MySQL v8.x defaults to 'caching_sha2_password'. The current version of mysql driver for NodeJS does not support this authentication plugin.

Here is the MySQL issue to address support 'caching_sha2_password':
mysqljs/mysql#1959

Currently we have to manually change the authentication plugin to 'mysql_native_password' using the following command:

ALTER USER 'central_ledger'@'%' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'password';