A new hack attack endangering all-in-one printer-fax machines was revealed by Check Point researchers during this year’s DEF CON. The hack, smartly dubbed Faxploit, was tested on HP machines but similar attacks could apply to other vendors and fax-enabled products as well, the researchers warn. To carry out a successful exploit, attackers only need a fax number.
Faxploit Explained In a ground breaking new discovery, dubbed ‘Faxploit’, Check Point researchers illustrate how organizations of all sizes, as well as consumers, could be exposed to infiltration by hackers looking to exploit vulnerabilities in fax machine communication protocols.The only piece of information required to build and carry out this attack is the organization’s fax number information which in most cases is publicly available on any employee’s business card or company website, the researchers said in their report .
Using only a fax number, the researchers were able to penetrate to an entire IT network using vulnerabilities inherent in the fax protocol. This is an entirely “ new attack vector in the fifth generation of the cyber threat landscape from which cyber criminals could launch an offensive, targeting industries that hold even the most protected data ”.
Two security vulnerabilities have been identified with certain HP Inkjet printers. A maliciously crafted file sent to an affected device can cause a stack or static buffer overflow, which could allow remote code execution.
All Fax Machines from All Vendors at RiskEven though this research was focused specifically on all-in-one printer fax machines, a bigger range of devices is at risk because the same communications protocols apply to all fax machines from all vendors . This means that the very same security flaws likely reside in these other devices, too. That’s not where it ends, though, since popular online fax services such as fax2email also (Read more...)