Regression: Cannot use special characters in the database password

Summary

When we add a special character like '&' in the database password, JIRA will not shown any errors in the log but redirected to the Setup Wizard page and logs doesn't tell anything.

Steps to reproduce

1. Modify database password in the dbconfig.xml to the following:

   <jira-database-config>
     <name>defaultDS</name>
     <delegator-name>default</delegator-name>
     <database-type>mssql</database-type>
     <schema-name>dbo</schema-name>
     <jdbc-datasource>
       <url>jdbc:sqlserver://xxxxx:1433;databaseName=jiradb</url>
       <driver-class&gt;com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver</driver-class&gt;
       <username>jiradb</username>
       <password>ASDASDASD&ASDASDASD</password>
       <pool-min-size>20</pool-min-size>
       <pool-max-size>20</pool-max-size>
       <pool-max-wait>30000</pool-max-wait>
       <pool-max-idle>20</pool-max-idle>
       <pool-remove-abandoned>true</pool-remove-abandoned>
       <pool-remove-abandoned-timeout>300</pool-remove-abandoned-timeout>
   
       <validation-query>select 1</validation-query>
       <min-evictable-idle-time-millis>60000</min-evictable-idle-time-millis>
       <time-between-eviction-runs-millis>300000</time-between-eviction-runs-millis>
   
       <pool-test-on-borrow>false</pool-test-on-borrow>
       <pool-test-while-idle>true</pool-test-while-idle>
   
     </jdbc-datasource>
   </jira-database-config>
   

2. Startup JIRA and get redirected to the Setup Wizard page.
3. When we ran 'config.sh' file then only we see the problem:

   Reading database configuration from /home/ubuntu/deployments/jira/jira-home/dbconfig.xml
   IO Exception occurred while trying to load settings.
   Unable to load database configuration: org.dom4j.DocumentException: Error on line 10 of document  : The reference to entity "ASDASDASD" must end with the ';' delimiter. Nested exception: The reference to entity "ASDASDASD" must end with the ';' delimiter.
   Exception in thread "main" java.awt.HeadlessException:
   No X11 DISPLAY variable was set, but this program performed an operation which requires it.
   	at java.awt.GraphicsEnvironment.checkHeadless(GraphicsEnvironment.java:204)
   	at java.awt.Window.<init>(Window.java:536)
   	at java.awt.Frame.<init>(Frame.java:420)
   	at java.awt.Frame.<init>(Frame.java:385)
   	at javax.swing.SwingUtilities$SharedOwnerFrame.<init>(SwingUtilities.java:1758)
   	at javax.swing.SwingUtilities.getSharedOwnerFrame(SwingUtilities.java:1833)
   	at javax.swing.JOptionPane.getRootFrame(JOptionPane.java:1696)
   	at javax.swing.JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(JOptionPane.java:863)
   	at javax.swing.JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(JOptionPane.java:666)
   	at javax.swing.JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(JOptionPane.java:637)
   	at com.atlassian.jira.configurator.Configurator.showErrorDialogAndExit(Configurator.java:99)
   	at com.atlassian.jira.configurator.Configurator.loadCurrentSettings(Configurator.java:87)
   	at com.atlassian.jira.configurator.Configurator.main(Configurator.java:30)
   

Expected Results.

JIRA should have prompt an error message about the special characters in the logs or bypass the error to allow special characters in the database password.

Actual Results.

Does nothing until user ran config.sh

Notes

Is reproducible when connecting JIRA with SQL Server 2014

Workaround

Change the password to without special characters