dbcve.org
Futuresmart 3Operating system · Hp

CVE-2021-39238

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Developing Published 2021-11-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.9.8 / 4.11.2.1 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Certain HP Enterprise LaserJet, HP LaserJet Managed, HP Enterprise PageWide, HP PageWide Managed products may be vulnerable to potential buffer overflow.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · low confidence
Developing — this CVE was published recently and its authoritative NVD entry is still being established, so we're holding a technical summary until the source data settles rather than publish something unreliable. Re-checking after 2026-07-31.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Futuresmart 3Operating system
Affected:< 3.9.8
Futuresmart 4Operating system
Affected:< 4.11.2.1
Futuresmart 5Operating system
Affected:< 5.3

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.9.8 / 4.11.2.1 / 5.3 or later
Fixed in 3.9.84.11.2.15.3
Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Futuresmart 3: upgrade to 3.9.8+ | Futuresmart 4: upgrade to 4.11.2.1+ | Futuresmart 5: upgrade to 5.3+

  1. Identify the current Futuresmart firmware version on the affected HP printer by accessing the Embedded Web Server (EWS) or printing a configuration page
  2. Determine which Futuresmart generation (3, 4, or 5) is running on the device
  3. Download the appropriate firmware update from HP Support (support.hp.com) for the specific printer model
  4. Access the printer's EWS and navigate to the General > Firmware Update section
  5. Upload and install the firmware file corresponding to the fixed version: Futuresmart 3 to version 3.9.8 or higher, Futuresmart 4 to version 4.11.2.1 or higher, Futuresmart 5 to version 5.3 or higher
  6. Allow the firmware installation to complete and the device to reboot automatically
  7. Verify the firmware version has been successfully updated by checking the EWS or printing a configuration page
  8. Reconfigure any custom settings that may have been reset during the firmware update
Caveat Firmware updates may reset network or print settings; back up configuration before upgrading and restore afterward; some older devices may not support newer Futuresmart versions

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $3,550. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-39238 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data