Microsoft last week confirmed that it inadvertently released a pre-release version of an Exchange Server 2007 update that could push servers into an endless series of crashes.

The Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2007 released to users via Microsoft Update and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), Microsoft's two most popular update mechanisms, was a preliminary version, the company acknowledged.

"For a brief period of time on 9/9, a pre-release version of Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 was inadvertently made available to Microsoft Update, the Microsoft Update Catalog and WSUS servers for download," an unidentified Microsoft employee said in a post to the official Exchange blog.

Once Microsoft discovered its error, it pulled Update Rollup 4 -- a collection of previously-disclosed bug fixes -- from the update services, but warned those who had already installed the rollup that it could cause problems. "An issue exists with this pre-release version of the Rollup 4 with regard to the Exchange Web Service (EWS) that creates the potential for a continuous crashing cycle," the blog post continued.

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