CVE-2025-41698 is a high-severity vulnerability classified under CWE-862 (Missing Authorization) affecting the Draeger ICMHelper service. This vulnerability allows a low-privileged local attacker to interact with the affected service without proper authorization, despite user interaction not being intended or allowed. The flaw lies in the absence of adequate authorization checks within the ICMHelper component, enabling unauthorized access and potentially full control over the service's functionality. The CVSS 3.1 score of 7.8 reflects the significant impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, with the attack vector being local (AV:L), requiring low attack complexity (AC:L), low privileges (PR:L), and no user interaction (UI:N). The scope is unchanged (S:U), but the impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability is high (C:H/I:H/A:H). Although no known exploits are currently reported in the wild, the vulnerability poses a serious risk due to the high privileges that can be escalated from a low-privileged local user. Draeger ICMHelper is typically part of Draeger's medical and industrial device ecosystem, which often operates in critical environments such as hospitals and industrial facilities. Unauthorized access to this service could lead to manipulation or disruption of device operations, potentially endangering patient safety or industrial process integrity.

For European organizations, particularly those in healthcare and industrial sectors, this vulnerability could have severe consequences. Draeger devices are widely used in European hospitals for patient monitoring and life-support systems, as well as in industrial environments for safety and process control. Exploitation could allow attackers to manipulate device behavior, leading to incorrect medical data, disruption of critical care, or unsafe industrial conditions. This could result in patient harm, regulatory non-compliance, financial losses, and reputational damage. The high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability means sensitive patient data could be exposed or altered, and device availability could be compromised, affecting operational continuity. Given the local attack vector, insider threats or attackers with limited access could leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and cause significant harm.

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations using Draeger ICMHelper should immediately implement strict access controls to limit local user access to trusted personnel only. Network segmentation and endpoint protection should be enhanced to detect and prevent unauthorized local access attempts. Since no patch is currently available, organizations should monitor Draeger’s advisories closely for updates or patches. Employing application whitelisting and behavior monitoring can help detect anomalous interactions with the ICMHelper service. Additionally, conducting regular audits of user privileges and local access logs will help identify potential exploitation attempts early. For critical environments, consider isolating affected devices from general user workstations and enforcing multi-factor authentication for local access where possible. Incident response plans should be updated to include scenarios involving local privilege escalation and unauthorized service interaction.