Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "OctoPrint" in English language version.
Last modified:
This is the case right now for OctoPrint, who has apparently lost their sponsor, BQ, and is taking to Patreon for support in what is a bit of an emergency funding situation or we may lose this startup to current lack of capital. According to word on the street—or, today that would be on Reddit—those who are fans of the 'snappy web interface' for their 3D printers put the word out leading us to a social media announcement from founder Gina Häusge. There is undeniable concern for the future of what is currently quite a popular source of 3D printing host software.
Gina Häußge is the founder and main developer of OctoPrint.
Responding to the ISC, OctoPrint has re-iterated the importance of proper configuration. And while the startup wizard for OctoPrint actively warns against allowing unauthenticated access, some users may have disregarded this.
The system is built with a Raspberry Pi inside and has WiFi access. The converted Printrbot has no LCD screen, and is operated via a mobile phone using OctoPrint, a web interface for 3D printers. Sanladerer filmed the whole reconstruction process and uploaded it to YouTube.
Such tinkering includes running the batteries into a DC boost converter which enables the voltage to reach the required 12V for the printer to work. A DC regulator will also be used to bring the voltage to 5V to run the Raspberry Pi which in turn runs OctoPrint.
But how do you use AstroPrint Cloud with OctoPrint? It turns out they've made a plug-in for OctoPrint that is installable by the touch of a button. Once done, your OctoPrint installation is then connected to the AstroPrint cloud and you can then use their mobile app to remotely control your 3D printer, for example. But you can also bring forward all their other functionality, which is considerable.
In a brilliant article on OctoPrint.org, contributor Jubaleth describes how many OctoPrint installations are actually publicly exposed to anyone by improper methods of Internet connection. Typically an uninformed operator might simply forward the OctoPrint ports through their network router to the public Internet.
It's super convenient, but the ISC has discovered at least 3,759 instances in which users have deliberately set up their 3D printers to be accessible via the internet without the need for authentication (i.e. logging in with a username and password).
Putting OctoPrint onto the public internet is a terrible idea, and I really can't emphasize that enough. Let's think about this for a moment, or two, or even three. OctoPrint is connected to a printer, complete with motors and heaters. If some hacker somewhere wanted to do some damage, they could.
1,981 members 461 posts $5,243/month
Most of you probably know that OctoPrint's development has been heavily sponsored by BQ since August 2014, mostly by employing me (Gina Häusge) full time for working on it. ... If you love OctoPrint and believe in its potential and my skills to get it there, please consider supporting me on Patreon. ... TLDR Please support me on Patreon.
They are thousands of Octoprint instances accessible without any authentication reported by Shodan:
This is a problem caused by bad configuration and not the OctoPrint software, which clearly warns against enabling access without access control. Any owner exposing their printer to the internet without this must have chosen to do so.
Earlier this month, security experts found a way to use OctoPrint to take print files off printers remotely or replace them with compromised files. An enterprising reporter even managed to do this inside two corporations that they left unnamed. Granted, these breaches stem from an unintended use case for OctoPrint
"These printers are controlled using the open source software package 'OctoPrint' but it's likely there are other tools that are similarly affected. OctoPrint is not meant to be exposed in this way, and it explains in its documentation how to deploy the software in a safe way," Mertens explained.
Most of you probably know that OctoPrint's development has been heavily sponsored by BQ since August 2014, mostly by employing me (Gina Häusge) full time for working on it. ... If you love OctoPrint and believe in its potential and my skills to get it there, please consider supporting me on Patreon. ... TLDR Please support me on Patreon.
This is a problem caused by bad configuration and not the OctoPrint software, which clearly warns against enabling access without access control. Any owner exposing their printer to the internet without this must have chosen to do so.
1,981 members 461 posts $5,243/month
