Attacking MS SQL Server to Gain System Access

Attacking MS SQL Server to Gain System Access: All systems and database administrators will agree that password complexity does not go very far when it comes to SQL servers. Whether this is done to keep troubleshooting simple for support staff or it is simply a matter of underestimating the risks, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that this makes it very easy for an attacker to get full access to the system.

In this attack, we will use a standard install of Linux Kali and the preinstalled Metasploit framework. The target is a Windows XP machine, running a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 instance. The same attack will work on any MS SQL platform and Windows OS, because the weakness in the system here is the password strength, not the environment itself.