From what I understand this is the default behavior with 10.4+

See https://mariadb.com/kb/en/authentication-from-mariadb-104/

Author: solsson

base/mariadb-statefulset.yaml

@@ -67,10 +67,6 @@ spec:
         - containerPort: 4568
           name: ist
         env:
-        - name: MYSQL_ROOT_HOST
-          value: "localhost"
-        - name: MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD
-          value: "yes"
         - name: MYSQL_INITDB_SKIP_TZINFO
           value: "yes"
         readinessProbe: