FIX: Rollback of Transactions Named as Empty String Cause Access Violations (260254)

SYMPTOMS

When a transaction with a transaction name that is an empty string (that is, ' ') is rolled back, the connection or spid leaves the transaction open. For example:

create table mytab (col1 int primary key)
go
insert into mytab values (1)
go
declare @x varchar(10)
set @x = ''
begin tran
insert into mytab values (1)
rollback tran @x
go
				

When you try to commit or rollback the same transaction in the same spid or you close the connection or kill the spid from another connection, the spid with the open transaction causes an access violation with a fatal exception, which results in a server down.