CVE-2025-14841VulnerabilityPublished 18 Dec 2025Updated 24 Feb 2026

CVE-2025-14841: OFFIS DCMTK · NULL Pointer Dereference

Affects OFFIS DCMTKSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.8 Medium · fixed in 3.7.0 : update OFFIS DCMTK when convenient.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

4.8Medium

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

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 2% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 3.7.0

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P

Base metrics

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Requirements: None
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None
Vulnerable system integrity: None
Vulnerable system availability: Low
Subsequent system confidentiality: None
Subsequent system integrity: None
Subsequent system availability: None

Threat metrics

Exploit Maturity: POC

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

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable system is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or through terminal emulation (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., using social engineering techniques to trick a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: The attacker must take no measurable action to exploit the vulnerability. The attack requires no target-specific circumvention to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: None: The successful attack does not depend on the deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system. The attacker can expect to be able to reach the vulnerability and execute the exploit under all or most instances of the vulnerability.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker requires privileges that provide basic capabilities that are typically limited to settings and resources owned by a single low-privileged user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges has the ability to access only non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without interaction from any human user, other than the attacker.
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the Vulnerable System are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Subsequent System or all confidentiality impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Subsequent System or all integrity impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Exploit Maturity: POC: Based on threat intelligence sources each of the following must apply: · Proof-of-concept is publicly available · No knowledge of reported attempts to exploit this vulnerability · No knowledge of publicly available solutions used to simplify attempts to exploit the vulnerability

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 18 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
GitHubdcmtk/dcmtk`pkg:github/dcmtk/dcmtk`Other threats	Affected =3.6.0 =3.6.1 =3.6.2 =3.6.3 =3.6.4 =3.6.5 =3.6.6 =3.6.7 =3.6.8 =3.6.9	Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Organizations should upgrade all affected DCMTK instances to version 3.7.0 or later to fully remediate this vulnerability. Until the upgrade is applied, restrict local access to systems running DCMTK to trusted personnel only, and monitor for unusual application crashes or service disruptions related to dcmqrscp. Implement strict access controls and auditing on systems hosting DCMTK to detect and prevent unauthorized local access. Consider deploying application-level monitoring to detect abnormal behavior in DICOM query/retrieve operations. Additionally, review and harden the underlying operating system and network segmentation to limit the attack surface. For environments where immediate upgrade is not feasible, applying runtime protections such as memory safety tools or sandboxing the DCMTK processes may reduce risk. Finally, maintain up-to-date backups and incident response plans to quickly recover from any denial of service incidents.

Description

A flaw has been found in OFFIS DCMTK up to 3.6.9. The impacted element is the function DcmQueryRetrieveIndexDatabaseHandle::startFindRequest/DcmQueryRetrieveIndexDatabaseHandle::startMoveRequest in the library dcmqrdb/libsrc/dcmqrdbi.cc of the component dcmqrscp. This manipulation causes null pointer dereference. The attack requires local access. Upgrading to version 3.7.0 is sufficient to resolve this issue. Patch name: ffb1a4a37d2c876e3feeb31df4930f2aed7fa030. You should upgrade the affected component.

Impact

The primary impact of this vulnerability is denial of service due to application crashes caused by null pointer dereference. Organizations relying on DCMTK for DICOM query/retrieve services, especially in healthcare environments, may experience interruptions in medical imaging workflows, potentially delaying diagnosis or treatment. Since DCMTK is often integrated into PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication Systems) and other medical imaging infrastructure, this could affect hospital operations and patient care. The requirement for local access limits remote exploitation, reducing the risk of widespread attacks, but insider threats or compromised local accounts could exploit this flaw. The vulnerability does not directly compromise patient data confidentiality or integrity but impacts system availability, which is critical in healthcare settings. Given the specialized nature of DCMTK, the impact is mostly confined to healthcare providers, medical device manufacturers, and related service providers.

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 24 Feb 2026, 23:02 UTC

Technical details

References

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