CVE-2025-36521
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 · uneditedMicroDicom DICOM Viewer is vulnerable to an out-of-bounds read which may allow an attacker to cause memory corruption within the application. The user must open a malicious DCM file for exploitation.
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 confidenceMicroDicom DICOM Viewer contains an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in its DCM file parsing logic. When a user opens a specially crafted malicious DCM file, the application reads memory beyond allocated buffer boundaries, potentially leading to memory corruption and information disclosure. This is a classic file parsing vulnerability where the DICOM parser fails to properly validate buffer offsets before reading image metadata or pixel data.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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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Verify MicroDicom installationSearch for MicroDicom.exe in typical installation directories (C:\Program Files\MicroDicom or C:\Program Files (x86)\MicroDicom), or use the Start menu to locate the applicationAffected if MicroDicom DICOM Viewer is present on the system
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Determine installed versionRight-click the MicroDicom.exe file, select Properties, and view the Details or Version tab; alternatively, launch the application and navigate to Help > AboutAffected if A version number is displayed and can be compared against known affected ranges
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Compare version to affected rangesTake the identified version number and compare it against the version ranges listed in the CVE entry or vendor security advisory for this vulnerabilityAffected if The installed version falls within the range marked as affected for this CVE
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Check for recent DCM file handlingReview the application's recent files list (File > Recent) or examine Windows prefetch/AppData folders for evidence of recently opened DCM files, particularly from external or untrusted sourcesAffected if DCM files from unknown or untrusted sources have been opened in the viewer
A system is affected if MicroDicom is installed with a version within the affected range AND users open DCM files, especially from untrusted sources.
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 dataUsers should avoid opening DCM files from untrusted or unknown sources. Organizations should implement file validation policies and consider using the latest patched version of MicroDicom when available. Network-based detection can flag suspicious DCM file transfers.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-36521 — 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-2025-36521 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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- 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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