Lexmark: Security vulnerability in more than 100 models

If you own a Lexmark printer, you should be careful. It has now been found out that the firmware of more than 100 models of the company apparently suffer from a serious security vulnerability.

Serious security hole at Lexmark

Lexmark is one of the most popular manufacturers of printers for both commercial and home use. However, owners of a device of the brand will not be happy at all, which has now come to light. The company itself has informed its customers that over 100 models pose a security risk. To be more precise, criminals can hack into the printer if they exploit a security hole. According to the manufacturer, however, no access to data should be possible. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much all Lexmark says on the subject. This can be understood to some extent. Announcing further details could possibly only make resourceful cybercriminals aware of the problem. The problem is not really new. For example, other printer manufacturers also regularly have to contend with annoying security vulnerabilities in their systems. Just recently, 250 models from HP were affected by a major gap.

Control takeover by outsiders now permanently possible

The problem, which Lexmark describes in more detail in a PDF document, is not new in itself. Back in April, the company reported that a takeover of a device by outsiders was possible. This is particularly annoying because a major security vulnerability at Lexmark only became known in January of this year. However, the problem could be fixed again with an uncomplicated restart of the printer. With the gap that has now become known, however, there is apparently a threat of a device being permanently compromised. This is possible because an attacker could now also rewrite the firmware itself. To solve the problem, only an update to the latest firmware version will help. This can be downloaded from Lexmark’s official website.