[debian-mysql] Bug#1151058: Bug#1151058: mariadb-server: socket activation restarts server mid-upgrade; stalled instance blocks service (SendSIGKILL=no)

[Panagiotis Malakoudis]

I can confirm experiencing the same issue on a Debian 12 production server
during a MariaDB upgrade today (October 21, 2026).

The package upgrade became stuck in dpkg, and I had to manually kill the
MariaDB process to allow it to proceed. The APT transaction subsequently
failed, requiring an additional repair run to restore the package
management state.

As in the original report, the reason MariaDB was started again during the
upgrade was that several scripts running from cron.d attempted to connect
to the database, triggering systemd socket activation. These scripts also
became stuck, and I had to manually kill all of them.

After the failed upgrade, I discovered that mariadb.socket had been
enabled, causing systemd to listen on all interfaces on TCP port 3306,
despite MariaDB being configured with bind-address=127.0.0.1. Fortunately,
existing firewall rules prevented external access.

I have since disabled mariadb.socket and restored normal service operation.

This appears to confirm that the socket activation regression can cause
both unexpected network exposure and serious package upgrade failures on
existing Debian 12 installations.

Unfortunately, I did not preserve diagnostic logs, as restoring service as
quickly as possible was the priority on this production server.
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