HP has disclosed a high-severity vulnerability (HPSBPI03995) in its Universal Print Driver (UPD) for Windows, affecting multiple versions. This vulnerability could allow local privilege escalation, giving attackers unauthorized control over affected systems.
The recently announced vulnerabilities are due to the third-party components used in the driver. In particular, zlib, libjpeg, libpng, and OpenSSL. The vulnerabilities are CVE-2017-12652 (execution of injected code, CVSS 9.8), CVE-2022-2068 (execution of subcontracted code, CVSS 9.8), CVE-2023-45853 (information leak, CVSS 9.8) and CVE-2020-14152 (denial of service, CVSS 7.1).
What HP Drivers Are Affected?
If your organization is using any of these HP universal print drivers, please update them immediately:
- HP Universal Print Driver PCL5, PCL6, and PostScript
- Versions prior to 7.0.1
Why This Matters
This newly identified HP universal print driver vulnerability enables attackers to gain elevated privileges on a system, increasing the risk of data breaches, ransomware attacks, and operational disruptions. Since print drivers are widely deployed across enterprise environments, failure to patch could leave multiple endpoints exposed.
Here are just a few specific hypothetical scenarios:- Theft of sensitive business data, customer information, and/or intellectual property
- Deletion of critical business files
- Disruption of business-critical applications
- Network service interruptions
Your Next Steps: Patch Now
If you are using HP universal print drivers anywhere in your organization, here's what tasks need to be completed ASAP.
1. Check Your HP UPD version
If you’re running an affected version, immediately update to 7.0.1 or later.
2. Deploy Updates Across Your Environment
Large organizations can use Group Policy, SCCM, or Intune to push updates to all endpoints running the affected drivers.
3. Disable Unnecessary Print Drivers
In addition to versions prior to 7.0.1 of the affected driver, if your environment doesn’t require specific drivers, remove any additional print drivers to reduce attack surfaces.How To Simplify Updates Moving Forward
Relying on manual updates isn't enough. Regular vulnerability scans are the best way to detect risks like this before they become a major issue.
Automated tools can:
- Identify outdated or vulnerable drivers across all endpoints
- Alert IT teams before vulnerabilities are exploited
- Help enforce security policies for print and IT infrastructure
Need Additional Help With Print Driver Management and Print Security?
As a comprehensive technology provider with deep benches in cybersecurity (including print security), we spend quite a bit of time researching the solutions that offer the most ROI for our clients. New cyber threats emerge very quickly, and the same tools and processes that were effective a few years ago simply aren't enough today.
Similarly, keeping up with patching critical vulnerabilities and providing efficient print driver management is becoming far more difficult and time-intensive for many internal IT teams! If you find yourself falling behind, we'd love to help make your life a little easier while we also make it harder for cybercriminals to get paid.
You're always welcome to reach out to us if you'd like to get a customized recommendation. We have the rare distinction of having a dedicated print security team, and it's almost impossible to overestimate the value of the expertise they can provide. We've also attached a handy link below that will take you to an overview of our top print management software solutions.
Updated February 11, 2025, to include additional CVEs.
