Finnish Security company F-Secure reported on its blog about the proof of concept code that was first published in an Austrian virus writer publication.

The possibility of a virus exploiting MSH had been predicted by security experts in 2004, the posting noted.

The MSH scripting technology is set to replace the DOS command line in Windows, allowing Microsoft to get rid of the last remnants of the old operating system in Windows. But it more importantly will allow system administrators to gain full control over a system by using a tool that is similar to the command shell in the Unix operating systems and its derivatives like Linux and Mac OS X.

The technology was scheduled for release as part of Windows Vista, but its release is now tied to that of the new Exchange 12 in the second half of 2006. It isn't sure if it will ever be a standard feature of Windows Vista.

The technology isn't tied to Vista either. Users will be able to add the MSH technology to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 as well as Vista.

Microsoft released a first beta of MSH in June. The technology isn't part of the Vista beta that was released last week.