CVE-2019-25716: Dräger Patient Monitors DoS Vulnerability

CVE-2019-25716 Overview

CVE-2019-25716 is a denial-of-service vulnerability affecting Dräger Infinity Delta, Delta XL, and Kappa patient monitors. A remote attacker on an adjacent network can send a malformed network packet that forces the monitor to reboot. Repeated transmission of the malformed packet disrupts continuous patient monitoring and eventually causes the device to fall back to its default configuration and lose network connectivity. The flaw is tracked under [CWE-15] (External Control of System or Configuration Setting) and carries a CVSS v4.0 base score of 7.1. The Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS) currently rates the probability of exploitation at 0.046% (14.6th percentile).

Critical Impact

Repeated malformed packets can reboot bedside patient monitors and cut their network connectivity, interrupting clinician visibility into patient vital signs.

Affected Products

• Dräger Infinity Delta patient monitor
• Dräger Infinity Delta XL patient monitor
• Dräger Infinity Kappa patient monitor

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-06-01 - CVE-2019-25716 published to the National Vulnerability Database
• 2026-06-03 - Last updated in the NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2019-25716

Vulnerability Analysis

The affected Dräger Infinity Delta, Delta XL, and Kappa monitors fail to validate incoming network traffic correctly. When the device receives a specifically malformed packet, its network stack triggers an unrecoverable error condition that forces a full reboot. The reboot interrupts vital sign acquisition, alarms, and centralized monitoring data forwarded to nursing stations. An attacker who sends the malformed packet in a loop keeps the monitor in a reboot cycle. After repeated failures, the monitor reverts to its default configuration, dropping network connectivity to central monitoring infrastructure entirely. This represents a meaningful clinical safety concern in environments where continuous remote observation of patient telemetry is required.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper handling of malformed input at the network protocol layer, mapped to [CWE-15]. The device accepts and processes packets without sufficient validation, allowing attacker-controlled input to influence system state and trigger a reboot. After repeated faults, recovery logic resets device configuration to defaults rather than preserving the operational network profile.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires adjacent network access (CVSS AV:A) to the clinical network segment carrying patient monitor traffic. No authentication or user interaction is required. An attacker positioned on the same broadcast or routed clinical VLAN can send the malformed packet directly to the monitor. The attack does not affect confidentiality or integrity; the impact is limited to availability (VA:H), but the operational consequence in a hospital environment is significant.

No public proof-of-concept exploit code is available, and the issue is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. For protocol-level details, refer to the Dräger Security Advisory and the VulnCheck Security Advisory.

Detection Methods for CVE-2019-25716

Indicators of Compromise

• Unscheduled reboots of Dräger Infinity Delta, Delta XL, or Kappa monitors during clinical operations.
• Patient monitors reverting to default network configuration and losing connectivity to central monitoring servers.
• Repeated link-state or DHCP renewal events originating from monitor MAC addresses on clinical VLANs.

Detection Strategies

• Inspect biomedical network segments for anomalous or malformed packets directed at known patient monitor IP addresses.
• Correlate device reboot events from the central monitoring system with network telemetry captured at clinical switches.
• Alert on unexpected ARP, DHCP, or link-up events from monitor MAC address ranges, which often follow a forced reboot.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Forward switch, firewall, and biomedical gateway logs into a centralized analytics platform for cross-correlation with monitor uptime data.
• Establish a baseline of normal traffic volumes and protocols for the monitoring VLAN and alert on deviations.
• Use medical-device-aware network monitoring tools that can fingerprint Dräger Infinity devices and flag protocol anomalies.

How to Mitigate CVE-2019-25716

Immediate Actions Required

• Place all Dräger Infinity Delta, Delta XL, and Kappa monitors on an isolated clinical VLAN with strict access control lists.
• Restrict layer-2 and layer-3 reachability so only authorized central monitoring servers and biomedical engineering workstations can communicate with the monitors.
• Contact Dräger support to confirm device firmware status and obtain remediation guidance specific to the deployed version.

Patch Information

Dräger has published vendor remediation guidance in the Dräger Security Advisory. Operators should coordinate with Dräger service representatives to apply the recommended software update or configuration change for affected Infinity Delta VF10.1 and related Kappa devices, as field updates to medical equipment require qualified biomedical engineering involvement.

Workarounds

• Segment patient monitors behind a dedicated firewall that drops malformed or unexpected protocols at the perimeter of the monitoring VLAN.
• Disable or block unused network services on the monitor and enforce static ARP entries on the upstream switch to limit spoofing.
• Implement port security and 802.1X on access switches so unauthorized devices cannot join the clinical monitoring segment.

# Example switch ACL restricting traffic to authorized central monitoring server only
interface GigabitEthernet0/12
 description Draeger Infinity Delta monitor
 switchport access vlan 50
 switchport port-security maximum 1
 switchport port-security violation restrict
 ip access-group MONITOR-IN in
!
ip access-list extended MONITOR-IN
 permit ip host 10.50.10.20 host 10.50.1.5
 deny   ip any any log