On the one hand, we were impressed that a tiny Brother label maker actually uses CUPS to support printing. Like [Sdomi], we were less than impressed at how old a copy it was using – – 1.6.1. Of course, [Sdomi] managed to gain access to the OS and set things up the right way, and we get an over-the-shoulder view.
It wasn’t just the old copy of CUPS, either. The setup page was very dated and while that’s just cosmetic, it still strikes a nerve. The Linux kernel in use was also super old. Luckily, the URLs looked like good candidates for command injection.
Worst of all, the old version of CUPS had some known vulnerabilities, so there were several avenues of attack. The interface had some filtering, so slashes and spaces were not passed, but several other characters could get around the limitations. Very clever.
The post contains a few good tricks to file away for future use. It also turned out that despite the Brother branding, the printer is really from another company, which was useful to know, too. In the end, does the printer work any better? Probably not. But we get the urge to check some of the other devices we own.
The last time we saw CUPS save an old printer, it had to be bolted on. CUPS was meant to support 3D printers, but we never see anyone using it like that.
Dealing with printers is a peculiar kind of fun, but sdomi always delivers with top write-ups.
Please add info like what CUPS is and what model printer this is, this is too vague an article.
CUPS is an acronym for Common Unix Printing System and it is what most Linux distributions, and even MacOS use under the hood for managing printers.
https://wiki.adminforge.de/wiki/CUPS?lang=en
” Like [Sdomi], we were less than impressed at how old a copy it was using – – 1.6.1. Of course…”
I know, let’s connect it to the cloud. Old will no longer be a problem.
“Like [Sdomi], we were less than impressed at how old a copy it was using – – 1.6.1.”
Please elaborate for those that do not know all version numbers of all software ever released.
its apparently from 2001, but considering this is a beige box device it probally was brand new at the time… but who knows … brother only made about ten billion models of label printers over the last few decades
Tip from someone who professionally supports label printers. For any serious use get yourself a used dedicated printer from Honeywell/Datamax or maybe Zebra’s commercial parts bin (disclaimer, I don’t use Zebra).
The difference between these weird rebadged kinda-printers and a purpose built unit is night and day.
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