Three High-Severity Flaws in HP Easy Start for macOS Enable Privilege Escalation
HP Easy Start for macOS contains three critical vulnerabilities allowing privilege escalation, impacting installations and potentially exposing sensitive data.
HP Easy Start, a utility designed to simplify the installation of HP printer software on macOS, is affected by three high-severity vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to escalate privileges and interfere with installation processes. These flaws, identified as CVE-2026-12554, CVE-2026-12555, and CVE-2026-12556, impact versions of the software prior to 2.16.7.260722. HP has since released a patched version to address these security concerns.
The most critical of the vulnerabilities, CVE-2026-12554, carries a CVSS 4.0 score of 8.5 and is categorized as CWE-1104, relating to the use of unmaintained third-party components. Researchers discovered that HP Easy Start included an outdated OSPFTP download stack. This component, which supports fallback to the unencrypted FTP protocol, could be exploited by an attacker on the same network or one capable of influencing DNS resolution. Such an attacker might interfere with software downloads if the application defaults to FTP, potentially leading to the installation of malicious components.
CVE-2026-12555, with a CVSS score of 7.7, is linked to CWE-379, an insecure temporary file handling issue. The HP Uninstaller component within Easy Start utilized predictable file paths in the /tmp and /private/tmp directories while operating with administrative privileges. A local attacker could exploit this by creating a symbolic link in these temporary locations before the uninstaller is run. When the user approves the administrative prompt, the elevated uninstaller process might follow the attacker-controlled link, leading to privileged file modification or corruption, potentially impacting critical system files.
The third vulnerability, CVE-2026-12556, also rated 7.7 under CVSS 4.0, falls under CWE-319 for cleartext transmission of sensitive information. The affected build of HP Easy Start had relaxed macOS App Transport Security settings, specifically via the NSAllowsArbitraryLoads option. This relaxation permits insecure HTTP connections that macOS would normally block. In conjunction with the FTP fallback capability, this setting increases the risk of components being downloaded in cleartext, making them susceptible to manipulation by network-based attackers.
These vulnerabilities were discovered by security researcher Nir Yehoshua of Cipher Security Labs during an assessment of HP Easy Start version 2.16.0, build 251010. The identified issues highlight the risks associated with outdated components, predictable temporary file handling, and overly permissive network security configurations in privileged applications.
HP has addressed these vulnerabilities by releasing version 2.16.7.260722 of HP Easy Start. This updated version reportedly removes the vulnerable uninstaller paths, the OSPFTP download component, and enhances the application's transport security settings. HP's official advisory regarding these fixes was published on August 24, 2026.
Organizations and individual macOS users are strongly advised to update HP Easy Start to the latest version, 2.16.7.260722, or a later release. Administrators should also conduct reviews of systems where older HP printer installation utilities might still be present. Particular attention should be paid to shared macOS machines, where local attackers could exploit temporary directory vulnerabilities, and enterprise networks, where unencrypted traffic could be intercepted.