go-sql-driver/mysql · error

invalid bool value: {value}

Error message

invalid bool value: {value}

What it means

While parsing the DSN query string, the 'allowAllFiles' key is read with readBool, which accepts only 1/true/TRUE/True/0/false/FALSE/False (utils.go:92). Any other value yields 'invalid bool value: <value>' at dsn.go:498. allowAllFiles disables the INFILE allowlist, allowing LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE to read any file (security-sensitive).

Source

Thrown at dsn.go:498

}

// parseDSNParams parses the DSN "query string"
// Values must be url.QueryEscape'ed
func parseDSNParams(cfg *Config, params string) (err error) {
	for v := range strings.SplitSeq(params, "&") {
		key, value, found := strings.Cut(v, "=")
		if !found {
			continue
		}

		// cfg params
		switch key {
		// Disable INFILE allowlist / enable all files
		case "allowAllFiles":
			var isBool bool
			cfg.AllowAllFiles, isBool = readBool(value)
			if !isBool {
				return errors.New("invalid bool value: " + value)
			}

		// Use cleartext authentication mode (MySQL 5.5.10+)
		case "allowCleartextPasswords":
			var isBool bool
			cfg.AllowCleartextPasswords, isBool = readBool(value)
			if !isBool {
				return errors.New("invalid bool value: " + value)
			}

		// Allow fallback to unencrypted connection if server does not support TLS
		case "allowFallbackToPlaintext":
			var isBool bool
			cfg.AllowFallbackToPlaintext, isBool = readBool(value)
			if !isBool {
				return errors.New("invalid bool value: " + value)
			}

View on GitHub (pinned to c426bd9379)

Solutions

1. Use one of the accepted tokens: allowAllFiles=true (or 1/True/TRUE) / allowAllFiles=false (or 0/False/FALSE).
2. If the value comes from config, normalize it with a helper that maps yes/on/enable to 'true' and no/off/disable to 'false'.
3. Omit the param if you want the default (false) — LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE stays restricted.

Example fix

// before
dsn := "user@tcp(host:3306)/db?allowAllFiles=yes"
// after
dsn := "user@tcp(host:3306)/db?allowAllFiles=true"

func validMySQLBool(v string) bool {
    switch v {
    case "1", "true", "TRUE", "True", "0", "false", "FALSE", "False":
        return true
    }
    return false
}
// usage: if !validMySQLBool(val) { /* reject allowAllFiles value */ }

if _, err := mysql.ParseDSN(dsn); err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "invalid bool value") {
    // normalize the offending ?allowAllFiles=... token and rebuild
}

When it happens

Trigger: A DSN like '?allowAllFiles=yes', '?allowAllFiles=on', '?allowAllFiles=enable', or '?allowAllFiles=' (empty).

Common situations: Copying boolean conventions from another driver (postgres/yaml uses yes/no/on/off); an env var templated in as 'True' works but 'YES' does not; a trailing '=' from a config template.

Related errors

• invalid DSN: did you forget to escape a param value?
• invalid DSN: missing the slash separating the database name
• invalid DSN: interpolateParams can not be used with unsafe c
• default addr for network '{cfg.Net}' unknown
• invalid value / unknown config name: {cfg.TLSConfig}

AI-assisted analysis of go-sql-driver/mysql@c426bd9379 (2026-08-04). Data as JSON: /data/errors/37370aa6026aa288.json. Report an issue: GitHub.