Software Engineering Institute

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.

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).

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.