CVE-2025-0569

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-0569 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Sante PACS Server, specifically within the DCM file parsing component. This flaw allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to trigger a denial-of-service (DoS) condition by sending a specially crafted DCM file. The vulnerability stems from improper validation of user-supplied data, leading to memory corruption. With a CVSS score of 7.5 (High), the attack vector is network-based, requires no authentication, and has low complexity, making it easily exploitable. No public proof-of-concept (PoC) or patch is currently available, but the risk is elevated due to the lack of authentication requirements and the critical role of PACS servers in healthcare environments.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability is not related to NPM, PyPI, Go, or Ruby packages. It affects a proprietary medical imaging server (Sante PACS Server), which is typically deployed in on-premises healthcare networks. Supply chain risk is limited to the vendor’s software distribution channels.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 7.5 (High)
• Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
• Attack Vector: Network (AV:N) – exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity: Low (AC:L) – no special conditions required.
• Privileges Required: None (PR:N) – no authentication needed.
• User Interaction: None (UI:N) – no user action required.
• Scope: Unchanged (S:U) – impact confined to the vulnerable component.
• Confidentiality Impact: None (C:N) – no data exposure.
• Integrity Impact: None (I:N) – no data modification.
• Availability Impact: High (A:H) – total loss of service availability.

Threat Level: High. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable without authentication, and a successful attack can cause a complete denial of service, disrupting medical imaging workflows.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in the DCM (DICOM) file parsing routine of Sante PACS Server. DICOM is the standard format for medical imaging data. The server processes incoming DCM files for storage, retrieval, or forwarding. The flaw is a classic memory corruption issue (CWE-119) caused by insufficient validation of data length or structure within the DCM file.

Technical Details:

• Root Cause: The parser does not properly check the size of a data element or the number of elements in a sequence. An attacker can craft a DCM file with an oversized or malformed data element (e.g., a very long tag value or an invalid length field).
• Trigger: When the server attempts to read or copy this data into a fixed-size buffer, it overflows the buffer, corrupting adjacent memory.
• Impact: Memory corruption leads to an access violation (e.g., segmentation fault) or an infinite loop, causing the server process to crash or hang. This results in a denial-of-service condition.
• Attack Vector: The attacker sends the malicious DCM file over the network to the server’s DICOM port (typically port 104 or 11112). No authentication is required.

Why No Patch? The vendor (Sante) has not released a patch, and the status is unknown. This may be due to the vendor’s inactivity, the complexity of the fix, or the vulnerability being disclosed without prior coordination.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, a direct code comparison is not possible. However, the vulnerable code likely resembles:

// Vulnerable pseudo-code
void parse_dcm_element(char *buffer, int length) {
    char element_data[256];
    // No length check
    memcpy(element_data, buffer, length); // Buffer overflow if length > 256
}

A patched version would include bounds checking:

// Patched pseudo-code
void parse_dcm_element(char *buffer, int length) {
    char element_data[256];
    if (length > sizeof(element_data)) {
        // Handle error
        return;
    }
    memcpy(element_data, buffer, length);
}

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Offensive)

Objective: Trigger a denial-of-service on Sante PACS Server.

Lab Environment:

• Target: Sante PACS Server (vulnerable version) running on Windows Server 2019.
• Attacker: Kali Linux with Python3 and Scapy or custom script.

Exploit Steps:

1. Identify Target: Scan for open port 104 (DICOM) using Nmap:

   nmap -p 104 <target_ip>
   

2. Craft Malicious DCM File: Create a DCM file with an oversized tag value. Example using Python:

   import socket
   # DICOM header + malformed element
   dcm_payload = b'\x00\x01' * 10000  # Simplified oversized data
   sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
   sock.connect(('target_ip', 104))
   sock.send(dcm_payload)
   sock.close()
   

3. Observe Crash: Monitor the server process; it should crash or become unresponsive.

Note: No public exploit code is available. The above is a conceptual example.

Blue Team (Defensive)

Detection & Response:

• Network Monitoring: Look for anomalous DICOM traffic, especially oversized packets or malformed headers.
• Log Analysis: Check server logs for crashes or unexpected terminations.
• Honeypot: Deploy a DICOM honeypot to capture exploit attempts.

Mitigation:

• Network Segmentation: Isolate PACS servers from untrusted networks.
• Firewall Rules: Restrict access to port 104 to known IP addresses only.
• IDS/IPS: Deploy Suricata rules (see Detection Engineering) to detect malicious DCM files.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:
  • DICOM packets with unusually large data elements (e.g., > 64KB).
  • Repeated connection attempts to port 104 from unknown IPs.
  • Malformed DICOM headers (e.g., invalid group/element tags).
• Host IOCs:
  • Sante PACS Server process crash logs (e.g., Event ID 1000 on Windows).
  • Memory dump files in the server’s working directory.
  • Unexpected high CPU or memory usage before crash.
• File IOCs:
  • DCM files with abnormal size (e.g., > 100MB for a single image).
  • DCM files with invalid or missing DICOM preamble.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_0569_Sante_PACS_DCM_Memory_Corruption {
    meta:
        description = "Detects malformed DCM files targeting Sante PACS Server"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        cve = "CVE-2025-0569"
    strings:
        $dcm_header = { 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 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