**Incoming call from Demetrius**
"Answer." A few seconds of silence later, Alex spoke again. This time to the person on the other end of the call, "what is it?"
"There is an issue with one of the new users we provisioned. We are still looking into what happened but basically…" Demetrius trailed off.
"Basically?"
"Right." Demetrius cleared his throat, "One of the new users, an Adventurer, was sorted into a restricted dungeon. I don't really understand the system error that it's reporting though. It sounds like he's gotten some form of root access to the database which would be… bad."
"Send it my way, I'll clear my schedule and look into it."
"Will do. Thank you."
The call ended. While waiting for the file from Demetrius, Alex opened up the digital calendar built into the same desk that had accepted the call to see if there was anything that needed to be rescheduled. A smile grew over Alex's face as a particular name came into view.
The email was already forming as thoughts before fingers even struck keys.
--
RE: KLEIO STATUS UPDATE MEETING
ATTN: ALL
Despite the President of Gaming's request to prioritize this meeting, I will be unable to attend today's occurrence due to unforeseen circumstances. Below is a brief update that would have been shared during the meeting.
We have completed acquiring the resources necessary to start development of a second db (database) for Dungeons Below. The first db is operating without issue, however, it will not be able to maintain the projected user growth. Research is still underway to find a way to keep the second db from running into the same issue as the first but be assured, we will only be spinning the additional db up once we confirm that it can handle the user data at the projected load.
In response to Marketing's request to provision more users, the previous batch of 1,000 users is all that can be released at this time until we can verify that they were able to integrate with the first db without issue.
V/R - A. Drea - Head of R&D
--
Alex sent the email off after a quick read over. It would ruffle some feathers, certainly, but it would not be the first nor last time that happened. To Alex, status meetings were only feasible if there were actual status updates to share. Otherwise it would turn into the Head of Marketing and the President of Gaming teaming up against R&D, Alex's department.
The information from Demetrius showed up as well and whatever delight the email had given Alex vanished. The pit growing in Alex's stomach was due to the contents of the error that Demetrius did not understand. While the lead programmer understood the basics and had explained the issue, the fact that he did not know the truth about the database meant that the system error itself would not make sense.
--User has gained access to System Foundations. Core Functions exposed. System Resources exposed.--
When Demetrius guessed that the user had been granted root access, he had not been far off from the truth. However, Alex knew the truth behind the database so it had not been a worry. As far as the notes from the previous Department Head went, as well as the information from a genius masquerading as a bookseller, there should not be a way for a user to interact directly with the system from inside Dungeons Below. That kind of access should have been restricted to physical contact with the Core.
A new vulnerability or bug in code was nothing new. Alex would treat this just like any other vulnerability the programmers found. Assess the impact, mitigate the damage, hope the President does not hear about this potentially critical hole before it is patched.
If there was anything Alex knew about vulnerabilities, it was that someone with their hands on the keyboard probably caused it. They could be caused by an oversight, a stumble, or on purpose. It simply meant that the search for the fix would require Alex to delve into the specifics of the dungeon where the new user had been sent. For the rest of the day, Alex ignored emails and calls to focus solely on the new issue. Three facts about the issue became apparent as the day went on.
First Alex learned that the user, or at least their UserID, was partially to blame. They had been granted access to a wider berth of system resources because they were recognized by the database as a privileged user. This was because the user had been a tester for a game company that Mouseion had absorbed.
The closest equivalent to his original permissions had been carried over, making him the equivalent of one of the tester's from Dungeons Below's closed alpha. If it was a traditional database, that would not have caused any issues. However, the database that Dungeons Below relied on was not traditional or normal. Some might not even consider it a database and they could be right. In computer science terms it did border more closely with deep learning.
The second fact that Alex learned was that the primary reason for the issue was not the user nor the database but one of the lead developers involved in the closed alpha. In general terms, Alex always suggested that the purpose of testing was to push the boundaries of what a game could do. However, if the lead developers had asked about testing in regards to Project KLEIO, Alex would have urged them to exercise caution, even in testing.
The developer in question had taken part in the closed alpha and, with their knowledge of the program behind the game, did their best to break the boundaries of what was possible. In terms of a traditional game, it would have worked. The developer would have found a flaw that either crashed the system or allowed some kind of exploitation.
Instead, the database behind Dungeons Below reacted to keep the system alive. It caused a different avenue of exploitation to open up, whether the developer was aware of it or not. It forged a pathway within the dungeon that the developer built that led directly to the system's Core.
Apparently, after the alpha test, the developer resigned from their position and all digital traces of them vanished. Alex sent the developer's file to Demetrius, asking for more information and if the lead programmer had a way of contacting them.
The last thing that Alex learned was that, if worse came to worse, the new user could end up bringing the entire system down. Alex left the Mouseion building headed for an old bookstore. As she left, she muttered mostly to herself, "Why did they have to pick Mage? Anything else would have been easier to deal with."
After a second, Alex tapped at the edge of her desk and said, "Send a message to PR to have them look into this user in the real world."
Message sent.