Overview
CVE-2025-36521 is a critical vulnerability that exists in the MicroDicom DICOM Viewer, a popular tool used by numerous medical professionals worldwide to view DICOM files-medical images and associated data. This vulnerability poses a significant risk because of its potential to cause memory corruption within the application. This corruption can lead to system compromise or data leakage, which could be catastrophic in the healthcare environment where patient data privacy is paramount.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-36521
Severity: High (8.8/10)
Attack Vector: Local File
Privileges Required: User-level
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potentially leading to system compromise and data leakage
Affected Products
No phone number, email, or personal info required.
Product | Affected Versions
MicroDicom DICOM Viewer | All versions prior to the patch
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability exploits an out-of-bounds read issue in the MicroDicom DICOM Viewer. An attacker can craft a malicious DCM file that, when opened by an unsuspecting user, triggers memory corruption in the DICOM Viewer application. The corrupted memory could lead to unexpected application behavior, including the execution of malicious code or leakage of sensitive information.
Conceptual Example Code
While a specific exploit code is beyond the scope of this post, an attacker would typically craft a malicious DCM file, such as:
filename: malicious.dcm
content: [malicious code]The victim, believing this to be a standard DCM file, would open it in the vulnerable MicroDicom DICOM Viewer. The malicious code within the file would then execute, leading to memory corruption and potential system compromise or data leakage.
Mitigation
The most effective mitigation for this vulnerability is to apply the vendor patch as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime, organizations should consider using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) as a temporary mitigation measure. These security tools can monitor and block suspicious activities, such as the opening of potentially malicious DCM files.
In conclusion, this post demonstrates the crucial importance of maintaining software updates and employing robust security measures to protect against potential vulnerabilities. As the CVE-2025-36521 vulnerability shows, even widely-used applications, such as the MicroDicom DICOM Viewer, can have critical vulnerabilities that pose significant risks to systems and data.