Patient Monitor Vulnerabilities Threaten Healthcare Security, CISA Warns

On January 30, 2025, CISA and the FDA issued a notice about critical vulnerabilities with Contec CMS8000 patient monitors, including an embedded backdoor and potential data exposure of private patient information. Healthcare organizations are advised to disconnect monitors where possible to prevent further exposure to their technology environments and sensitive data.

Given the increasing pressure on the healthcare industry to get ahead of malicious hacks and protect sensitive patient data, this guidance advises healthcare and technology providers to take immediate action to prevent harm. Here’s what organizations need to know and implement from this notice to mitigate and minimize risks.

Summary

CISA Overview: A warning is issued for Contec CMS8000 patient monitors, which contain an embedded backdoor with a hard-coded IP address to a third party not associated with any medical device manufacturer, and the ability to transmit data externally undetected via port 515 during the startup routine. The reverse backdoor allows the CMS8000 to download and execute unverified remote files, including overwriting existing system files once a reboot happens.

The Risk: Unauthorized patient data transmission, malicious activity hidden from logs, remote control by unauthorized users, potential network compromise, and potential patient monitor malfunction.

What You Should Do:

• Isolate the Device: Place it in a secure network segment to minimize exposure.
• Monitor for Abnormal Traffic: Limit outbound traffic to necessary internal communication only. Block all unnecessary inbound connections. Continuously analyze traffic for anomalies or suspicious behavior.
• Restrict Access: Limit usage to authorized personnel with Access Control Lists (ACLs).
• Consider Device Replacement: If possible, replace affected devices, given the lack of an available patch and the lack of resolve to remove the backdoor in a subsequent patch to CISA.

Understanding the Risk

“Backdoors” in medical devices represent significant cybersecurity vulnerabilities that can compromise patient safety and data integrity. Exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow attackers to execute remote code, leak sensitive patient information, or gain unauthorized access to the device and cause it to function improperly. These vulnerabilities affect multiple firmware versions and may impact healthcare environments worldwide, given the widespread use of these monitors.

Healthcare providers and IT security staff must be vigilant and prioritize efforts to protect their infrastructure, patients, and sensitive data in the face of such alerts. While no public exploitation reports, cybersecurity incidents, or patient harm have been confirmed related to these latest vulnerabilities, proactive cybersecurity steps are crucial for risk mitigation in healthcare to prevent further harm.

What Healthcare Organizations Need to Know

The CMS8000 patient monitor from Contec Health has been identified with severe vulnerabilities, including hidden functionality of an embedded backdoor function with a hard-coded IP address, CWE – 912: Hidden Functionality (CVE-2025-0626), and functionality that can lead to patient data breaches, CWE – 359: Exposure of Private Personal Information to an Unauthorized Actor (CVE-2025-0683), exists in all versions analyzed.

The FDA notes that the Contec CMS8000 may be relabeled and sold by resellers. For instance, the Epsimed MN-120 patient monitors are Contec CMS8000 monitors relabeled as MN-120. Verifying the Unique Device Identifier (UDI) is recommended for more accurate reporting and mitigation.

According to the FDA, there are three core risks:

• An unauthorized user may remotely control the patient monitor, impacting its ability to function as intended.
• The backdoor may mean the device or network to which the device has been connected could be compromised.
• Internet-connected patient monitors may gather patient data and exfiltrate it outside the healthcare delivery environment.

Healthcare organizations should implement the following security measures to reduce risk:

• Assess Remote Monitoring Capabilities
  • If Remote Monitoring is Not Necessary: Use Local Monitoring Only. Remove access to the internet to avoid continued data exposure.
  • If Remote Monitoring is Necessary: Isolate the Device. Place the device in a secure network environment to minimize exposure. Consider ceasing use.
• Check Monitor Functionality: Watch for signs of malfunction, such as inconsistencies with patient vitals, to prevent clinical impact and detect remote access attempts.
• Manage Network Traffic & Activity: Restrict outbound traffic to only necessary internal communications, preventing unauthorized external connections. Continuously analyze for traffic anomalies and suspicious connections.
• Enforce Access Controls: Restrict usage to authorized personnel only, ensuring proper authentication and oversight.
• Consider Device Replacement: Or other alternative solutions, given the essential nature of patient monitors and the lack of an available patch.

