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Authentication Flaw Exposes 748 Multifunction Printers to Remote Attacks

Security firm Rapid7 has alerted manufacturers, prompting firmware patches that still leave some legacy printers without full remediation.

Overview

  • Rapid7 discovered eight security flaws in multifunction printers from five vendors that can expose administrator credentials and connected networks.
  • The most critical flaw, CVE-2024-51978, bypasses authentication by revealing serial numbers used to generate default admin passwords, granting remote device control.
  • All affected manufacturers have released firmware patches that address the majority of identified vulnerabilities.
  • Brother reports that its legacy printer models cannot be fully patched via firmware and urges users to manually reset default administrator passwords to mitigate the outstanding flaw.
  • The risks extend to 748 models—including 689 Brother units, 46 Fujifilm, five Ricoh, two Toshiba and six Konica Minolta printers—and Dell’s rebranded versions remain of unknown status.