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File and Printer Sharing Insecure in XP SP2

Posted by michael on from the old-dogs-learn-new-tricks dept.

ProKras writes "German magazine PC-Welt has discovered a major security flaw in Windows XP SP2 when installing over SP1. The article says that 'with a certain configuration, your file and printer sharing data are visible worldwide, despite an activated Firewall.' The magazine claims they were 'able to discover private documents on easily accessible computers on the Internet' and that the configuration is fairly common."

6 of 368 comments (clear)

  1. I'm shocked! by hlygrail · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...wait, no I'm not.

    1. Re:I'm shocked! by KarmaMB84 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Printer ink and paper cost money.

  2. This isn't a bug... by sgant · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's a feature! Now you can share all your documents with the world! Think of it as having a server hooked to the internet! Don't have to buy expensive server software or set up very hard to figure out Apache web servers...just install SP2 and you're "online" in more ways than one!

    Worry about your ISP not liking you operating a server? They (and you) don't even have to know!

    It's a feature!

    --

    "Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
    1. Re:This isn't a bug... by AndroidCat · · Score: 5, Funny

      With printer sharing, the world can share its documents with you! (I'm sure the spammers will find this useful.)

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  3. Like the man said... by Hortensia+Patel · · Score: 5, Funny

    Backups are for wimps. Real men put their data on a WinXP internal share and have the rest of the world mirror it.

  4. Yep. I already exploited this one. by boijames · · Score: 5, Funny

    My roomie (who I hate) has a printer he was hiding that he's now all of a sudden sharing. 3 words: All. Black. Printjobs. I repeated those, uh, words, about a hundred times. Hilarity did -not- ensue. (Well, it did for me).