Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Philips SureSigns VS4 patient monitors running A.07.107 or earlier may allow unauthorized access to a protected resource. The business risk is operational: the scoring indicates limited confidentiality and integrity impact, but potentially high availability impact if someone with physical access can trigger the condition.
Executive priority
Treat as a moderate medical-device risk. It is not documented as actively exploited, but affected bedside equipment can carry patient-care availability implications, so assign ownership to clinical engineering and track remediation.
Technical view
CVE-2020-16241 is an improper access control issue, mapped to CWE-284, in Philips SureSigns VS4 A.07.107 and prior. CVSS 3.1 is 6.3 with physical attack vector, high attack complexity, no privileges, no user interaction, changed scope, low confidentiality and integrity impact, and high availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely in healthcare or biomedical environments still using Philips SureSigns VS4 devices at A.07.107 or earlier, especially where physical access is not tightly controlled.
Exploitation context
The provided bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation evidence. The CVSS vector indicates exploitation requires physical access and high complexity, which reduces broad remote risk but matters in clinical settings.
Researcher notes
Evidence in the bundle identifies product, version boundary, CWE, and CVSS vector, but not the protected resource, exploit mechanics, or a specific fix. Avoid assuming remote exposure, exploit availability, or remediation details beyond vendor guidance.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory Philips SureSigns VS4 devices and record installed software versions.
- Review Philips and CISA guidance for supported remediation or service actions.
- Prioritize remediation for devices in patient-care or publicly accessible areas.
- Restrict physical access to affected devices until vendor guidance is applied.
- Document compensating controls for any device that cannot be promptly updated.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether any SureSigns VS4 runs A.07.107 or earlier.
- Check biomedical asset records against live device version information.
- Verify physical access controls around affected clinical areas.
- Confirm Philips or CISA remediation status before closing the finding.
- Record unresolved devices in the vulnerability management exception process.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-284: Authorization and privilege behavior lookup
Authorization weaknesses can support privilege escalation and valid-account review, depending on exploit path. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2020-16241 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6.3 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:H0.55.3Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
6.3MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ics/advisories/icsma-20-233-01CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://www.philips.com/a-w/security/security-advisories/product-security-2020.html#2020_archiveCVE reference
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Access Control
Improper Access Control represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.