Vulnerability Note VU#717921

Hewlett-Packard printers and scanner devices allow remote firmware updates

Overview

A vulnerability in certain Hewlett-Packard devices could allow a remote attacker to install unauthorized firmware on an affected system.

I. Description

Certain Hewlett-Packard Printers and Hewlett-Packard Digital Senders products allow the device's firmware to be updated over the network. The firmware update process can be accomplished via port 9100/tcp and does not require authentication. As a result, a remote attacker could perform unauthorized modification of the device's firmware.

Hewlett-Packard notes that the remote firmware update feature is enabled by default on affected systems. The list of affected devices can be found in HP Security Bulletin HPSBPI02728 SSRT100692, and includes many varieties of the HP LaserJet and Color LaserJet products.

II. Impact

A remote unauthenticated attacker could install malicious firmware on an affected device. This malicious firmware could allow the attacker to take control of the affected device, gain access to sensitive information sent to or from the device, or cause a denial of service (e.g., through malfunction of the device).

III. Solution

Disable Remote Firmware Update

HP has published guidance about securely configuring printers, including instructions about disabling the firmware update feature, in "HP Imaging and Printing Security Best Practices - Configuring Security for Multiple LaserJet MFPs and Color LaserJet MFPs".

Users are encouraged to review this document and take the appropriate actions to disable the firmware update feature.

Vendor Information

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
Hewlett-Packard Company	Affected		2011-12-08

References

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c03102449&jumpid=em_alerts_us-us_Dec11_xbu_all_all_1514802_101529_printersandmultifunctionscanners-copiers-faxes_critical_000_0
http://h71028.www7.hp.com/enterprise/downloads/HP-Imaging10.pdf

Credit

This document was written by Chad Dougherty.

Other Information

Date Public:	2011-11-29
Date First Published:	2011-12-08
Date Last Updated:	2011-12-08
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CVE-2011-4161
NVD-ID(s):	CVE-2011-4161
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Severity Metric:	0.00
Document Revision:	9

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This product is provided subject to the Notification as indicated here: http://www.us-cert.gov/legal.html#notify