Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This issue means certain Philips PIC iX patient monitoring systems used the same built-in cryptographic key. If someone already has local low-privilege access, encrypted data could be recovered. The main business concern is confidentiality of patient-related monitoring data, not remote takeover or service outage based on the provided CVSS vector.
Executive priority
Treat this as a moderate-priority medical technology privacy issue. It deserves prompt inventory and vendor-guided remediation, especially where patient monitoring systems are shared, locally accessible, or weakly administered.
Technical view
CVE-2021-43552 is CWE-321 in Philips Patient Information Center iX versions B.02, C.02, and C.03. The CVSS 3.1 vector is local, low complexity, low privileges, no user interaction, unchanged scope, high confidentiality impact, low integrity impact, and no availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to organizations running Philips PIC iX B.02, C.02, or C.03 in clinical monitoring environments. The provided affected list does not substantiate other Philips products, despite the title mentioning Efficia CM Series.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show active exploitation, and the CVE is not marked KEV. The CVSS vector indicates exploitation requires local access and low privileges, so the key risk is insider, compromised account, or poorly controlled local system access.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports a hard-coded cryptographic key leading to possible encrypted data recovery. The bundle does not provide exploit details, patch version, proof of active exploitation, or confirmed impact beyond PIC iX B.02, C.02, and C.03.
Mitigation direction
- Check Philips and CISA guidance for the confirmed remediation path.
- Inventory PIC iX deployments and identify B.02, C.02, and C.03 systems.
- Restrict local access to monitoring workstations to authorized staff only.
- Review local accounts and remove unnecessary low-privilege access.
- Do not assume key rotation is supported unless Philips guidance confirms it.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether any deployed PIC iX instance runs B.02, C.02, or C.03.
- Verify local login paths are restricted and monitored.
- Review whether Philips or CISA remediation guidance has been applied.
- Confirm compensating controls cover insider or compromised local account scenarios.
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-321: 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-2021-43552 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
- 6.1 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A: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:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N1.84.2Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
6.1MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ics/advisories/icsma-21-322-02CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
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.
Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key
Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.