On Tuesday, Microsoft released a new security update for its Windows 10 operating system that fixes a severe vulnerability with the printer spooler service which has been referred to as PrintNightmare.

“A remote code execution vulnerability exists when the Windows Print Spooler service improperly performs privileged file operations. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.”

“UPDATE July 6, 2021: Microsoft has completed the investigation and has released security updates to address this vulnerability. Please see the Security Updates table for the applicable update for your system. We recommend that you install these updates immediately. If you are unable to install these updates, see the FAQ and Workaround sections in this CVE for information on how to help protect your system from this vulnerability. See also KB5005010: Restricting installation of new printer drivers after applying the July 6, 2021 updates.”

“Note that the security updates released on and after July 6, 2021 contain protections for CVE-2021-1675 and the additional remote code execution exploit in the Windows Print Spooler service known as PrintNightmare, documented in CVE-2021-34527.”

This update is especially important for small business merchants and sellers that ship from their warehouse, office, or home using printers for labels, invoices, and other documents.

It is rare for Microsoft to issue such an emergency update, but this flaw could potentially impact all businesses and home users and in turn create havoc for small businesses and sellers.

If your system is not set up to automatically update your Windows operating system, you will need to manually force the update. Here is a video from Microsoft explaining how to do this.

And as a final hint (or warning), it’s prudent to make full backups of all your important files and documents before updating your Windows system, especially if you need to install previous updates.

While Windows has safeguards built into dealing with corrupt systems and being able to roll back most updates automatically, it’s wise to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

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