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CIS Essentials

Printer sharing is off

Time to fix

< 1m

What

Printer sharing allows other devices on your network to use printers connected to your Linux system. While this can be useful for sharing resources, it should be disabled when not needed to reduce your attack surface.

Why disable printer sharing

Unnecessary network services increase your system's attack surface. Printer sharing should only be enabled when actively needed and disabled afterward to prevent unauthorized access to your printing resources.

Check printer sharing status

Most Linux systems use CUPS (Common Unix Printing System) for printer management:

systemctl status cups

GNOME (Ubuntu, Fedora)

Check and disable printer sharing in Settings:

  • Open Settings
  • Navigate to Printers
  • Click the menu button (three dots)
  • Select Sharing
  • Ensure Printer Sharing is turned off

KDE Plasma

Manage printer sharing through System Settings:

  • Open System Settings
  • Go to Hardware → Printers
  • Configure printers to not be shared on the network

Command Line (CUPS configuration)

Check CUPS sharing configuration:

sudo grep -i sharing /etc/cups/cupsd.conf

Edit CUPS configuration to disable sharing:

sudo nano /etc/cups/cupsd.conf

Ensure these settings in the configuration:

# Disable printer sharing
Browsing Off
BrowseLocalProtocols none

# Restrict access to localhost only
Listen localhost:631
Listen /run/cups/cups.sock

Restart CUPS service after changes:

sudo systemctl restart cups

Disable CUPS entirely (if no printers needed)

If you don't use printers, you can disable the CUPS service completely:

sudo systemctl stop cups
sudo systemctl disable cups

Verify settings

Check that printer sharing is disabled:

# Check if CUPS web interface is accessible only locally
curl -s http://localhost:631 | grep -i cups

# Verify no printer broadcasts on network
avahi-browse -at | grep -i printer
When to enable printer sharing

Printer sharing can be temporarily enabled when you need to share a printer with other devices on your trusted network. Remember to disable it again when finished.

Alternative solutions

Consider using network-attached printers or print servers instead of sharing printers directly from workstations. This provides better security and centralized management.