CVE-2025-8452 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting the Brother Industries DCP-L8410CDW multi-function printer. The vulnerability arises from the exposure of the device's serial number via the "uscan" protocol, which is part of the eSCL (eSCL: eSCL Scan) specification used for network scanning services. An attacker on the local network can leverage this protocol to retrieve the printer's serial number. This serial number can then be used to calculate the default administrator password, exploiting a related vulnerability (CVE-2024-51978). The root cause is the insertion of sensitive information (the serial number) into an externally accessible resource, which is classified under CWE-538. The vulnerability is similar to CVE-2024-51977 but differs in the protocol vector used to obtain the serial number. Since the eSCL/uscan vector is typically only exposed on the local network, remote exploitation without network access is unlikely. The vulnerability does not require authentication or user interaction, and the attacker needs only local network access to exploit it. The impact is limited to confidentiality, as the attacker can discover sensitive device information and potentially gain administrative access if the default password is still in use. The CVSS 3.1 score is 4.3 (medium), reflecting the limited attack vector (local network), low complexity, no privileges required, and no impact on integrity or availability. No patches are currently available, but changing the default administrator password effectively mitigates the risk by invalidating the calculated password derived from the serial number.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a moderate risk primarily in environments where Brother DCP-L8410CDW printers are deployed and default credentials remain unchanged. An attacker with local network access—such as an insider threat, a compromised device within the network, or an attacker who gains Wi-Fi access—could discover the printer's serial number and calculate the default administrator password. This could allow unauthorized administrative access to the printer, potentially enabling configuration changes, access to print jobs, or further lateral movement within the network. While the vulnerability does not directly impact data integrity or availability, unauthorized access to the printer's administration interface could lead to privacy breaches or facilitate additional attacks. The risk is heightened in organizations with lax network segmentation or weak internal access controls. Given that the vulnerability requires local network access, organizations with strong network segmentation and strict access policies will be less impacted. However, the presence of this vulnerability could be leveraged as part of a broader attack chain targeting critical infrastructure or sensitive environments, especially in sectors like government, healthcare, or finance where document confidentiality is paramount.

1. Immediately change the default administrator password on all affected Brother DCP-L8410CDW printers to a strong, unique password to prevent exploitation via the calculated default password. 2. Implement network segmentation to isolate printers from general user networks, limiting local network access to trusted devices only. 3. Disable or restrict the eSCL/uscan protocol if not required for legitimate scanning operations, reducing the attack surface. 4. Monitor network traffic for unusual scanning or discovery activity targeting printers, using IDS/IPS solutions tuned to detect eSCL/uscan protocol misuse. 5. Maintain an asset inventory to identify all Brother DCP-L8410CDW devices and verify their firmware versions and configurations. 6. Apply any future firmware updates or patches released by Brother Industries promptly once available. 7. Educate IT staff and users about the risks of default credentials and the importance of changing them on networked devices. 8. Consider deploying network access control (NAC) to restrict unauthorized devices from connecting to the local network where printers reside.