Previous CMS8000 Vulnerabilities

On July 24, 2024, researchers from ARPA-H reported to CISA severe security risk to hospitals utilizing CMS8000 devices. Exploiting this vulnerability requires an attacker to operate within the hospital network and transmit two sequential packets. In environments lacking proper network segmentation and access controls, the attack could be executed via a UDP broadcast, potentially leading to the mass compromise of multiple CMS8000 devices.

The vulnerability arises from insufficient bounds checking, enabling threat actors to execute remote code and gain full control over the affected devices. Moreover, attackers can establish persistence, maintaining access even after the device reboots.

Although this vulnerability shares similarities with CVE-2022-38100, its severity surpasses that of the previously documented issue. However, no additional advisory or CVE identifier was assigned to this finding from July 2024. While the exploitation of CVE-2022-38100 results in a device crash, this newly identified vulnerability allows attackers to achieve root privileges and establish persistence.

How Armis Can Help

1. Asset Discovery & Risk Assessment

• Identify Vulnerable Devices: Armis can quickly identify if any impacted devices are used in your environment. If you cannot find this device, it may appear as a Contec PC or be listed under a generic manufacturer name. Verify location, naming conventions, or physically verify your device IDs.
• Contextual Risk Scoring: Assign a risk score based on vulnerabilities, known threats, and device behavior, including clinical use and context.
• Automated Security Policies: Identify activities associated with in-scope devices communicating to an external IP over port 515, establish access control via IP connections, and isolate the device to prevent traffic from being sent externally.

2. Threat Detection & Monitoring

• Anomalous Behavior Detection: Armis monitors malicious activity generated by assets, including activity associated with sensitive data exchange and network connections to unusual IP addresses.
• Network Traffic Monitoring: Identify spikes in traffic or unknown or suspicious domains or foreign external IPs to continuously identify and intercept potential compromises.

3. Segmentation & Access Control Recommendations

• Zero Trust Enforcement: Create proposed Access Control Lists and network segmentation strategies that can be used to isolate affected devices like the Contec patient monitors and restrict the ability to initiate backdoor communication.
• Blocking Unnecessary Communication: Armis integrations with NAC, firewall, and EDR solutions restrict unauthorized access from compromised assets and connections to unapproved external destinations.

4. Patch & Mitigation Guidance

• Vulnerability Insights: Armis offers real-time intelligence on CVEs and vulnerabilities/security findings, including potential exploitability and remediation steps.
• Patch Prioritization: Armis facilitates prioritized patching and remediation efforts based on risk exposure and business impact.
• Streamline Mitigation Process: Create dedicated vulnerability mitigation campaigns with actionable ticketing and work orders to track risk reduction and remediation efforts for all impacted devices.

5. Early Warning Intelligence to Preempt an Attack

• Early Warning Feeds: Armis leverages real-time threat intelligence to alert organizations about active exploit attempts or threat actor campaigns targeting healthcare.
• Proactive Alerts: Notifies security teams before an exploit is weaponized in their environment.

Conclusion

To ensure the safety of patients and the security of sensitive health data, healthcare organizations must act promptly to mitigate the risks associated with devices like the Contec CMS8000. In the short term, healthcare delivery organizations should disconnect affected devices from networks and closely monitor for anomalies. However, this reactionary response is not sustainable. Replacing medical devices is not easy and is often a last resort. Healthcare organizations should leverage advanced solutions with real-time monitoring, proactive enforcement, and early warning threat intelligence feeds to prevent wider impacts and safeguard health services. Proactively addressing such vulnerabilities and enabling a rapid response to emerging threats will help uphold trust, maintain clinical integrity, and secure patient care against what’s to come.