High-severity vulnerability in Lenovo laptops let hackers access passwords

Enlarge (credit: lenovo.com)

Lenovo has fixed a high-severity vulnerability in a wide range of laptop models that allowed hackers with physical access to log in and then obtain users' Windows login credentials and other sensitive data.

The vulnerability resides in the Lenovo Fingerprint Manager Pro, which is typically installed on ThinkPad, ThinkCentre, and ThinkStation models. A weak encryption algorithm makes it possible for someone with local non-administrative access to read Windows logon credentials and fingerprint data. From there, the person can log into the computer or use the extracted credentials for other purposes. The vulnerability affects only Fingerprint Manager Pro for Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1. Fingerprint-enabled Laptops running Windows 10 aren't affected because they use Microsoft's native support.

"A vulnerability has been identified in Lenovo Fingerprint Manager Pro," Lenovo officials wrote in an advisory published late last week. "Sensitive data stored by Lenovo Fingerprint Manager Pro, including users' Windows logon credentials and fingerprint data, is encrypted using a weak algorithm, contains a hard-coded password, and is accessible to all users with local non-administrative access to the system it is installed in."

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