CVE-2018-10596
HIGHDescription
Medtronic 2090 CareLink Programmer uses a virtual private network connection to securely download updates. It does not verify it is still connected to this virtual private network before downloading updates. The affected products initially establish an encapsulated IP-based VPN connection to a Medtronic-hosted update network. Once the VPN is established, it makes a request to a HTTP (non-TLS) server across the VPN for updates, which responds and provides any available updates. The programmer-side (client) service responsible for this HTTP request does not check to ensure it is still connected to the VPN before making the HTTP request. Thus, an attacker could cause the VPN connection to terminate (through various methods and attack points) and intercept the HTTP request, responding with malicious updates via a man-in-the-middle attack. The affected products do not verify the origin or integrity of these updates, as it insufficiently relied on the security of the VPN. An attacker with remote network access to the programmer could influence these communications.
How to fix
No published remediation has been found for this vulnerability's affected products yet.
Mitigation guidance may be in the linked vendor advisories in the References section below.
TridentStack Control tracks known vulnerabilities across your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet and shows the fix as soon as one is published. See how it works
CVSS v3 Vector
Exploitability
Impact
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Exploit Intelligence
Moderate risk: more likely to be exploited than 68% of all known CVEs.
References
Related Vulnerabilities
Other CWE-923 vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all
| CVE | Severity | CVSS | EPSS | Exploited | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2024-24974 | High | 7.5 | 9.8% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2025-48999 | High | 8.8 | 7.8% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2021-38487 | High | 8.2 | 3.3% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2019-17440 | Critical | 10.0 | 1.7% | - | - |
| CVE-2022-2663 | Medium | 5.3 | 1.5% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2021-32635 | Medium | 6.3 | 1.4% | - | - |
Common questions
How do I fix CVE-2018-10596?
No published fix for CVE-2018-10596 has been found yet. Check the linked vendor advisories for guidance as it becomes available.
Is CVE-2018-10596 being actively exploited?
Not that we know of. CVE-2018-10596 is not in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Its EPSS score of 1.3% is the estimated probability that it will be exploited in the next 30 days. That is higher than 68% of all scored CVEs.
How severe is CVE-2018-10596?
CVE-2018-10596 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.1, rated high. CVSS rates the technical impact if the vulnerability is exploited, not how likely that is, so weigh it alongside the exploit-prediction score when you decide what to patch first.
Embed a live status badge for CVE-2018-10596
Markdown
[](https://tridentstack.com/cve/CVE-2018-10596)HTML
<a href="https://tridentstack.com/cve/CVE-2018-10596"><img src="https://tridentstack.com/cve/badge/CVE-2018-10596.svg" alt="CVE-2018-10596"></a>Find and fix vulnerabilities across your fleet
TridentStack Control continuously scans your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet for known vulnerabilities, prioritizes them by severity and active exploitation, and patches them automatically.
This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2025-05-22.