Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-4478 affects Dräger CC-Vision Basic and CC-Vision E-Cal software when a user opens a malicious .gdt file. The flaw can crash the application or allow malicious code to run on the workstation. This is a user-assisted, file-based risk, not a remotely reachable network service issue.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation for engineering, calibration, or safety operations workstations that use these Dräger tools. The risk is high because malicious code execution is possible, but urgency is moderated by required user interaction and file delivery.
Technical view
The issue is a CWE-787 out-of-bounds write in .gdt file parsing. A crafted .gdt file can trigger a buffer overflow. Reported affected versions are CC-Vision Basic before 7.5.3 and CC-Vision E-Cal before 7.2.5.0. CVSS v4.0 score is 8.3, with local attack vector, low complexity, no privileges, and active user interaction required.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on workstations where Dräger CC-Vision Basic or CC-Vision E-Cal are installed and users import or open .gdt files from email, shared drives, removable media, vendors, or field devices.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. Exploitation requires persuading a user to load a malicious .gdt file. Successful exploitation may cause application denial of service or code execution on the underlying system.
Researcher notes
The provided record has limited product metadata: affected entries show version value “0” and defaultStatus “unaffected,” while the description states specific vulnerable pre-fix versions. Treat the narrative version thresholds as the usable exposure guidance and verify against the vendor advisory.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade CC-Vision Basic to 7.5.3 or later where applicable.
- Upgrade CC-Vision E-Cal to 7.2.5.0 or later where applicable.
- Restrict opening .gdt files to trusted sources only.
- Train users to treat unexpected .gdt files as suspicious.
- Check Dräger guidance for any environment-specific compensating controls.
Validation and detection
- Inventory endpoints for CC-Vision Basic and CC-Vision E-Cal installations.
- Confirm installed versions against the affected version thresholds.
- Review file-handling workflows for externally supplied .gdt files.
- Check email, file share, and removable-media controls for .gdt files.
- Verify users know where to report suspicious calibration files.
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-787: 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-2021-4478 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
- High
- CVSS
- 8.3 (4.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:H/SA: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.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
2 official scoresWe 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:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:H/SA:H——VulnCheckCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H1.85.8VulnCheckVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 4.0 score
8.3HighVector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:H/SA:H
Base CVSS 3.1 score
8.2HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://static.draeger.com/security/download/2021-03-02-PSA-21-061-1-CC-Vision-Product-Security-Advisory.pdfCVE reference, VulnCheck · vendor-advisory
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/dr-ger-cc-vision-basic-and-cc-vision-e-cal-out-of-bounds-write-via-malicious-gdt-fileCVE reference, VulnCheck · third-party-advisory
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.
Out-of-bounds Write
Out-of-bounds Write represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.