  61 72 69 61 44 42 20 63 | t_name.MariaDB c |
| 6F 6E 6E 65 63 74 6F 72  2F 4E 6F 64 65 0F 5F 63 | onnector/Node._c |
| 6C 69 65 6E 74 5F 76 65  72 73 69 6F 6E 0A 33 2E | lient_version.3. |
| 35 2E 30 2D 72 63 2E 30  0C 5F 73 65 72 76 65 72 | 5.0-rc.0._server |
| 5F 68 6F 73 74 09 31 32  37 2E 30 2E 30 2E 31 03 | _host.127.0.0.1. |
| 5F 6F 73 05 6C 69 6E 75  78 0C 5F 63 6C 69 65 6E | _os.linux._clien |
| 74 5F 68 6F 73 74 0D 72  75 73 68 65 72 2D 75 62 | t_host.rusher-ub |
| 75 6E 74 75 0D 5F 6E 6F  64 65 5F 76 65 72 73 69 | untu._node_versi |
| 6F 6E 07 31 38 2E 32 30  2E 38                   | on.18.20.8       |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+

<== conn:139 Authentication.onPacketReceive (4,170)
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| A6 00 00 02 00 00 00 02  40 00 00 00 9D 00 0E 0A | ........@....... |
| 61 75 74 6F 63 6F 6D 6D  69 74 02 4F 4E 00 11 09 | autocommit.ON... |
| 74 69 6D 65 5F 7A 6F 6E  65 06 53 59 53 54 45 4D | time_zone.SYSTEM |
| 00 1D 14 63 68 61 72 61  63 74 65 72 5F 73 65 74 | ...character_set |
| 5F 63 6C 69 65 6E 74 07  75 74 66 38 6D 62 34 00 | _client.utf8mb4. |
| 21 18 63 68 61 72 61 63  74 65 72 5F 73 65 74 5F | !.character_set_ |
| 63 6F 6E 6E 65 63 74 69  6F 6E 07 75 74 66 38 6D | connection.utf8m |
| 62 34 00 1E 15 63 68 61  72 61 63 74 65 72 5F 73 | b4...character_s |
| 65 74 5F 72 65 73 75 6C  74 73 07 75 74 66 38 6D | et_results.utf8m |
| 62 34 00 0E 0C 72 65 64  69 72 65 63 74 5F 75 72 | b4...redirect_ur |
| 6C 00 01 06 05 74 65 73  74 6E                   | l....testn       |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+

[medz]

@rusher Logs:

Total Upload: 4371.97 KiB / gzip: 1324.25 KiB
<== conn:-1 Authentication.onPacketReceive (4,95)
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| 5B 00 00 00 0A 35 2E 31  2E 31 30 2D 61 6C 70 68 | [....5.1.10-alph |
| 61 2D 6D 73 71 6C 2D 70  72 6F 78 79 00 08 00 00 | a-msql-proxy.... |
| 00 5A 77 4D 2C 29 38 59  5A 00 08 8A 21 00 00 29 | .ZwM,)8YZ...!..) |
| 01 15 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 6F 2A 6F 60 | ............o*o` |
| 6D 24 2C 45 28 55 45 3F  00 6D 79 73 71 6C 5F 6E | m$,E(UE?.mysql_n |
| 61 74 69 76 65 5F 70 61  73 73 77 6F 72 64 00    | ative_password.  |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+

✘ [ERROR] Uncaught SqlError: (conn:-1, no: 45012, SQLState: 08S01) Connection timeout: failed to create socket after 10000ms Error

      at module2.exports.createFatalError
  (file:///Users/seven/workspace/panews-api-server/node_modules/mariadb/lib/misc/errors.js:90:10)
      at connectTimeoutReached
  (file:///Users/seven/workspace/panews-api-server/node_modules/mariadb/lib/connection.js:1410:24)


✘ [ERROR] Uncaught Error: (conn:-1, no: 45012, SQLState: 08S01) Connection timeout: failed to create socket after 10000ms


<== conn:-1 Authentication.onPacketReceive (0,91)
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| 5B 00 00 00 0A 35 2E 31  2E 31 30 2D 61 6C 70 68 | [....5.1.10-alph |
| 61 2D 6D 73 71 6C 2D 70  72 6F 78 79 00 08 00 00 | a-msql-proxy.... |
| 00 2E 3A 38 4C 5A 38 70  24 00 08 8A 21 00 00 29 | ..:8LZ8p$...!..) |
| 01 15 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 49 33 24 73 | ............I3$s |
| 3C 61 5C 5B 6E 64 43 3F  00 6D 79 73 71 6C 5F 6E | <a\[ndC?.mysql_n |
| 61 74 69 76 65 5F 70 61  73 73 77 6F 72 64 00    | ative_password.  |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+

✘ [ERROR] Uncaught SqlError: (conn:-1, no: 45012, SQLState: 08S01) Connection timeout: failed to create socket after 10000ms Error

      at module2.exports.createFatalError
  (file:///Users/seven/workspace/panews-api-server/node_modules/mariadb/lib/misc/errors.js:90:10)
      at connectTimeoutReached
  (file:///Users/seven/workspace/panews-api-server/node_modules/mariadb/lib/connection.js:1410:24)


✘ [ERROR] Uncaught Error: (conn:-1, no: 45012, SQLState: 08S01) Connection timeout: failed to create socket after 10000ms

[rusher]

Thanks, there is nothing wrong in server exchange, even if protocol infos are weird - probably some super old proxysql - but that doesn't explain why connector doesn't respond, using same data on my computer, it must work ok.

