Life2000 Ventilation System: Use of Hard-coded Credentials
CVE-2024-48971 is a critical-severity use of hard-coded credentials vulnerability in Life2000 Ventilation System from Baxter, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.3 out of 10. It can be exploited with local access to the system by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. Affected Life2000 Ventilation System versions: 06.08.00.00 and prior. The record does not name a fixed version, so check the vendor advisory. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.22% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.
Critical severity: a successful attack would have severe impact.
What to do
- Check which version of Life2000 Ventilation System you run against the affected versions below, and install the vendor's latest release.
Affected products and versions
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter | Life2000 Ventilation System | 06.08.00.00 and prior | Not stated |
| Baxter | life2000_ventilator_firmware | 06.08.00.00 and earlier | Not stated |
Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.
How the severity score breaks down
- Attack vector
- LocalThe attacker needs local access or must trick a user into running something.
- Attack complexity
- LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
- Privileges required
- NoneNo account or login is needed.
- User interaction
- NoneNo action by a victim is required.
- Scope
- ChangedThe attack can reach beyond the vulnerable component into other systems.
- Confidentiality
- HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
- Integrity
- HighData or code can be modified at will.
- Availability
- HighThe component can be taken down completely.
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H. Scored by CNA (baxter.com).
Official description
The Clinician Password and Serial Number Clinician Password are hard-coded into the ventilator in plaintext form. This could allow an attacker to obtain the password off the ventilator and use it to gain unauthorized access to the device, with clinician privileges.
Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.
The underlying weakness: Use of Hard-coded Credentials
The product contains hard-coded credentials, such as a password or cryptographic key.
How developers prevent this class of flaw
- For outbound authentication: store passwords, keys, and other credentials outside of the code in a strongly-protected, encrypted configuration file or database that is protected from access by all outsiders, including other local users on the same system. Properly protect the key (CWE-320). If you cannot use encryption to protect the file, then make sure that the permissions are as restrictive as possible. In Windows environments, the Encrypted File System (EFS) may provide some protection.
- For inbound authentication: Rather than hard-code a default username and password, key, or other authentication credentials for first time logins, utilize a first login mode that requires the user to enter a unique strong password or key.
- If the product must contain hard-coded credentials or they cannot be removed, perform access control checks and limit which entities can access the feature that requires the hard-coded credentials. For example, a feature might only be enabled through the system console instead of through a network connection.
More Use of Hard-coded Credentials vulnerabilities (CWE-798)
Timeline
- CVE record published.
- CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: no, technical impact: total).
- Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).
References
Other references
Other vulnerabilities in Life2000 Ventilation System
- 9.3 Critical severity
- 9.3 Critical severity
- 9.3 Critical severity
- 10.0 Critical severity
- 10.0 Critical severity
- 9.3 Critical severity
Recent Use of Hard-coded Credentials vulnerabilities
- 9.8 Critical severity
- 7.4 High severity
- 7.8 High severity
- 9.8 Critical severity
- 8.1 High severity
- 9.8 Critical severity
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