Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessObtain low-privileged SQL Server credentials
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DeliveryConnect to SQL Server over network
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ExploitSend crafted resource-intensive requests
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ExecutionExhaust server resources without throttling
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ImpactDeny service to legitimate users
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Resource allocation limits
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires the attacker to possess valid low-privileged SQL Server credentials (PR:L) and network reachability to the SQL Server instance (AV:N) - it is NOT remote-unauthenticated. The description explicitly specifies an 'authorized attacker', confirming authentication is a prerequisite. The high attack complexity (AC:H) indicates additional limiting conditions, such as specific server state, timing, or non-trivial crafted requests, must be met to trigger the unbounded resource allocation. Affected builds are SQL Server 2019 (CU32 below 15.0.4500.2, GDR below 15.0.2200.2) and SQL Server 2025 (CU8); impact is confined to service availability with no confidentiality or integrity effect. |
| Impact | This is a moderate-severity, authenticated denial-of-service issue (CVSS 5.3) in Microsoft SQL Server stemming from unbounded resource allocation (CWE-770). The CVSS vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H shows the signals align consistently toward LOW real-world priority: the attack is network-reachable (AV:N) but requires high attack complexity (AC:H) and valid low-level credentials (PR:L), with impact limited to availability only (C:N/I:N/A:H). CISA's SSVC decision framework reinforces this - Exploitation: none, Automatable: no, Technical Impact: partial - indicating no observed exploitation and that the flaw cannot be reliably automated for mass exploitation. There is no CISA KEV listing and no public exploit code identified, and no EPSS score was supplied in the input (missing data - exploitation probability cannot be quantified). The combination of required authentication, high complexity, no scope change, and availability-only impact means this is a high-footprint-product issue but not an urgent, widely-weaponizable one; it should be patched on a normal enterprise cycle rather than as an emergency. No CVSS/description conflicts were observed - the description ('authorized attacker to deny service over a network') matches PR:L and AV:N precisely. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker who already holds valid low-privileged SQL Server credentials sends specially crafted or repeated requests over the network that cause the server to allocate resources without limits, exhausting memory or other resources and denying service to legitimate users. The high attack complexity (AC:H) implies the attacker must meet specific timing or state conditions, or craft a non-trivial request, to trigger the flaw. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 14, 2026
Authenticated denial of service in Microsoft SQL Server lets a low-privileged database account reachable over the network drive unbounded resource consumption (CWE-770), degrading or stalling query processing and server availability for other sessions. Affected builds are SQL Server 2019 CU32 below 15.0.4500.2, SQL Server 2019 GDR below 15.0.2200.2, and SQL Server 2025 CU8. Rated CVSS 5.3 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H), exploitation requires valid low-privileged SQL Server credentials plus non-trivial triggering conditions implied by the high attack complexity; no public exploit code has been identified, no CISA KEV listing exists, and the SSVC assessment records exploitation as 'none' and automatable as 'no'.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: Microsoft has published fixes through the MSRC update guide at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-88084 - apply the current cumulative update so that SQL Server 2019 is at or above 15.0.4500.2 on the CU32 branch, or at or above 15.0.2200.2 on the GDR branch, and update SQL Server 2025 past the affected CU8 build confirmed in that advisory. Patch status is 'available from vendor', and no public exploit code is known, so prioritization can follow normal patch cycles for an authenticated, availability-only defect. Where immediate patching is not possible, use SQL Server Resource Governor to cap CPU, memory and request concurrency per workload group so that no single low-privileged login can exhaust the instance - the trade-off is that legitimate workloads in a throttled group may be slowed or rejected, so the limits must be tuned against real baselines. Additionally, restrict network reachability to the database listener (for example, firewall the default TCP 1433 / configured instance port to approved application subnets only) and reduce the attack surface by auditing and removing unnecessary logins and by not granting low-privileged accounts broader permissions than required; note that these are compensating controls and do not fix the underlying unbounded allocation path. Monitor for abnormal memory or worker-thread growth per session as a detection measure, since the issue manifests as gradual resource exhaustion rather than a single anomalous request.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 2 packages in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
The root cause is CWE-770, Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling, in the SQL Server engine - a class of defect in which a code path (memory grants, worker threads, session or connection structures, or a comparable internal resource pool) consumes host resources without an enforced ceiling or per-caller quota, so that repeated or oversized requests progressively starve the instance. CVSS vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H confines the impact to availability: no confidentiality or integrity effect, unchanged scope, no user interaction. The PR:L metric combined with Microsoft's description of an 'authorized attacker' confirms this is not remote-unauthenticated - a valid low-privileged login is a prerequisite - while AC:H indicates that server state, timing, or specially crafted request patterns beyond a simple request must be satisfied for the allocation to grow without bound. Microsoft's advisory does not disclose the exact internal allocation path, and the EUVD entry lists affected builds as SQL Server 2019 for x64 CU32 (15.0.4003.23 < 15.0.4500.2), SQL Server 2019 GDR (15.0.0 < 15.0.2200.2) and SQL Server 2025 (CU8) with no complete range for the latter, so the SQL Server 2025 CU8 scope should be confirmed against the vendor update guide rather than treated as fully enumerated.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Authenticated ('authorized attacker') network DoS warrants PR:L and AV:N; AC:H reflects non-trivial trigger conditions; impact is availability-only so C:N/I:N/A:H.
Primary rating from Vendor (microsoft).
CVSS VectorVendor: microsoft
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
Allocation of resources without limits or throttling in SQL Server allows an authorized attacker to deny service over a network.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
EUVD-2026-100613
GHSA-4xm6-5gj3-36m5
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB