Overview
A medium severity vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-12994, has been discovered in the Medtronic CareLink Network. This flaw allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to initiate a request for security questions to an API endpoint. This could potentially be exploited to determine valid user accounts within the system. This issue affects CareLink Network versions prior to the update released on December 4, 2025.
Technical Details
CVE-2025-12994 stems from insufficient access control on an API endpoint within the Medtronic CareLink Network. An attacker can leverage this weakness to probe the system for valid usernames by repeatedly sending requests to the vulnerable endpoint and analyzing the responses. By initiating requests for security questions, the attacker can potentially correlate responses with publicly available information or previously compromised data to identify legitimate user accounts. The unauthenticated nature of this exploit significantly increases the attack surface.
CVSS Analysis
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score for CVE-2025-12994 is 5.3, indicating a MEDIUM severity. The CVSS vector string would likely be something like: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N. This score reflects the following characteristics:
- Attack Vector (AV:N): Network – The vulnerability is exploitable over the network.
- Attack Complexity (AC:L): Low – Little specialized access or effort is required to exploit.
- Privileges Required (PR:N): None – No privileges are required to exploit the vulnerability.
- User Interaction (UI:N): None – No user interaction is required to exploit the vulnerability.
- Scope (S:U): Unchanged – An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority.
- Confidentiality (C:L): Low – There is some limited compromise to confidentiality.
- Integrity (I:N): None – There is no compromise to integrity.
- Availability (A:N): None – There is no compromise to availability.
Possible Impact
Successful exploitation of CVE-2025-12994 could have several significant impacts:
- Account Enumeration: Attackers can identify valid user accounts within the Medtronic CareLink Network.
- Credential Stuffing/Brute Force Attacks: Identified usernames can be used in subsequent credential stuffing or brute-force attacks to gain unauthorized access.
- Data Breach: Compromised accounts could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive patient data, potentially violating HIPAA regulations.
- Reputational Damage: A successful attack could severely damage Medtronic’s reputation and erode trust in the CareLink Network.
Mitigation or Patch Steps
Medtronic has released a security update to address CVE-2025-12994. It is critical to update your CareLink Network installations to the latest version (released on or after December 4, 2025) as soon as possible. Additionally, consider the following mitigation steps:
- Apply the Patch: Immediately apply the official security update provided by Medtronic.
- Monitor Network Traffic: Monitor network traffic for unusual activity targeting the CareLink Network API endpoints.
- Implement Rate Limiting: Implement rate limiting on the affected API endpoints to prevent automated probing attempts.
- Strengthen Account Security: Encourage users to use strong, unique passwords and enable multi-factor authentication where available.
- Review Access Controls: Regularly review and enforce strict access controls to limit unauthorized access to sensitive data.
