CVE-2025-12997VulnerabilityPublished 4 Dec 2025Updated 9 Dec 2025

CVE-2025-12997: Medtronic CareLink Network · Insecure Direct Object Reference

Affects Medtronic CareLink NetworkSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 2.2 Low.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

2.2Low

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 8% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: Low
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
Privileges Required: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 4 Dec 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Medtronic CareLink Network	Affected =0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

1. Implement strict role-based access controls (RBAC) and least privilege principles to limit authenticated user permissions to only necessary data and functions. 2. Enforce server-side authorization checks that validate user permissions against requested resources, ensuring user-controlled keys cannot be manipulated to access unauthorized data. 3. Monitor API access logs for unusual or suspicious request patterns that may indicate attempts to exploit IDOR vulnerabilities. 4. Conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing focused on API endpoints to detect similar authorization weaknesses. 5. Educate staff and administrators on the importance of credential security to prevent unauthorized authenticated access. 6. Prepare to apply vendor patches or updates promptly once Medtronic releases them addressing this vulnerability. 7. Consider implementing additional data encryption and anonymization techniques to protect sensitive patient information in transit and at rest. 8. Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) to reduce the risk of credential compromise.

Description

Insecure Direct Object Reference vulnerability in Medtronic CareLink Network which allows an authenticated attacker with access to specific device and user information to submit web requests to an API endpoint that would expose sensitive user information. This issue affects CareLink Network: before December 4, 2025.

Impact

For European organizations, particularly healthcare providers and institutions using Medtronic CareLink Network, this vulnerability poses a risk of unauthorized access to sensitive patient information. Although the impact is rated low, unauthorized disclosure of medical data can have serious privacy and regulatory consequences under GDPR and other data protection laws. The exposure of patient data could lead to loss of patient trust, potential legal liabilities, and compliance issues. Since the vulnerability requires authenticated access, the threat is primarily from insiders or attackers who have already compromised user credentials. The lack of impact on device integrity or availability reduces the risk of direct harm to patients from device malfunction. However, the confidentiality breach alone is significant in the healthcare context. European healthcare organizations must consider this vulnerability within their broader risk management and incident response frameworks.

CWE-639Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #24OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The system's authorization functionality does not prevent one user from gaining access to another user's data or record by modifying the key value identifying the data.
Architecture and Design
For each and every data access, ensure that the user has sufficient privilege to access the record that is being requested.
Architecture and Design · Implementation
Make sure that the key that is used in the lookup of a specific user's record is not controllable externally by the user or that any tampering can be detected.
Architecture and Design
Use encryption in order to make it more difficult to guess other legitimate values of the key or associate a digital signature with the key so that the server can verify that there has been no tampering.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Access Control (opens in a new tab)
Authorization Testing Automation (opens in a new tab)
Cross-Site Request Forgery Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Insecure Direct Object Reference Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V4.1.2 (opens in a new tab)
V4.2.1 (opens in a new tab)
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

medtronic.com/en-us/e/product-security/security-bulletins/carelink-network-vulnerabilities.html (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 11 Dec 2025, 21:44 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-639

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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