CVE-2015-5631 in PIXMA MG7500 Printer
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Remote UI on Canon PIXMA MG7500 printers allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/15/2017
The CVE-2015-5631 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw discovered in the Remote UI functionality of Canon PIXMA MG7500 series printers. This vulnerability resides within the web-based administration interface that allows remote management of printer settings and configurations. The flaw specifically affects the authentication mechanisms used by the Remote UI component, which is designed to enable administrators to manage printer operations from remote locations through web browsers. The vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of request origins and lack of proper anti-CSRF token implementation in the printer's web interface. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious web pages or links that, when visited by an authenticated administrator, automatically submit requests to the printer's management interface without the administrator's knowledge or consent.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which categorizes cross-site request forgery flaws as a direct result of inadequate protection against unauthorized commands executed in the context of a trusted user. The Remote UI interface in these Canon printers fails to properly validate that incoming requests originate from legitimate sources within the same domain or that appropriate anti-CSRF tokens are present in each request. This allows an attacker to leverage the administrator's existing authenticated session to perform unauthorized administrative actions such as changing network configurations, modifying user accounts, updating firmware, or accessing sensitive printer data. The vulnerability specifically targets the authentication context where the printer's web interface trusts requests that lack proper origin validation or token verification, creating a pathway for unauthorized command execution.
Operationally, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to organizations relying on remote printer management capabilities. When an administrator visits a malicious website while logged into the printer's Remote UI, the attacker can execute commands that appear to originate from the legitimate administrator session. This creates a scenario where unauthorized changes can be made to printer configurations without the administrator's awareness, potentially leading to network disruption, data exposure, or further attack vectors within the local network. The impact extends beyond simple configuration changes as administrators might inadvertently grant access to unauthorized users or modify security settings that could compromise the entire printer ecosystem. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it affects a widely deployed printer model, increasing the potential attack surface and the number of vulnerable systems in enterprise environments where these devices are commonly used for office printing and document management.
Organizations should implement multiple layers of defense to mitigate this vulnerability, including immediate firmware updates from Canon to address the CSRF implementation flaws. Network segmentation strategies should isolate printer management interfaces from general user networks, and access controls should be implemented to restrict Remote UI access to trusted IP addresses or networks only. Additionally, administrators should be educated about the risks of visiting untrusted websites while logged into printer management interfaces, and organizations should consider disabling Remote UI functionality when it is not actively required for operations. The mitigation approach should also include monitoring network traffic for suspicious patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, and implementing web application firewalls or security appliances that can detect and block CSRF attack vectors targeting these specific printer models. This vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper authentication validation in embedded web interfaces and highlights the need for comprehensive security testing of network-connected devices that provide remote management capabilities.