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AWS AmazonRDS high security documentation change

Service: AmazonRDS · 2025-08-28 · Security-related high

File: AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/MariaDB.Concepts.FeatureSupport.md

Summary

Added documentation for MariaDB 11.8 support including new security-related parameters and SSL enforcement

Security assessment

The change explicitly states that MariaDB 11.8 now defaults to require_secure_transport=1 (enforcing SSL/TLS connections), which directly addresses encryption security. It also introduces temporary file size limit parameters (max_tmp_session_space_usage and max_tmp_total_space_usage) that help prevent disk exhaustion attacks.

Diff

diff --git a/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/MariaDB.Concepts.FeatureSupport.md b/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/MariaDB.Concepts.FeatureSupport.md
index 0fba64d1e..7ebb5c34e 100644
--- a//AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/MariaDB.Concepts.FeatureSupport.md
+++ b//AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/MariaDB.Concepts.FeatureSupport.md
@@ -35,0 +36,2 @@ In the following sections, find information about MariaDB feature support on Ama
+  * MariaDB 11.8 support on Amazon RDS
+
@@ -50,0 +53,35 @@ For information about supported minor versions of Amazon RDS for MariaDB, see [M
+### MariaDB 11.8 support on Amazon RDS
+
+Amazon RDS supports the following new features for your DB instances running MariaDB version 11.8 or higher.
+
+###### Note
+
+In MariaDB 11.8, the default value for `require_secure_transport` is now `1`, requiring secure SSL/TLS connections. Set to `0` if non-secure connections are needed.
+
+  * **New default value for parameter** – The default value of `require_secure_transport` parameter changed from `0` to `1`, enforcing secure transport connections by default. For more information, see [Requiring SSL/TLS for all connections to a MariaDB DB instance on Amazon RDS](./mariadb-ssl-connections.require-ssl.html). 
+
+  * **Vector support** – You can use the MariaDB Vector to store and search AI-generated vectors directly in MariaDB. This feature introduces the following system variables:
+
+    * The variable [`mhnsw_default_distance`](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/sql-structure/vectors/vector-system-variables#mhnsw_default_distance) specifies the default distance metric for MHNSW vector indexing.
+
+    * The variable [`mhnsw_default_m`](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/sql-structure/vectors/vector-system-variables#mhnsw_default_m) defines the default value for the `M` parameter in MHNSW vector indexing.
+
+    * The variable [`mhnsw_ef_search`](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/sql-structure/vectors/vector-system-variables#mhnsw_ef_search) defines the minimal number of result candidates for vector index searches.
+
+    * The variable [`mhnsw_max_cache_size`](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/sql-structure/vectors/vector-system-variables#mhnsw_max_cache_size) sets the upper limit for one MHNSW vector index cache.
+
+  * **Temporary file size limits** – You can now limit the size of created disk temporary files and tables using two system variables available in the RDS Maria DB 11.8 parameter group:
+
+    * The variable [`max_tmp_session_space_usage`](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/security/limiting-size-of-created-disk-temporary-files-and-tables/max_tmp_session_space_usage-system-variable) limits the temporary space allowance per user.
+
+    * The variable [`max_tmp_total_space_usage `](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/security/limiting-size-of-created-disk-temporary-files-and-tables/max_tmp_total_space_usage-system-variable) limits the temporary space allowance for all users.
+
+  * **Temporary tablespace management** – The temporary tablespace stores temporary tables and grows as data is added. When temporary tables are dropped, the space is not automatically reclaimed. You can use the [mysql.rds_execute_operation](./mysql_rds_execute_operation.html) procedure to shrink the temporary tablespace and reclaim disk space.
+
+
+
+
+For a list of all MariaDB 11.8 features and their documentation, see [Changes and improvements in MariaDB 11.8](https://mariadb.com/kb/en/changes-improvements-in-mariadb-11-8/) and [Release notes - MariaDB 11.8 series](https://mariadb.com/kb/en/release-notes-mariadb-11-8-series/) on the MariaDB website.
+
+For a list of unsupported features, see [MariaDB features not supported by Amazon RDS](./MariaDB.Concepts.FeatureNonSupport.html).
+