All news with #microsoft sql server tag

AWS Offers Microsoft SQL Server 2025 License-Included AMIs

🚀 Amazon EC2 now provides License-Included (LI) AMIs for Microsoft SQL Server 2025, enabling fast deployment of the latest SQL Server release on Windows EC2 instances. These managed images are created and maintained by AWS and default to TLS 1.3 for improved security and performance. AMIs include preinstalled management tools such as AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell, AWS Systems Manager, and AWS CloudFormation, plus network and storage drivers. The images are available in all commercial AWS Regions and AWS GovCloud (US), simplifying provisioning and lifecycle management for enterprise workloads.

AWS Reduces EC2 Costs for SQL Server High Availability

🔔 AWS announced on Nov 17, 2025 a new capability that lets customers designate Amazon EC2 instances running license-included Microsoft SQL Server as part of a High-Availability (HA) cluster to reduce licensing costs with a few clicks. The enhancement targets mission-critical deployments using Always On Availability Groups and Always On failover cluster instances, with AWS citing savings up to 40% in example configurations. The feature is available in all commercial AWS Regions.

AWS Launch Wizard: SQL Server Developer Edition Deployments

🛠️ AWS Launch Wizard now provides a guided workflow to size, configure, and deploy Windows Server EC2 instances with Microsoft SQL Server Developer Edition installed from your own media. The capability simplifies provisioning cost-effective, full-featured SQL Server instances on Amazon EC2 and is aimed at developers building non-production and test database environments. It supports customers migrating non-production databases from SQL Server Enterprise and Standard Editions to reduce licensing costs while preserving feature parity, and is available in all supported commercial AWS Regions and AWS GovCloud (US) Regions.

PassiveNeuron APT Uses Neursite and NeuralExecutor

🧠 Kaspersky researchers have identified a sophisticated cyber-espionage campaign dubbed PassiveNeuron that has targeted government, financial, and industrial organizations across Asia, Africa, and Latin America since late 2024. The operation uses bespoke implants—Neursite (a C++ modular backdoor) and NeuralExecutor (a .NET loader)—alongside Cobalt Strike, leveraging compromised internal servers as intermediate C2s and a plugin architecture to maintain persistence and adapt tooling. Victims include internet-exposed servers; attackers have used SQL-based remote command execution, attempted ASPX web shells, deployed DLL loaders into the System32 directory, and in 2025 adopted a GitHub-based dead-drop resolver to retrieve C2 addresses.

Amazon RDS for SQL Server: Preserve CDC on Restore

🛡️ Amazon RDS for SQL Server now preserves Change Data Capture (CDC) settings and metadata when restoring native database backups. By specifying the KEEP_CDC option during a restore, customers retain CDC configuration and any captured change data, preventing gaps in ongoing data-capture workflows. This capability is available in all AWS Regions where Amazon RDS for SQL Server is offered and is documented in the RDS for SQL Server User Guide.

Amazon RDS Adds Latest CU and GDR Updates for SQL Server

🛡️Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) now supports the latest General Distribution Release (GDR) and Cumulative Update packages for Microsoft SQL Server, including SQL Server 2016 SP3+GDR (KB5065226), 2017 CU31+GDR (KB5065225), 2019 CU32+GDR (KB5065222) and 2022 CU21 (KB5065865). These updates address multiple security vulnerabilities tracked as CVE-2025-47997, CVE-2025-55227 and CVE-2024-21907. AWS recommends that customers upgrade their RDS SQL Server instances using the Amazon RDS Management Console, AWS SDKs or the AWS CLI and follow the RDS SQL Server upgrade guidance.

Microsoft Defender Mislabels SQL Server as End-of-Life

⚠️Microsoft is addressing a bug in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint that incorrectly tags SQL Server 2017 and SQL Server 2019 as end-of-life. The company says a recent code change introduced the issue and it has begun deploying a fix to reverse that change. Support timelines remain unchanged: 2019 is supported until January 2030 and 2017 until October 2027. The incident is being tracked as an advisory while remediation continues.

Amazon RDS Adds Latest Microsoft SQL Server GDR Updates

🔒 Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) for Microsoft SQL Server now supports the latest General Distribution Release (GDR) updates for SQL Server 2016 SP3, 2017 CU31, 2019 CU32, and 2022 CU20. The supported RDS engine versions map to KB5063762, KB5063759, KB5063757, and KB5063814 respectively. These GDRs address vulnerabilities tracked as CVE-2025-49758, CVE-2025-24999, CVE-2025-49759, CVE-2025-53727, and CVE-2025-47954. We recommend that customers upgrade their RDS instances via the RDS Management Console, AWS SDK, or AWS CLI and follow the RDS SQL Server upgrade guidance.

Amazon RDS Custom Adds Latest GDR Updates for SQL Server

🔔 Amazon RDS Custom for SQL Server now supports the latest Microsoft GDR updates, including SQL Server 2019 CU32 (KB5063757) — RDS version 15.00.4440.1.v1 — and SQL Server 2022 CU20 (KB5063814) — RDS version 16.00.4210.1.v1. These GDRs remediate multiple vulnerabilities (CVE-2025-49758, CVE-2025-24999, CVE-2025-49759, CVE-2025-53727, CVE-2025-47954). We recommend upgrading instances via the Amazon RDS Management Console or programmatically with the AWS SDK/CLI, and following the Amazon RDS Custom User Guide for detailed upgrade instructions.

Amazon RDS Custom Adds New GDRs for SQL Server 2019/2022

🔔 Amazon RDS Custom for SQL Server now supports new General Distribution Releases for Microsoft SQL Server 2019 (RDS version 15.00.4435.7.v1) and 2022 (RDS version 16.00.4200.1.v1). The new GDRs address vulnerabilities tracked as CVE-2025-49717, CVE-2025-49718, and CVE-2025-49719 and correspond to Microsoft's KB5058722 and KB5058721 release notes. AWS recommends upgrading affected Amazon RDS Custom for SQL Server instances using the Amazon RDS Management Console, or programmatically via the AWS SDK or CLI, and consulting the Amazon RDS Custom User Guide for upgrade procedures.