dbcve.org
Merlin\@home FirmwareOperating system · Abbott

CVE-2017-5149

HIGH · 8.9 CVSS v3.1 Published 2017-02-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 8.0 or later.
See remediation →
98/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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
An issue was discovered in St. Jude Medical Merlin@home, versions prior to Version 8.2.2 (RF models: EX1150; Inductive models: EX1100; and Inductive models: EX1100 with MerlinOnDemand capability). The identities of the endpoints for the communication channel between the transmitter and St. Jude Medical's web site, Merlin.net, are not verified. This may allow a man-in-the-middle attacker to access or influence communications between the identified endpoints.

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

The Merlin@home transmitter fails to verify SSL/TLS certificate identities when communicating with St. Jude Medical's Merlin.net platform. This allows man-in-the-middle attackers to intercept or manipulate the communication channel between the device and healthcare web services due to missing endpoint identity validation.

MitigationUpgrade Merlin@home firmware to version 8.2.2 or later to implement proper certificate validation. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, isolate device network traffic behind firewalls with SSL inspection to mitigate MITM attacks.

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
Merlin\@home FirmwareOperating system
Affected:<= 8.0

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
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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 Merlin@home device in your environment
    Locate and document all Merlin@home transmitters used for remote cardiac device monitoring. Check device labels, inventory systems, or network scans for the device model name.
    Affected if A Merlin@home transmitter device is present in the environment and communicates with St. Jude Medical's Merlin.net platform.
  2. Check installed firmware version
    Access the Merlin@home device interface or management console and navigate to the system information or firmware version section. Compare the displayed version number against the affected range.
    Affected if The firmware version is 8.0 or any version lower than 8.0.
  3. Verify SSL/TLS certificate validation configuration
    Access the device settings or network configuration panel and locate the SSL/TLS or certificate validation settings. Check if certificate identity verification is enabled or configured for outbound connections to Merlin.net.
    Affected if Certificate identity validation is disabled, not configured, or the setting is missing from the device network configuration.
  4. Inspect network communication to Merlin.net
    Use network monitoring or packet capture on the device network segment to observe outbound connections to the Merlin.net platform. Analyze the TLS handshake to verify if the server certificate CN/SAN matches the expected Merlin.net endpoint.
    Affected if The device establishes TLS connections to Merlin.net without validating the server certificate identity, or certificate validation warnings are generated.

You are affected if a Merlin@home transmitter with firmware version 8.0 or lower is present and communicating with Merlin.net without proper SSL/TLS certificate identity validation.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 8.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Merlin@home firmware to version 8.2.2 or later to implement proper certificate validation. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, isolate device network traffic behind firewalls with SSL inspection to mitigate MITM attacks.

Recommended fix High confidence

Merlin@home Firmware Version 8.2.2

  1. Contact St. Jude Medical (now Abbott) to obtain the firmware version 8.2.2 update for your Merlin@home transmitter model (EX1150 RF or EX1100 Inductive)
  2. Follow the vendor's official update procedure for Merlin@home firmware upgrade, as this is a medical device
  3. Verify the firmware version after upgrade confirms 8.2.2 or later is installed
  4. Ensure the device is connected to Merlin.net properly after the update
Caveat As a medical device, firmware upgrades should be performed following Abbott/St. Jude Medical's prescribed procedures; ensure patient monitoring is not impacted during the upgrade process

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Merlin\@home Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,980
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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-2017-5149 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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