ICS Medical Advisory

Medtronic MyCareLink 24950 Patient Monitor

Last Revised
Alert Code
ICSMA-18-219-01

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  • CVSS v3 4.9
  • Vendor: Medtronic
  • Equipment: MyCareLink Patient Monitor
  • Vulnerabilities: Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity, Storing Passwords in a Recoverable Format

2. RISK EVALUATION

Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities may allow an attacker with physical access to obtain per-product credentials that are utilized to authenticate data uploads and encrypt data at rest. Additionally, an attacker with access to a set of these credentials and additional identifiers can upload invalid data to the Medtronic CareLink network.

3. TECHNICAL DETAILS

3.1 AFFECTED PRODUCTS

The following versions of the Medtronic MyCareLink 24950 Patient Monitor, are affected:

  • 24950 MyCareLink Monitor, all versions,
  • 24952 MyCareLink Monitor, all versions.

3.2 VULNERABILITY OVERVIEW

3.2.1    INSUFFICIENT VERIFICATION OF DATA AUTHENTICITY CWE-345

The affected product’s update service does not sufficiently verify the authenticity of the data uploaded. An attacker who obtains per-product credentials from the monitor and paired implantable cardiac device information can potentially upload invalid data to the Medtronic CareLink network.

CVE-2018-10626 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 4.4 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:A/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N).

3.2.2    STORING PASSWORDS IN A RECOVERABLE FORMAT CWE-257

The affected products use per-product credentials that are stored in a recoverable format. An attacker can use these credentials for network authentication and encryption of local data at rest.

CVE-2018-10622 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 4.9 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N).

3.3 BACKGROUND

  • CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTORS: Healthcare and Public Health
  • COUNTRIES/AREAS DEPLOYED: Worldwide
  • COMPANY HEADQUARTERS LOCATION: Ireland

3.4 RESEARCHER

Billy Rios, Jesse Young, and Jonathan Butts of Whitescope LLC reported these vulnerabilities to NCCIC.

4. MITIGATIONS

Medtronic has made server-side updates to address the insufficient verification vulnerability identified in this advisory. Medtronic is implementing additional server-side mitigations to enhance data integrity and authenticity.

Medtronic recommends users take additional defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation. Specifically, users should:

  • Maintain good physical control over the home monitor.
  • Only use home monitors obtained directly from their healthcare provider or a Medtronic representative to ensure integrity of the system.

Medtronic has released additional patient focused information, at the following location:

https://www.medtronic.com/security

NCCIC recommends users take defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation of these vulnerabilities. Specifically, users should:

  • Do not upload and run files without verifying the integrity of the file.
  • Interact with, and only obtain files, software, and software patches from trustworthy reputable sources.
  • Minimize network exposure for all medical devices and/or systems, and ensure that they are not accessible from the Internet.

NCCIC reminds organizations to perform proper impact analysis and risk assessment prior to deploying defensive measures.



NCCIC also provides a section for control systems security recommended practices on the ICS-CERT web page. Several recommended practices are available for reading and download, including Improving Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity with Defense-in-Depth Strategies.

Additional mitigation guidance and recommended practices are publicly available on the ICS-CERT website in the Technical Information Paper, ICS-TIP-12-146-01B--Targeted Cyber Intrusion Detection and Mitigation Strategies.



Organizations observing any suspected malicious activity should follow their established internal procedures and report their findings to NCCIC for tracking and correlation against other incidents.

No known public exploits specifically target these vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities are not exploitable remotely. High skill level is needed to exploit.

This product is provided subject to this Notification and this Privacy & Use policy.

Vendor

Medtronic