Windows Print Spooler has been the focus of several security vulnerabilities lately, and despite Microsoft's efforts, the problem isn't going away.
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In just over a month, Microsoft has verified three vulnerabilities related to the Windows Print Spooler, with patches released for two of them so far. CVE-2021-34527 (aka “PrintNightmare”), CVE-2021-34481, and now CVE-2021-36958 allowed malicious actors to elevate themselves to full SYSTEM privileges. Disabling the Print Spooler is an option, but doing so will prevent you from connecting printers to your computer. It’s far from an ideal solution.
“This issue has consistently affected Windows servers and clients from Windows 7 to 10, and servers 2019, 2004, 2012, 2008, and 2016,” Felix Maberly, a cybersecurity expert at Tiger Supplies, told Lifewire in an email interview. “All patches created by Microsoft have failed to close this threat.”
Spoolers are generally what make printers print in the first place: they gather all the necessary data, send it to the printer driver, and the driver tells the printer to do what it wants to do. Microsoft's version uses a Windows Graphical Device Interface (GDI) in conjunction with the printer driver to tell the printer what to do, rather than the application. This simplifies printing tasks for more complex programs and eliminates the need for the application to know how to operate specific printer models.