I may need to add a new option, because mariadb connector only advertise capabilities compatible with server capabilities (a difference with mysql2 that advertise capabilities even when server doesn't support them), but this proxy advertise nearly no capabilities. Even if without this timeout issue, most of mariadb feature won't be used, making some query slow without reason but having a bad proxy, but that's another problem.

I'll try to create a cloudflare worker to reproduce it first

[medz]

{
  "name": "experimental",
  "main": "app.ts",
  "compatibility_date": "2025-07-24",
  "compatibility_flags": ["nodejs_compat"],
  "placement": { "mode": "smart" },
  "workers_dev": true,
  "upload_source_maps": true,
  "hyperdrive": [
    { "binding": "DATABASE", "id": "Your ID" },
  ],
}

import type { ExportedHandler, Hyperdrive } from '@cloudflare/workers-types';
import mariadb from 'mariadb';

type Env = { DATABASE: Hyperdrive };

export default {
  async fetch(_, env, ctx) {
    // const connection = await createConnection({
    //   host: env.DATABASE.host,
    //   user: env.DATABASE.user,
    //   password: env.DATABASE.password,
    //   database: env.DATABASE.database,
    //   port: env.DATABASE.port,
    //   // Required to enable mysql2 compatibility for Workers
    //   disableEval: true,
    // });

    const connection = await mariadb.createConnection({
      host: env.DATABASE.host,
      user: env.DATABASE.user,
      password: env.DATABASE.password,
      database: env.DATABASE.database,
      port: env.DATABASE.port,
      connectTimeout: 10000,
      debug: true,
    });
    const result = await connection.query('SHOW tables;');

    return Response.json(result);
  },
} satisfies ExportedHandler<Env>;

@rusher Here is all the code of the worker I used for testing, hope it helps you.

[rusher]

ok found the problem : in connector, there is some use of Buffer.toString(undefined, somevalue, someOthervalue) to have an utf8 string from a buffer. This is permitted by node.js API (and a micro bit faster than setting utf8, because it avoid a map search for finding encoding).

The problem is this is blocking indefinitively when using cloudflare.
Buffer is documented supported in clouflare doc it might just be a bug here

[medz]

I created a patch to try it out:

diff --git a/lib/cmd/handshake/auth/caching-sha2-password-auth.js b/lib/cmd/handshake/auth/caching-sha2-password-auth.js
index 9c2a680a3842842352fae04d68551f08d5db9fe7..6868611b21cde8c65d78b7f32732f59e7bf74cf8 100644
--- a/lib/cmd/handshake/auth/caching-sha2-password-auth.js
+++ b/lib/cmd/handshake/auth/caching-sha2-password-auth.js
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ class CachingSha2PasswordAuth extends PluginAuth {
         return;
 
       case State.REQUEST_SERVER_KEY:
-        this.publicKey = Sha256PasswordAuth.retrievePublicKey(packet.toString(undefined, 1));
+        this.publicKey = Sha256PasswordAuth.retrievePublicKey(packet.toString('utf8', 1));
         this.state = State.SEND_AUTH;
         Sha256PasswordAuth.sendSha256PwdPacket(this, this.pluginData, this.publicKey, opts.password, out);
         return;
diff --git a/lib/io/packet.js b/lib/io/packet.js
index 4b7a56750b67d698a3a5c3afbd35d06f7d41e3ef..bcde9d83bb2ced10e510bbcb80ecc1cf26840f1f 100644
--- a/lib/io/packet.js
+++ b/lib/io/packet.js
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ class Packet {
     while (this.remaining() > 0 && this.buf[this.pos++] !== 0) {
       cnt++;
     }
-    return this.buf.toString(undefined, initialPosition, initialPosition + cnt);
+    return this.buf.toString('utf8', initialPosition, initialPosition + cnt);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -577,12 +577,12 @@ class Packet {
     if (this.peek() === 0x23) {
       // skip '#'
       this.skip(6);
-      sqlState = this.buf.toString(undefined, this.pos - 5, this.pos);
+      sqlState = this.buf.toString('utf8', this.pos - 5, this.pos);
       msg = this.readStringNullEnded();
     } else {
       // pre 4.1 format
       sqlState = 'HY000';
-      msg = this.buf.toString(undefined, this.pos, this.end);
+      msg = this.buf.toString('utf8', this.pos, this.end);
     }
     let fatal = sqlState.startsWith('08') || sqlState === '70100';
     return Errors.createError(msg, errno, info, sqlState, sql, fatal, stack);

