A colleague of mine had recently created a couple of mysql (v 5.6.x) users (test purposes only). When I checked the mysql.user table, this is what I see:
mysql> select * from mysql.user;
+----------------+------------+-------------------------------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-----------+-------------+---------------+--------------+-----------+------------+-----------------+------------+------------+--------------+------------+-----------------------+------------------+--------------+-----------------+------------------+------------------+----------------+---------------------+--------------------+------------------+------------+--------------+------------------------+----------+------------+-------------+--------------+---------------+-------------+-----------------+----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+------------------+
| Host | User | Password | Select_priv | Insert_priv | Update_priv | Delete_priv | Create_priv | Drop_priv | Reload_priv | Shutdown_priv | Process_priv | File_priv | Grant_priv | References_priv | Index_priv | Alter_priv | Show_db_priv | Super_priv | Create_tmp_table_priv | Lock_tables_priv | Execute_priv | Repl_slave_priv | Repl_client_priv | Create_view_priv | Show_view_priv | Create_routine_priv | Alter_routine_priv | Create_user_priv | Event_priv | Trigger_priv | Create_tablespace_priv | ssl_type | ssl_cipher | x509_issuer | x509_subject | max_questions | max_updates | max_connections | max_user_connections | plugin | authentication_string | password_expired |
+----------------+------------+-------------------------------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-----------+-------------+---------------+--------------+-----------+------------+-----------------+------------+------------+--------------+------------+-----------------------+------------------+--------------+-----------------+------------------+------------------+----------------+---------------------+--------------------+------------------+------------+--------------+------------------------+----------+------------+-------------+--------------+---------------+-------------+-----------------+----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+------------------+
| localhost | root | ***************************************** | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | N |
| 127.0.0.1 | root | ***************************************** | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | Y |
| ::1 | root | ***************************************** | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | Y |
| % | readOnly | ***************************************** | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | mysql_native_password | | N |
| % | complete | ***************************************** | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | mysql_native_password | | N |
+----------------+------------+-------------------------------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-----------+-------------+---------------+--------------+-----------+------------+-----------------+------------+------------+--------------+------------+-----------------------+------------------+--------------+-----------------+------------------+------------------+----------------+---------------------+--------------------+------------------+------------+--------------+------------------------+----------+------------+-------------+--------------+---------------+-------------+-----------------+----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+------------------+
Grants for the user complete
show grants for 'complete'@'%';
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Grants for complete@% |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'complete'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY PASSWORD '*****************************************' |
| GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `test_db`.* TO 'complete'@'%' |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Grants for root on localhost
mysql> show grants for 'root'@'localhost';
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Grants for root@localhost |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY PASSWORD '*****************************************' WITH GRANT OPTION |
| GRANT PROXY ON ''@'' TO 'root'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Question : Why do all the privileges appear as N in case of the user complete when they should be Y? root also has all the privileges and they appear as Y. I checked, the user complete actually has all the permissions.
I was looking for the permissions in the wrong place. This answer : https://stackoverflow.com/a/3893716/174184 gives me the answer. mysql.user stores the global permissions while the permissions were given only for a particular db.