Printers are a hacker's best friend

Security experts have issued a warning about a vulnerability in printer software that could let hackers break into networks.

Researchers at US security organisation Cert said a buffer overflow problem can allow an intruder to gain root access to servers and launch denial of service attacks (DOS).

The vulnerabilities concern the software which allows different clients to share a networked printer. The attacker can launch a DOS attack via IBM-AIX, FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD line printers and HP's HP-UX printers, according to Cert.

Cert warned: "Administrators should check their systems for exposure, even if they have recently addressed some line printer daemon vulnerabilities."

See http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2001-30.html for more information.