Now the connection is normal, but after executing SHOW tables;, it keeps waiting. It does not return until HTTP timeout after 120s. The log is as follows:

<== conn:-1 Authentication.onPacketReceive (4,95)
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| 5B 00 00 00 0A 35 2E 31  2E 31 30 2D 61 6C 70 68 | [....5.1.10-alph |
| 61 2D 6D 73 71 6C 2D 70  72 6F 78 79 00 08 00 00 | a-msql-proxy.... |
| 00 71 3D 21 43 51 3F 72  72 00 08 8A 21 00 00 29 | .q=!CQ?rr...!..) |
| 01 15 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 69 24 41 55 | ............i$AU |
| 42 58 3C 2F 4E 34 5F 5D  00 6D 79 73 71 6C 5F 6E | BX</N4_].mysql_n |
| 61 74 69 76 65 5F 70 61  73 73 77 6F 72 64 00    | ative_password.  |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+

==> conn:8 Handshake(0,145)
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| 8D 00 00 01 08 82 28 01  00 00 00 40 E0 00 00 00 | ......(....@.... |
| 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 | ................ |
| 00 00 00 00 64 35 65 38  32 66 35 63 38 39 66 35 | ....d5e82f5c89f5 |
| 34 63 62 30 38 64 31 31  64 65 31 37 36 36 38 34 | 4cb08d11de176684 |
| 31 64 66 35 00 14 1F 72  16 47 E3 99 30 E0 1C A5 | 1df5...r.G..0... |
| EB 25 AA 71 41 FA DE 06  CC DD 64 35 37 31 32 33 | .%.qA.....d57123 |
| 36 36 33 66 38 31 34 39  35 38 62 30 63 36 35 30 | 663f814958b0c650 |
| 37 35 65 38 39 62 35 39  34 61 00 6D 79 73 71 6C | 75e89b594a.mysql |
| 5F 6E 61 74 69 76 65 5F  70 61 73 73 77 6F 72 64 | _native_password |
| 00                                               | .                |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+

<== conn:8 Authentication.onPacketReceive (4,11)
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| 07 00 00 02 00 00 00 00  00 00 00                | ...........      |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+

==> conn:8 Query(0,22)
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| 12 00 00 00 03 53 45 54  20 4E 41 4D 45 53 20 75 | .....SET NAMES u |
| 74 66 38 6D 62 34                                | tf8mb4           |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+

<== conn:8 Query.readResponsePacket (4,11)
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| 07 00 00 01 00 00 00 02  00 00 00                | ...........      |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+

==> conn:8 Query(0,17)
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| 0D 00 00 00 03 53 48 4F  57 20 74 61 62 6C 65 73 | .....SHOW tables |
| 3B                                               | ;                |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+

<== conn:8 Query.readResponsePacket (4,5)
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| 01 00 00 01 01                                   | .....            |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+

<== conn:8 Query.readColumn (9,56)
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+
| 2F 00 00 02 03 64 65 66  00 06 54 41 42 4C 45 53 | /....def..TABLES |
| 00 13 54 61 62 6C 65 73  5F 69 6E 5F 70 61 6E 65 | ..Tables_in_pane |
| 77 73 6C 61 62 00 0C 21  00 00 04 00 00 FD 01 00 | wslab..!........ |
| 00 00 00                                         | ...              |
+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+

[rusher]

because there is another one :

diff --git a/lib/io/packet-node-encoded.js b/lib/io/packet-node-encoded.js
--- a/lib/io/packet-node-encoded.js	(revision d8fc60afe63bf64837f128362239605c04922fd2)
+++ b/lib/io/packet-node-encoded.js	(date 1753369033514)
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
     super();
     // using undefined for utf8 permit to avoid node.js searching
     // for charset, using directly utf8 default one.
-    this.encoding = encoding === 'utf8' ? undefined : encoding;
+    this.encoding = encoding;
   }
 
   readStringLengthEncoded() {

[medz]

because there is another one :

diff --git a/lib/io/packet-node-encoded.js b/lib/io/packet-node-encoded.js
--- a/lib/io/packet-node-encoded.js	(revision d8fc60afe63bf64837f128362239605c04922fd2)
+++ b/lib/io/packet-node-encoded.js	(date 1753369033514)
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
     super();
     // using undefined for utf8 permit to avoid node.js searching
     // for charset, using directly utf8 default one.
-    this.encoding = encoding === 'utf8' ? undefined : encoding;
+    this.encoding = encoding;
   }
 
   readStringLengthEncoded() {

It finally works! The results are returned as expected.