sqlmapproject/sqlmap · error · SqlmapSyntaxException

DBMS authentication credentials value must be in format user

Error message

DBMS authentication credentials value must be in format username:password

What it means

Error "DBMS authentication credentials value must be in format username:password" thrown in sqlmapproject/sqlmap.

Source

Thrown at lib/core/option.py:636

def _setDBMSAuthentication():
    """
    Check and set the DBMS authentication credentials to run statements as
    another user, not the session user
    """

    if not conf.dbmsCred:
        return

    debugMsg = "setting the DBMS authentication credentials"
    logger.debug(debugMsg)

    match = re.search(r"^(.+?):(.*?)$", conf.dbmsCred)

    if not match:
        errMsg = "DBMS authentication credentials value must be in format "
        errMsg += "username:password"
        raise SqlmapSyntaxException(errMsg)

    conf.dbmsUsername = match.group(1)
    conf.dbmsPassword = match.group(2)

def _setMetasploit():
    if not conf.osPwn and not conf.osSmb and not conf.osBof:
        return

    debugMsg = "setting the takeover out-of-band functionality"
    logger.debug(debugMsg)

    msfEnvPathExists = False

    if IS_WIN:
        try:
            __import__("win32file")
        except ImportError:
            errMsg = "sqlmap requires third-party module 'pywin32' "

View on GitHub (pinned to 0a35b20e39)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at lib/core/option.py:636 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

Understand the failure class

• Authentication and authorization failures — expired tokens, bad credentials, and missing scopes.

AI-assisted analysis of sqlmapproject/sqlmap@0a35b20e39 (2026-08-26). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4f3c686b30784f58. Report an issue: GitHub.