Executive brief
Microsoft SQL Server, a widely used database management system, contains a vulnerability that could allow an authorized user to execute malicious code remotely. If exploited, an attacker could gain full control over the database server, potentially leading to the theft of sensitive data, service disruption, or further compromise of the corporate network. This issue affects multiple versions of SQL Server ranging from 2016 to 2025.
Technical details
A deserialization vulnerability (CWE-502) exists in Microsoft SQL Server when handling untrusted data. An attacker with low-level authenticated access to the SQL Server instance can exploit this flaw by sending specially crafted data over the network. Successful exploitation allows for remote code execution (RCE) in the context of the SQL Server service account. The vulnerability impacts various versions including SQL Server 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, and 2025. Microsoft has released security updates to address this issue; users should apply the relevant Cumulative Update (CU) or General Distribution Release (GDR) patches.
Affected products
- Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 3 (GDR) 13.0.0 to 13.0.6500.1
- Microsoft SQL Server 2017 (CU 31) 14.0.0 to 14.0.3540.1
- Microsoft SQL Server 2019 (CU 32) 15.0.0.0 to 15.0.4480.2
- Microsoft SQL Server 2022 (GDR) 16.0.0 to 16.0.1190.2
- Microsoft SQL Server 2025 (CU 6) 17.0.4060.2
Timeline
- 2026-07-14: advisory: Initial publication by Microsoft and NVD