CVE-2020-27252 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2020-27252
Vulnerability Scoring

8.8
/10
Severe Risk

Cybersecurity professionals consider CVE-2020-27252 an immediate threat requiring urgent mitigation.

Attack Complexity Details

  • Attack Complexity: Low
    Exploits can be performed without significant complexity or special conditions.
  • Attack Vector: Adjacent_network
    Attack Vector Under Analysis
  • Privileges Required: None
    No privileges are required for exploitation.
  • Scope: Changed
    Successful exploitation can impact components beyond the vulnerable component.
  • User Interaction: Required
    User interaction is necessary for successful exploitation.

CVE-2020-27252 Details

Status: Modified

Last updated: 🕗 22 May 2025, 20:15 UTC
Originally published on: 🕗 14 Dec 2020, 20:15 UTC

Time between publication and last update: 1620 days

CVSS Release: version 3

CVSS3 Source

ics-cert@hq.dhs.gov

CVSS3 Type

Secondary

CVSS3 Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2020-27252 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2020-27252: Medtronic MyCareLink Smart 25000 is vulnerable to a race condition in the MCL Smart Patient Reader software update system, which allows unsigned firmware to be uploaded and executed on the Patient Reader. If exploited, an attacker could remotely execute code on the MCL Smart Patient Reader device, leading to control of the device.

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2020-27252

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2020-27252 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2020-27252

With low attack complexity and no required privileges, CVE-2020-27252 is an easy target for cybercriminals. Organizations should prioritize immediate mitigation measures to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2020-27252, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2020-27252, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

  • Confidentiality: High
    Exploiting CVE-2020-27252 can result in unauthorized access to sensitive data, severely compromising data privacy.
  • Integrity: High
    CVE-2020-27252 could allow unauthorized modifications to data, potentially affecting system reliability and trust.
  • Availability: High
    CVE-2020-27252 can disrupt system operations, potentially causing complete denial of service (DoS).

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.

EPSS Score: 1.416% (probability of exploit)

EPSS Percentile: 86.64% (lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 13.36% of others.

CVE-2020-27252 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-367

CAPEC Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification

  • Leveraging Race Conditions via Symbolic Links CAPEC-27 This attack leverages the use of symbolic links (Symlinks) in order to write to sensitive files. An attacker can create a Symlink link to a target file not otherwise accessible to them. When the privileged program tries to create a temporary file with the same name as the Symlink link, it will actually write to the target file pointed to by the attackers' Symlink link. If the attacker can insert malicious content in the temporary file they will be writing to the sensitive file by using the Symlink. The race occurs because the system checks if the temporary file exists, then creates the file. The attacker would typically create the Symlink during the interval between the check and the creation of the temporary file.
  • Leveraging Time-of-Check and Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) Race Conditions CAPEC-29 This attack targets a race condition occurring between the time of check (state) for a resource and the time of use of a resource. A typical example is file access. The adversary can leverage a file access race condition by "running the race", meaning that they would modify the resource between the first time the target program accesses the file and the time the target program uses the file. During that period of time, the adversary could replace or modify the file, causing the application to behave unexpectedly.

Vulnerable Configurations

  • cpe:2.3:o:medtronic:mycarelink_smart_model_25000_firmware:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:medtronic:mycarelink_smart_model_25000_firmware:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:h:medtronic:mycarelink_smart_model_25000:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:h:medtronic:mycarelink_smart_model_25000:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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