diff --git a/sql/sql_parse.cc b/sql/sql_parse.cc
index 678d0890136..465d840e2b8 100644
--- a/sql/sql_parse.cc
+++ b/sql/sql_parse.cc
@@ -834,6 +834,7 @@ static int check_connection(THD *thd)
   char *passwd= strend(user)+1;
   char *db= passwd;
   char db_buff[NAME_LEN+1];                     // buffer to store db in utf8 
+  char user_buff[USERNAME_LENGTH+1];		// buffer to store user in utf8
   /* 
     Old clients send null-terminated string as password; new clients send
     the size (1 byte) + string (not null-terminated). Hence in case of empty
@@ -854,6 +855,14 @@ static int check_connection(THD *thd)
     db= db_buff;
   }
 
+  if (user)
+  {
+    user_buff[copy_and_convert(user_buff, sizeof(user_buff)-1,
+			       system_charset_info, user, strlen(user),
+			       thd->charset())]= '\0';
+    user= user_buff;
+  }
+
   if (thd->user)
     x_free(thd->user);
   if (!(thd->user= my_strdup(user, MYF(0))))