Possible to Obtain Password to SQL Database Attached to OWC PivotTable in Office Excel 2003

View products that this article applies to.

For a Microsoft Excel 2002 version of this article, see 828696 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/828696/).

Symptoms

When you connect to an Office Web Component (OWC) PivotTable in your Web browser, and then click Export to Excel, you may be able to obtain the password to the SQL database that is connected to the PivotTable.

↑ Back to the top

Cause

This problem may occur when Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) is used to connect your OWC PivotTable to your SQL database.

The password to your SQL database can be easily obtained after the PivotTable has been exported to Microsoft Excel if you use Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) commands that are similar to the following in the Visual Basic Editor in Excel:

ActiveCell.PivotTable.PivotCache.SavePassword=True
?ActiveCell.PivotTable.PivotCache.Connection

↑ Back to the top

Resolution

To prevent revealing your SQL database password, use Integrated Windows Security, also named Microsoft Windows NT Challenge Response (NTLM).

For more information about Microsoft NTLM, visit the following Microsoft MSDN Web page:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/aa378749.aspx

↑ Back to the top