CVE-2021-38400
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 · uneditedAn attacker with physical access to Boston Scientific Zoom Latitude Model 3120 can remove the hard disk drive or create a specially crafted USB to extract the password hash for brute force reverse engineering of the system password.
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 · moderate confidenceThe Boston Scientific Zoom Latitude Model 3120 (a cardiac device programmer) stores system passwords in a way that allows extraction from the hard disk drive via physical access. An attacker with physical access can remove the HDD or use a crafted USB device to obtain password hashes, which can then be brute-forced to recover the system password and gain unauthorized access to the device and its clinical functions.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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
- Physical
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Zoom Latitude Model 3120 devices in your environmentInventory all medical devices and clinical workstations. Confirm the presence of Boston Scientific Zoom Latitude Programmer/Recorder/Monitor model 3120 devices. Check device labels, asset inventories, or clinical equipment databases for this specific model number.Affected if The device model 3120 is present in your facility
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Verify physical access controls to the deviceInspect the physical location of the device. Determine whether it is stored in a locked room, locked cabinet, or area with restricted access. Check if the device is left unattended in unsecured areas such as open wards or unlocked procedure rooms.Affected if The device has weak or no physical access controls (e.g., stored in unlocked areas, accessible to unauthorized personnel)
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Examine the hard disk drive for tampering indicatorsInspect the device for signs of HDD removal or tampering. Look for broken seals, unusual screw marks on the chassis, or evidence that the case has been opened. If possible, verify the HDD is properly seated and no unauthorized storage devices are connected.Affected if There are physical tampering indicators or unauthorized storage devices attached
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Review access logs for the deviceCheck any available audit logs, access logs, or clinical documentation recording device usage. Look for unauthorized or unexplained access events, unusual login times, or access by unknown personnel.Affected if Access logs show unexplained or unauthorized access events
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Assess USB device connectionsExamine all USB ports on the device for connected peripherals. Document any USB devices that should not be present, such as unknown flash drives or USB hacking tools.Affected if Unknown or unauthorized USB devices are connected to the device
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Compare stored password hashesIf you have administrative access, compare the current system passwords and account configurations against your documented baseline. Look for changes to local user accounts, administrator passwords, or clinical software access credentials.Affected if Passwords or account configurations have been changed without documented authorization
Your environment is affected if you have Boston Scientific Zoom Latitude Model 3120 devices with inadequate physical access controls or evidence of unauthorized physical access.
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 dataPhysical access controls (restricted access to device storage, device locking) are the primary mitigations. Contact Boston Scientific for potential firmware updates or device replacement options, as this is a legacy device that may have limited vendor support.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-38400 — 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-2021-38400 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data