Canon Printer Prints Gibberish & "Cookie: mstshash=Test"

Printer viruses were all the rage a few years back when printers started to be capable of connecting to the network and then directly to internet.

There are local versions.. (NOTE windows of course)

https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/threat-encyclopedia/web-attack/117/understan ding-the-printer-virus

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/scitech/technology/263209/your-printer-printing-g arbage-it-could-be-a-virus/story/

Anytime a network printer starts printing garbage you should look at possibility of virus on local (windows or vulnerable machine) The fact that a cookie is involved may indicate something on a device.. Clear the browser cache of all cookies.

printer is open to IPP printer setup

Adding a network printer

This shows how IPP is setup in the computer.. if you have any opening to the internet it would be worth checking.. eg back to my mac.. turn it off and see if the problem continues.

Also try and see what you are doing when the printer starts chucking out garbage.

I really do think something related to browser and malformed cookie could be involved.

Therefore clear the cache on all the browsers you are using on the network. Since a particular named cookie is being presented see if you can figure out which site it is coming in from.. to do that you might need to set the browser to block cookies unless you agree.. that way you can keep track.

These things were always a pain to fix.. way way back when I used to do computer support.

I can find very little mention of this printer anywhere.. it certainly does not seem to be problematic but is not used much in Apple circles.. it seems to only have airprint functionality through its own special app...

Other than the Macbook do you have the app loaded in iOS product??

Since you have some printing of a cookie.. lets suggest this is an issue with printer being open to print from internet.. or any cloud connection.

My recommendation is to get rid of any apps on iOS and stick to just the driver in the MBP... if that is already the case.. plug the printer into the express via USB and disconnect the ethernet and tell me if you get improvement.

It is fairly unusual but there is a firmware update for this printer which suggests it has some issue.. I would certainly do the firmware update as it might help the situation.

http://support-ph.canon-asia.com/contents/PH/EN/0400313222.html

So I have a HP 8500 printer doing almost the same thing. It prints random characters then Cookie: mstshash=hello. I don't think this is from the printer but some Apple device. Unfortunately we have 3 MAcBooks, 3 iPhones, and 2 iPads and it could be any of them doing this. I'm thinking it is my iPad because my printer printed last night while I was using it.

I would recommend the same sort of testing..

Plug the printer into the airport via USB or ethernet.. and see what happens..

USB will stop airprint from working but there are ways around that using print server on a Mac.

There seems to be several printers with that number.. is yours running airprint, or are you using eprint or special HP tool?

The trick is to find the source of the problem. It sounds like a driver not written correctly or even one of several print viruses you get around the internet when a printer is open to IPP printer setup.

I had a similar problem on an HP LaserJet 200, but it continuously printed pages until all of the paper was used up! Of course this happened regularly right around 2:30 AM. Also, the gibberish was much much worse.

Ended up buying a new Brother printer (8900 I think), and now only every once in a while (still around 2:30am) I get just two pages with much cleaner gibberish, and the same "Cookie: mstshash=Test" that you are getting.

I have an Airport Express, and it is connected to an iMac, two 12-inch MacBooks, two iPhones (6s and 6s Plus), occasionally an iPad 3 and Playstation 4, a Chromecast, a Samsung Smart TV, and--the one that I suspect may be the culprit--a Hunter Douglass PowerView hub, which controls our automatic window shades.

After doing a bit of research, it looks like the mstshash thing appears to be a Microsoft Remote Desktop (RDS) thing. The only things that I can think of that may utilize RDS are the Chromecast or the Hunter Douglass hub.

One alternative may be the master router for my building's internet service (I use WebPass, which I think is now Google Fiber).