What you need to know
- In a seemingly endless battle to combat PrintNightmare, September's Patch Tuesday included another vulnerability fix.
- After the update, Windows admins have been reporting that network printing is broken.
September 2021's Patch Tuesday has come and gone, bringing a new wave of security fixes as well as, based on recent reports, problems. Of the multitudinous updates included in Patch Tuesday, one particular vulnerability fix — designed to end PrintNightmare — has spawned an entirely new print nightmare.
As reported by BleepingComputer, Windows administrators are reporting that since acquiring the latest Windows updates and installing them on print servers, network printing is broken. Worse yet, the users who have spoken up about the issues they've encountered cite the same problems but different explanations and errors as provided by Windows. Many types of printers appear to be suffering from the fix's issues, including HP and Canon models.
It's important to note that these issues are not being reported by those who have USB printers hooked up to their PCs.
This is just the latest chapter in an unending saga surrounding a ransomware-baiting series of vulnerabilities known as PrintNightmare. From the very start, Microsoft has issued fix after fix as well as various workarounds. These have ranged from ineffective to counterproductive, with some failing to stop PrintNightmare and others just being recommendations to cease printing altogether to avoid being vulnerable while printing.
There were points in the months-long printing nightmare that even elicited commentary from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
If the day ever comes when PrintNightmare and its associated issues are fully behind all of us, Windows Central will let you know. Until then, stick around for the latest news on all problems related to printing on Windows as we move into the era of Windows 11.
