CVE-2021-43552
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 · uneditedThe use of a hard-coded cryptographic key significantly increases the possibility encrypted data may be recovered from the Patient Information Center iX (PIC iX) Versions B.02, C.02, and C.03.
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 Patient Information Center iX (PIC iX) versions B.02, C.02, and C.03 uses a hard-coded cryptographic key for data encryption, allowing anyone with knowledge of this key to decrypt sensitive patient data stored by the system.
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= b.02= c.02= c.03CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Patient Information Center iX versionAccess the system admin interface or use the product's built-in version check command to confirm the installed version matches B.02, C.02, or C.03Affected if Installed version is B.02, C.02, or C.03
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Locate encryption configuration filesSearch the application directory for configuration files related to data encryption, database connections, or security settingsAffected if Configuration files exist and contain encryption parameters
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Search for hard-coded cryptographic keysExamine configuration files, properties files, XML configs, or any code/scripts for hard-coded key values in encryption-related settings (look for fields like 'encryptionKey', 'cryptoKey', 'cipherKey')Affected if Hard-coded key values are found in any configuration or code files
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Inspect key management implementationCheck whether the system uses an external key management service (KMS), hardware security module (HSM), or proper secret management rather than embedded keysAffected if System relies on embedded or static keys without proper external key management
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Verify patient data encryption statusDetermine if the database or file storage containing patient data is encrypted and identify the encryption mechanism usedAffected if Patient data is encrypted using a hard-coded key rather than properly managed keys
A user is affected if their installed Patient Information Center iX version is B.02, C.02, or C.03 and the system uses hard-coded cryptographic keys for encrypting patient data.
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 dataReplace the hard-coded cryptographic key with a properly managed key management system, rotate exposed keys, and verify that encrypted data remains accessible only with the new key management approach.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $10,240.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-43552 — 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-2021-43552 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