An Austrian virus writer has published the first proof-of-concept virus for a new Microsoft scripting technology that could form part of Windows Vista. The code exploits the Microsoft Command Shell (MSH) technology, codenamed Monad.

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

The posting claimed that the possibility of a virus exploiting MSH was predicted by security experts in 2004.

MSH 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 more importantly it will allow systems administrators to gain full control 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 is now tied to the release of Exchange 12 in the second half of 2006. It is not yet clear whether it will ever be a standard feature of Vista.

The technology is not tied to Vista either. Users will be able to add MSH to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 as well as Vista.

Microsoft released a first beta of MSH in June. The technology is not included in the Vista beta released last week.