Detections
Analytics

5.17 Ensure 'Print Spooler (Spooler)' is set to 'Disabled'

Warning! Audit Deprecated

This audit has been deprecated and will be removed in a future update.

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Information

This service spools print jobs and handles interaction with printers.

The recommended state for this setting is: Disabled.

In a high security environment, unnecessary services especially those with known vulnerabilities should be disabled.

Disabling the Print Spooler (Spooler) service mitigates the PrintNightmare vulnerability (CVE-2021-34527 https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2021-34527) and other attacks against the service.

Solution

To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to: Disabled :

Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings\System Services\Print Spooler

Impact:

Users will not be able to print, including printing to files (such as Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF)) which uses the Print Spooler service.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/26296

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6, 800-53|CM-7, CSCv7|9.2

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: e992c20506ed338535993f71bff9a53670287ac6af059a99d0b51628208d34a0