CREATE TABLE bug44032(c CHAR(3) CHARACTER SET UTF8) ROW_FORMAT=REDUNDANT ENGINE=InnoDB; Warnings: Warning 3719 'utf8' is currently an alias for the character set UTF8MB3, but will be an alias for UTF8MB4 in a future release. Please consider using UTF8MB4 in order to be unambiguous. INSERT INTO bug44032 VALUES('abc'),(0xEFBCA4EFBCA4EFBCA4); UPDATE bug44032 SET c='DDD' WHERE c=0xEFBCA4EFBCA4EFBCA4; UPDATE bug44032 SET c=NULL WHERE c='DDD'; UPDATE bug44032 SET c='DDD' WHERE c IS NULL; DROP TABLE bug44032;