CVE-2020-25165
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 · uneditedBD Alaris PC Unit, Model 8015, Versions 9.33.1 and earlier and BD Alaris Systems Manager, Versions 4.33 and earlier The affected products are vulnerable to a network session authentication vulnerability within the authentication process between specified versions of the BD Alaris PC Unit and the BD Alaris Systems Manager. If exploited, an attacker could perform a denial-of-service attack on the BD Alaris PC Unit by modifying the configuration headers of data in transit. A denial-of-service attack could lead to a drop in the wireless capability of the BD Alaris PC Unit, resulting in manual operation of the PC Unit.
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 confidenceThe BD Alaris PC Unit (Model 8015, v9.33.1 and earlier) and BD Alaris Systems Manager (v4.33 and earlier) contain a network session authentication vulnerability in the authentication process between these components. An attacker with network proximity can modify configuration headers of data in transit between the PC Unit and Systems Manager, exploiting the weak authentication to cause a denial of service that disables wireless capability and forces manual operation of the infusion pump.
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<= 9.33.1<= 4.33CVSS 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
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify BD Alaris 8015 PC Unit firmware versionAccess the PC Unit's administrative interface or check the device firmware information through the built-in system settings menu, typically found under 'System Info' or 'Device Information'. Alternatively, consult the device's documentation or asset inventory if available.Affected if Firmware version is 9.33.1 or earlier (e.g., 9.33.1, 9.32, 9.31, etc.)
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Identify BD Alaris Systems Manager versionOpen the Systems Manager application and navigate to 'About' or 'System Information' section, or check the installed software version through the system's program listing.Affected if Software version is 4.33 or earlier (e.g., 4.33, 4.32, 4.2, etc.)
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Verify wireless network connectivity between PC Unit and Systems ManagerCheck the PC Unit's network status through its interface to confirm if wireless communication is enabled and actively connected to the Systems Manager.Affected if Wireless functionality is enabled and the device is connected to a network where Systems Manager communication is active
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Assess network exposure of the medical deviceReview network segmentation configurations and firewall rules to determine if the PC Unit and Systems Manager are on isolated network segments dedicated to medical devices, or if they are accessible from broader networks.Affected if The devices are on shared or unsegmented networks without proper isolation from untrusted segments
A user is affected if their BD Alaris 8015 PC Unit runs firmware 9.33.1 or earlier AND/OR Systems Manager runs version 4.33 or earlier, AND wireless/network communication between these components is active in a non-segmented environment.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpdate BD Alaris PC Unit to a version beyond 9.33.1 and Systems Manager to beyond 4.33 per vendor guidance. Implement network segmentation to isolate medical devices and monitor for unauthorized modification attempts on the authentication traffic.
- Consultation12.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-25165 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-25165 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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
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