dbcve.org
Accent FirmwareOperating system · Abbott

CVE-2017-12716

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-04-25
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
70/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Abbott Laboratories Accent and Anthem pacemakers manufactured prior to Aug 28, 2017 transmit unencrypted patient information via RF communications to programmers and home monitoring units. Additionally, the Accent and Anthem pacemakers store the optional patient information without encryption. CVSS v3 base score: 3.1, CVSS vector string: AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N. Abbott has developed a firmware update to help mitigate the identified vulnerabilities.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Abbott Laboratories Accent and Anthem pacemakers manufactured before Aug 28, 2017 transmit patient information in plaintext via unencrypted RF communications to programmers and home monitoring units. The devices also store optional patient data without encryption, allowing disclosure of sensitive health information to nearby attackers with RF interception capability.

MitigationApply the Abbott firmware update to affected pacemakers to mitigate the unencrypted transmission and storage of patient data. Coordinate with healthcare providers for in-field firmware deployment following Abbott's update procedures.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Accent FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< f0b.0e.7e
Anthem FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< f0b.0e.7e
Accent Mri FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< f10.08.6c
Accent St FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< f10.08.6c

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Adjacent
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify pacemaker model
    Locate the device or its documentation to confirm it is an Abbott Accent, Accent Mri, Accent St, or Anthem pacemaker. Use the programmer device connected to the pacemaker to retrieve model information via the device management interface.
    Affected if The model is one of: Accent, Accent Mri, Accent St, or Anthem.
  2. Retrieve firmware version
    Access the pacemaker programmer software and use the device interrogation or status command to read the installed firmware version. Compare the version string against the affected ranges.
    Affected if Firmware version is less than f0b.0e.7e for Accent or Anthem, or less than f10.08.6c for Accent Mri or Accent St.
  3. Check RF communication encryption status
    Access the programmer or home monitoring unit configuration settings. Look for RF communication or wireless transmission settings. Verify whether encryption is enabled or disabled for the RF link between the pacemaker and programmer/monitoring unit.
    Affected if RF communications are configured to transmit without encryption or encryption is shown as disabled.
  4. Check patient data storage encryption
    Access the pacemaker or programmer settings related to patient data storage. Look for encryption settings for locally stored patient information such as name, medical record number, or diagnosis.
    Affected if Patient data storage is configured to not encrypt stored data or encryption is shown as disabled.

The environment is affected if an Abbott Accent, Accent Mri, Accent St, or Anthem pacemaker has firmware below the specified version thresholds AND has unencrypted RF communications or unencrypted patient data storage enabled.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the Abbott firmware update to affected pacemakers to mitigate the unencrypted transmission and storage of patient data. Coordinate with healthcare providers for in-field firmware deployment following Abbott's update procedures.

Fix this in Accent Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation16.0 h
  • Implementation24.0 h
  • Testing32.0 h
  • Review / QA16.0 h
88.0 hours of engineering $15,200
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-12716 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data