diff --git a/changelog.d/20230815_064652_regis_fix_mysql_upgrade_charset.md b/changelog.d/20230815_064652_regis_fix_mysql_upgrade_charset.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..612e1e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/20230815_064652_regis_fix_mysql_upgrade_charset.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+- 💥[Bugfix] Fix mysql crash after upgrade to Palm. After an upgrade to Palm, the mysql client run by Django defaults to a utf8mb4 character set and collation, but the mysql server still runs with utf8mb3. This causes broken data during migration from Olive to Palm, and more generally when data is written to the database. To resolve this issue, we explicitely set the utf8mb3 charset and collation in the client. Users who were running Palm might have to fix their data manually. In the future we will upgrade the mysql server to utf8mb4. (by @regisb)
+- [Improvement] We upgrade to MySQL 8.1.0 to avoid having to restart the server after the upgrade.
diff --git a/docs/configuration.rst b/docs/configuration.rst
index 15543af..a6b5e07 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.rst
+++ b/docs/configuration.rst
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ This configuration parameter defines which MongoDB Docker image to use.
 
 .. https://hub.docker.com/_/mysql/tags?page=1&name=8.0
 
-- ``DOCKER_IMAGE_MYSQL`` (default: ``"docker.io/mysql:8.0.33"``)
+- ``DOCKER_IMAGE_MYSQL`` (default: ``"docker.io/mysql:8.1.0"``)
 
 This configuration parameter defines which MySQL Docker image to use.
 
diff --git a/tests/commands/test_images.py b/tests/commands/test_images.py
index cd0545a..7b09577 100644
--- a/tests/commands/test_images.py
+++ b/tests/commands/test_images.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ class ImagesTests(PluginsTestCase, TestCommandMixin):
         self.assertIsNone(result.exception)
         self.assertEqual(0, result.exit_code)
         # Note: we should update this tag whenever the mysql image is updated
-        image_pull.assert_called_once_with("docker.io/mysql:8.0.33")
+        image_pull.assert_called_once_with("docker.io/mysql:8.1.0")
 
     def test_images_printtag_image(self) -> None:
         result = self.invoke(["images", "printtag", "openedx"])
diff --git a/tutor/commands/jobs.py b/tutor/commands/jobs.py
index eb35683..562e78d 100644
--- a/tutor/commands/jobs.py
+++ b/tutor/commands/jobs.py
@@ -241,7 +241,7 @@ def sqlshell(args: list[str]) -> t.Iterable[tuple[str, str]]:
     Extra arguments will be passed to the `mysql` command verbatim. For instance, to
     show tables from the "openedx" database, run `do sqlshell openedx -e 'show tables'`.
     """
-    command = "mysql --user={{ MYSQL_ROOT_USERNAME }} --password={{ MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD }} --host={{ MYSQL_HOST }} --port={{ MYSQL_PORT }}"
+    command = "mysql --user={{ MYSQL_ROOT_USERNAME }} --password={{ MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD }} --host={{ MYSQL_HOST }} --port={{ MYSQL_PORT }} --default-character-set=utf8mb3"
     if args:
         command += " " + shlex.join(args)  # pylint: disable=protected-access
     yield ("lms", command)
diff --git a/tutor/templates/apps/openedx/config/partials/auth.yml b/tutor/templates/apps/openedx/config/partials/auth.yml
index 3e72058..74d46d8 100644
--- a/tutor/templates/apps/openedx/config/partials/auth.yml
+++ b/tutor/templates/apps/openedx/config/partials/auth.yml
@@ -17,5 +17,8 @@ DATABASES:
     ATOMIC_REQUESTS: true
     OPTIONS:
       init_command: "SET sql_mode='STRICT_TRANS_TABLES'"
+      {%- if RUN_MYSQL %}
+      charset: "utf8mb3"
+      {%- endif %}
 EMAIL_HOST_USER: "{{ SMTP_USERNAME }}"
 EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD: "{{ SMTP_PASSWORD }}"
diff --git a/tutor/templates/config/defaults.yml b/tutor/templates/config/defaults.yml
index 5a8399b..16b99ed 100644
--- a/tutor/templates/config/defaults.yml
+++ b/tutor/templates/config/defaults.yml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ DOCKER_IMAGE_OPENEDX_DEV: "openedx-dev:{{ TUTOR_VERSION }}"
 DOCKER_IMAGE_CADDY: "docker.io/caddy:2.6.4"
 DOCKER_IMAGE_ELASTICSEARCH: "docker.io/elasticsearch:7.17.9"
 DOCKER_IMAGE_MONGODB: "docker.io/mongo:4.4.22"
-DOCKER_IMAGE_MYSQL: "docker.io/mysql:8.0.33"
+DOCKER_IMAGE_MYSQL: "docker.io/mysql:8.1.0"
 DOCKER_IMAGE_PERMISSIONS: "{{ DOCKER_REGISTRY }}overhangio/openedx-permissions:{{ TUTOR_VERSION }}"
 DOCKER_IMAGE_REDIS: "docker.io/redis:7.0.11"
 DOCKER_IMAGE_SMTP: "docker.io/devture/exim-relay:4.96-r1-0"
diff --git a/tutor/templates/local/docker-compose.yml b/tutor/templates/local/docker-compose.yml
index 2dc6b72..a2ace7c 100644
--- a/tutor/templates/local/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/tutor/templates/local/docker-compose.yml
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ services:
   {% if RUN_MYSQL -%}
   mysql:
     image: {{ DOCKER_IMAGE_MYSQL }}
-    command: mysqld --character-set-server=utf8 --collation-server=utf8_general_ci
+    command: mysqld --character-set-server=utf8mb3 --collation-server=utf8mb3_general_ci
     restart: unless-stopped
     user: "999:999"
     volumes: