Homeland Security’s Computer Emergency Response Team is warning today that some printers manufactured by Hewlett-Packard, including 10 of its LaserJet Professional printers, have a security vulnerability that could allow an attacker to remotely access data.
According to CERT, the problem stems from a telnet debug shell glitch that can allow an unauthenticated user to connect to the printer and in turn, glean data. CERT warned of the problem this morning; HP’s Software Security Response Team wrote about the problem in a security bulletin last week.
According to the bulletin, HP’s following LaserJet Pro printers are vulnerable: P1102w, P1606dn, M1212nf, M1213nf, M1214nfh, M1216nfh, M1217nfw, M1218nfs, M1219nf and CP1025nw.
German security researcher Christop von Wittich with Hentschke Bau GmbH was credited with discovering the flaw.
HP is advising affected customers to download updated firmware for printers impacted by the bug from the company’s Support Center site. The company is also encouraging those still concerned with the vulnerability to email security-alert@hp.com for further guidance.
A handful of security vulnerabilities have been discovered on printers, along with other Internet-enabled devices over the last few years. A serious vulnerability with how HP LaserJet printers handled firmware updates in 2011 left the machines open to hijacking while a separate issue with the way Samsung printers handled passwords raised the ire of CERT last year.
