Microsoft has confirmed the existence of a new and potentially serious security threat to users of its SQL Server database software.
"Microsoft is aware that exploit code has been published on the Internet for the vulnerability addressed by this advisory," the company said in a bulletin published Monday.
The threat is essentially software code that hackers could use to access or alter corporate databases built with SQL Server. The malicious code could allow what"s known in IT security as remote code execution, a process by which hackers could, for instance, alter figures in a bank account without ever setting foot on the bank"s premises.