CVE-2023-21705: 
vulnerability analysis and mitigation

Microsoft SQL Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (CVE-2023-21705) was disclosed on February 14, 2023. This security vulnerability affects Microsoft SQL Server and its components, requiring immediate attention from system administrators and security professionals (MSRC, NVD).

The vulnerability has been assigned a CVSS score of 9.0, indicating critical severity with the following metrics: AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C. This means the vulnerability is network-accessible, requires low attack complexity, needs single authentication, and can result in complete compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability (Rapid7).

If successfully exploited, this vulnerability allows an authenticated attacker to execute remote code on the affected SQL Server system, potentially leading to complete system compromise. The attacker could gain the ability to run code with the same privileges as the SQL Server service account, which by default runs as NT SERVICE\MSSQLSERVER (Microsoft KB).

Microsoft has released security updates to address this vulnerability. The fixes are available through various channels including Windows Update, Microsoft Update Catalog, and specific KB patches for different SQL Server versions. For SQL Server 2022, the security update is included in KB5021522, which updates the product version to 16.0.1050.5 (Microsoft KB).