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PrintNightmare
Security vulnerability in Microsoft Windows From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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PrintNightmare is a critical security vulnerability affecting the Microsoft Windows operating system.[2][5] The vulnerability occurred within the print spooler service.[6][7] There were two variants, one permitting remote code execution (CVE-2021-34527), and the other leading to privilege escalation (CVE-2021-1675).[7][8] A third vulnerability (CVE-2021-34481) was announced July 15, 2021, and upgraded to remote code execution by Microsoft in August.[9][10]
On July 6, 2021, Microsoft started releasing out-of-band (unscheduled) patches attempting to address the vulnerability.[11] Due to its severity, Microsoft released patches for Windows 7, for which support had ended in January 2020.[11][12] The patches resulted in some printers ceasing to function.[13][14] Researchers have noted that the vulnerability has not been fully addressed by the patches.[15] After the patch is applied, only administrator accounts on Windows print server will be able to install printer drivers.[16] Part of the vulnerability related to the ability of non-administrators to install printer drivers on the system, such as shared printers on system without sharing password protection.[16]
The organization which discovered the vulnerability, Sangfor, published a proof of concept in a public GitHub repository.[3][17] Apparently published in error, or as a result of a miscommunication between the researchers and Microsoft, the proof of concept was deleted shortly after.[3][18] However, several copies have since appeared online.[3]
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