CVE-2024-47176 explained: Understanding the CUPS vulnerability - #CVE-2024-47176
A critical vulnerability (CVE-2024-47176) has been discovered in the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS), affecting over 198,000 devices and potentially enabling devastating DDoS attacks with minimal resources. This flaw in the cups-browsed daemon allows attackers to exploit outdated CUPS versions, particularly 1.3 from 2007, to amplify traffic by an average of 600 times. The vulnerability can be combined with three other flaws to execute remote code on Unix-like systems through a single UDP packet. Researchers have developed tools like cups\_scanner.py to detect vulnerable instances, emphasizing the urgency for administrators to update CUPS, disable unnecessary services, and implement strict access controls. The potential for full system compromise, data loss, and unauthorized control over printing services underscores the critical nature of this security threat.