Updates
Please check back here for updates M-F at 3 pm
7/12/21 11:07 am: A windows administrator has been defined full time on this emergency until it is resolved. The updates released by Microsoft last week have been made available to only a subset of Windows 10 versions, and our environment is diverse with all versions of Windows 10. For older versions of 10 to work, computers need to be upgraded, so we have been working on a solution to enable end-users to do this as multiple restarts are required, and we do not want to disrupt end-users further. When a patch is released, we do due diligence by testing the update on diverse environments before sending it out to computers to potentially catch any issues (especially in a patch that was released in an emergency). We are working through computers that do not require the upgrade first, then will move to the older versions of Windows 10. If you need printing sooner, please submit a ticket to help@cns.utexas.edu, and we will help remediate it. More updates to come at 3 pm.
What is this about?
CNS IT will be setting a policy to disable the Print Spooler Service on managed Windows systems on Thursday, July 1, 2021 at 7:00am CST.
Why is this happening?
A critical exploit has been identified in most Windows systems, involving the Print Spooler Service. At this time, a fix hasn't been released. Until a fix exists, the UT Information Security Team has requested that the Print Spooler Service be disabled on Windows systems at UT Austin. More information on the vulnerability can be found here: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2021-34527
What will happen if my computer isn't made compliant?
The ISO will be quarantining devices as soon as they can scan for this vulnerability. We have a short grace period until that happens to get the Spooler Service disabled and turned off.
We will be disabling the Spooler Service as a policy that will automatically adjust the Print Spooler Service on your computer. Please run through the following to make sure that the policy has successfully disabled your Print Spooler Service.
Since CNS IT doesn't remotely manage your computer, here are some steps you can follow to manually disable the Print Spooler Service on your Windows device.
Properties.
Stop
in the Properties window to stop the Spooler Service.disabled
to make sure the Service won't start again when you reboot.