Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This issue could let an unauthorized local actor access restricted resources on affected Philips MRI systems, creating a confidentiality risk. The available evidence points to local access, not remote internet exploitation. Business urgency is moderate because the affected asset is clinical infrastructure and patient or operational data exposure may matter.
Executive priority
Treat this as a moderate medical-device security issue. Prioritize confirming whether affected MRI software exists in the environment and whether Philips has provided remediation. Escalate if systems are shared, poorly physically controlled, or handle sensitive clinical data.
Technical view
CVE-2021-26248 affects Philips MRI 1.5T and 3T software 5.3 through 5.8.1, described as incorrect or insufficient resource access restriction. CVSS 4.0 is 5.9 with local attack vector, low complexity, required attack conditions, no privileges, no user interaction, and high vulnerable-system confidentiality impact.
Likely exposure
Healthcare organizations running Philips MRI 1.5T or 3T software 5.3 through 5.8.1 may be exposed. The bundle also lists only version 5.3 in affected entries, so asset owners should verify exact release scope with Philips or CISA.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not identify active exploitation, and CISA KEV status is false. The CVSS vector indicates local access is required, with attack requirements present. No public exploit details are provided in the bundle.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE summary, CVSS vector, CWE, and advisory links. Do not assume remote reachability, exploitation, or patch availability from this bundle. The affected-version metadata conflicts with the description, so validation should rely on Philips/CISA documentation.
Mitigation direction
- Check Philips product security guidance for supported remediation or service actions.
- Review the CISA ICS medical advisory for vendor-stated mitigations.
- Confirm MRI software versions with Philips service documentation or support.
- Restrict local access to MRI systems to authorized personnel only.
- Maintain compensating controls around clinical device networks and physical access.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Philips MRI 1.5T and 3T systems and software versions.
- Compare installed versions against the 5.3 through 5.8.1 range.
- Check whether Philips has documented remediation for each installed release.
- Review local account, ownership, and access-control settings with vendor support.
- Document unresolved version-scope discrepancies for risk acceptance or escalation.
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-708: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. 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-2021-26248 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
- 5.9 (4.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
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:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N——Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 4.0 score
5.9MediumVector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Source materials
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.
Incorrect Ownership Assignment
Incorrect Ownership Assignment represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.