CVE-2019-25722: Dräger SC Monitoring Auth Bypass Flaw

CVE-2019-25722 Overview

CVE-2019-25722 affects Dräger SC Monitoring devices, including the SC 6002XL, SC 6802XL, SC 7000, SC 8000, and SC 9000 XL patient monitors. The vulnerability combines two distinct weaknesses: hard-coded plaintext credentials embedded in the device source code [CWE-798] and a denial-of-service flaw exploitable through malformed network packets. A local attacker can use the hard-coded credentials to access service and clinical accounts and alter device configuration. A remote attacker on an adjacent network can trigger repeated device reboots, disrupting patient monitoring. The vulnerability affects all software versions of the listed devices.

Critical Impact

Loss of network connectivity and disruption of patient monitoring through remote-triggered device reboots, combined with full configuration access via hard-coded service and clinical account credentials.

Affected Products

• Dräger Infinity Acute Care System Monitoring (SC 7000, SC 8000, SC 9000 XL) — all software versions
• Dräger SC 6002XL and SC 6802XL Monitoring devices — all software versions
• Service and clinical accounts on the above device families

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-06-02 - CVE-2019-25722 published to NVD
• 2026-06-03 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2019-25722

Vulnerability Analysis

The Dräger SC Monitoring product family contains two distinct defects exposed across all firmware versions. The first defect is the inclusion of plaintext credentials directly in the device source code. These credentials grant access to service and clinical accounts used to configure device behavior. The second defect is improper handling of malformed network packets, which causes the device to reboot when processing crafted input. Repeated triggering produces a sustained denial-of-service condition. Both issues are present in clinical environments where attackers may share a network segment with patient monitors.

Root Cause

The credential flaw is a classic use of hard-coded credentials [CWE-798], where authentication secrets are compiled into the firmware rather than provisioned per device. Because the credentials are identical across deployments, recovery of one device yields access to the rest. The denial-of-service flaw stems from missing input validation in the network packet handler, which fails to reject malformed structures before processing them.

Attack Vector

A local attacker with physical or console access to a device authenticates with the hard-coded service or clinical credentials and modifies configuration. A network-adjacent attacker reaches the device over the monitoring LAN and sends malformed packets. The packets trigger a fault path that forces the device into a reboot loop, eliminating network connectivity and stopping clinical telemetry until the malformed traffic source is contained.

No verified public exploit code is available. Refer to the Draeger Security Advisory Update and the VulnCheck Advisory on Hard-Coded Credentials for technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2019-25722

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected reboots or repeated power-cycle events logged by SC 6002XL, SC 6802XL, SC 7000, SC 8000, or SC 9000 XL monitors.
• Loss of telemetry from one or more patient monitors on the clinical network without a corresponding maintenance event.
• Logins to service or clinical accounts originating from unauthorized workstations or outside scheduled service windows.
• Malformed or non-standard packets directed at monitor IP addresses on the biomedical VLAN.

Detection Strategies

• Capture and inspect network traffic to and from monitor IP ranges, alerting on protocol violations or oversized payloads directed at known device ports.
• Correlate device reboot events with packet captures to identify the originating host of malformed traffic.
• Audit configuration change events on monitors and flag any change associated with the default service or clinical accounts.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Place biomedical monitors on a segmented VLAN with span-port visibility into a network identification platform.
• Continuously baseline expected protocols and packet sizes on the monitoring VLAN, and alert on deviations.
• Forward device syslog and reboot telemetry to a centralized log platform for retention and correlation.

How to Mitigate CVE-2019-25722

Immediate Actions Required

• Isolate Dräger SC Monitoring devices on a dedicated VLAN with strict access control lists that permit traffic only from authorized clinical workstations and gateways.
• Restrict physical access to monitors so the hard-coded service and clinical credentials cannot be used by unauthorized personnel.
• Contact Dräger support to confirm the latest firmware status and obtain device-specific guidance referenced in the vendor advisory.

Patch Information

Dräger has published mitigation guidance in the Draeger Security Advisory Update. Because the hard-coded credentials are present in source across all software versions, vendor coordination is required to apply firmware updates or compensating controls specific to the deployment. Operators should follow Dräger's instructions for device hardening and any available service-account configuration changes.

Workarounds

• Enforce network segmentation between patient monitors and general-purpose IT networks using firewalls or industrial network gateways.
• Disable or rate-limit unsolicited inbound traffic to monitor ports at the segment boundary to reduce exposure to malformed-packet denial of service.
• Limit service account use to vendor-supervised maintenance sessions and rotate any operator-controlled credentials per Dräger guidance.
• Maintain offline clinical fallback procedures so that monitor reboots do not interrupt patient care during incident response.