Major security flaw in Lenovo"s ThinkPad Manager allows hackers access into your laptop

A critical encryption vulnerability in Lenovo”s ThinkPad Manager Pro software exposes laptops running Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 could allow hackers access into a user”s computer by bypassing fingerprint recognition, the company confirmed last week in a security advisory.

“A vulnerability has been identified in Lenovo Fingerprint Manager Pro. 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,” reads the statement.

Devices running Windows 10 were not affected because they use the fingerprint reader support from Microsoft.

To exploit the vulnerability, hackers had do to it in person as local access was required.

A patch for the Fingerprint Manager Pro application was released on Jan. 25. Users with vulnerable models are encouraged to download and install version 8.01.87.

The vulnerable machines are:

ThinkPad L560
ThinkPad P40 Yoga, P50s
ThinkPad T440, T440p, T440s, T450, T450s, T460, T540p, T550, T560
ThinkPad W540, W541, W550s
ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Type 20A7, 20A8), X1 Carbon (Type 20BS, 20BT)
ThinkPad X240, X240s, X250, X260
ThinkPad Yoga 14 (20FY), Yoga 460
ThinkCentre M73, M73z, M78, M79, M83, M93, M93p, M93z
ThinkStation E32, P300, P500, P700, P900