Rule Definition
Cursors are loops which number of iterations is based on the number of rows returned by an SQL query. Having a cursor inside a loop means having an SQL query inside a loop which number of iterations can be very high (dependent on the data returned from the database). This iterative pattern has proved to be very dangerous for application performance and scalability. Database servers handle in a much better set-oriented pattern rather than pure iterative ones.

Remediation
The remediation is often to replace the iterative approach with a set-oriented one and thus replace a cursor with a query.

Violation Code Sample

CREATE PROCEDURE Salary
as
begin
    DECLARE @Dep_Id INT
    DECLARE @Emp_Id INT
     
    DECLARE EmpCursor CURSOR FOR
    SELECT dep_id, id FROM employee
     
    OPEN EmpCursor
     
    FETCH NEXT FROM EmpCursor INTO @Dep_Id, @Emp_Id
    WHILE 1=1
    BEGIN
     
        UPDATE employee SET salary = (salary * 1.1) WHERE id = @Emp_Id
        
        FETCH NEXT FROM EmpCursor INTO @Dep_Id, @Emp_Id
    END
     
    CLOSE EmpCursor
    DEALLOCATE EmpCursor

end
GO

Fixed Code Sample

CREATE PROCEDURE Salary
as
begin
     
    UPDATE employee SET salary = (salary * 1.1)

end
GO

https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/6148/sql-server-loop-through-table-rows-without-cursor/ https://www.dotnettricks.com/learn/sqlserver/sql-server-cursor-alternatives https://www.sqlshack.com/using-sql-server-cursors-advantages-and-disadvantages/