CVE-2019-11687An issue was discovered in the DICOM Part 10 File Format in the NEMA DICOM Standard 1995 through 2019b and continuing in current…
- 7.8HighCVSS base score
- 2.8%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 13% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
An issue was discovered in the DICOM Part 10 File Format in the NEMA DICOM Standard 1995 through 2019b and continuing in current implementations. The 128-byte preamble of a DICOM file that complies with this specification can contain arbitrary executable headers for multiple operating systems, including Portable Executable (PE) files for Windows and Executable and Linkable Format (ELF) files for Linux-based systems. This space is left unspecified so that dual-purpose files can be created. For example, dual-purpose TIFF/DICOM files are used in digital whole slide imaging applications in medicine. This design flaw enables system-wide compromise as malicious DICOM files are routinely shared between medical devices and hospital systems and transported via removable media for patient care coordination. To exploit this vulnerability, someone must execute the maliciously crafted file. These files can be executable even with the .dcm file extension. Anti-malware configurations at healthcare facilities often ignore medical imagery. DICOM files exist on systems that process protected health information, and successful exploitation could result in violations of regulatory compliance requirements such as HIPAA and FDA postmarket obligations.
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
Published
- 7 years later
· 7 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 2.8% · top 13% of all CVEs (13 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
References5
- https://labs.cylera.com/2019.04.16/pe-dicom-medical-malware (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://github.com/d00rt/pedicom/blob/master/doc/Attacking_Digital_Imaging_and_Communication_in_Medicine_%28DICOM%29_file_format_standard_-_Markel_Picado_Ortiz_%28d00rt%29.pdf (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://github.com/d00rt/pedicom (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 108730 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- https://www.praetorian.com/blog/elfdicom-poc-malware-polyglot-exploiting-linux-based-medical-devices/ (opens in a new tab)
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2019-3357 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2019-11687)Record last updated .