Researcher Uncover Yet Another Unpatched Windows Printer Spooler Vulnerability

Merely days after Microsoft sounded the alarm on an unpatched security vulnerability in the Windows Print Spooler service, yet another zero-day flaw in the same component has come to light, making it the fourth printer-related flaw to be discovered in recent weeks.

"Microsoft Windows allows for non-admin users to be able to install printer drivers via Point and Print," CERT Coordination Center's Will Dormann said in an advisory published Sunday. "Printers installed via this technique also install queue-specific files, which can be arbitrary libraries to be loaded by the privileged Windows Print Spooler process."

An exploit for the vulnerability was disclosed by security researcher and Mimikatz creator Benjamin Delpy.

Specifically, the flaw allows a threat actor to execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges on a vulnerable Windows machine by connecting to a malicious print server under their control.

While there is no solution to the problem, CERT/CC recommends configuring "PackagePointAndPrintServerList" to prevent the installation of printers from arbitrary servers and blocking outbound SMB traffic at the network boundary, given that public exploits for the vulnerability utilize SMB for connectivity to a malicious shared printer.

The new issue is only the latest evidence of the fallout after the PrintNightmare flaw accidentally became public last month, leading to the discovery of a number of vulnerabilities affecting the Print Spooler service.

Found this article interesting? Follow THN on Facebook, Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.