Hi Adrian,
The fix Mirco mentioned prevents accessing the utility_db from the ADO.NET driver in 17, 16.0.0.1965+, and 12.0.1.4132+.
This has been fixed, and you should now be able to connect to the utility_db again in versions: 17.0.0.1218+, 16.0.0.2162+, 12.0.1.4299+.
This fix will probably be in 17 Service Pack 2
Thanks,
Mikel