From Windows Administrator to SQL Server sysadmin
Configuration mistakes or issues that causes obscure security holes on IT systems.
Usually the system administrators have different privileges from database administrators and that should be a golden rule for every IT system.
Yesterday, i was trying to get access into an SQL Server installed in random a computer that i have access with an administration role. I didn't have any account credentials for SQL Server either SQL account or Windows Authentication. So i started to look for any way to gain access to SQL back.
The SQL is configured with mixed authentication mode and after a couple of minutes googling for a while and i found one interesting article about it.
The article describes a nice way to achieve access as sysadmin to one SQL Server installed on a machine where we have administrator privileges without restarting SQL server.
NOTE: This could be an awesome tool to save the day but can also be a huge security hole!!!
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/argenis_fernandez/archive/2011/07/10/think-your-windows-administrators-don-t-have-access-to-sql-server-2008-by-default-think-again.aspx