CVE-2025-10937 Oxford Nanopore Technologies CVE debrief

Who should care

Sequencing labs, MinKNOW operators, and system administrators running MinKNOW on shared or multi-user systems should care most, especially where untrusted local users or processes can access the host.

Technical summary

According to the CISA CSAF advisory, MinKNOW at or before version 24.11 writes a temporary file for the local authentication token during startup before copying it to its final location. Because that temporary file is created in a directory accessible to all users, a local attacker or process can use flock to hold the file lock and block token generation. Without a valid local token, MinKNOW cannot execute commands on the sequencer, producing a denial-of-service condition that disrupts sequencing operations. The supplied CVSS vector is local, low-complexity, and availability-only: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Defensive priority

Medium. The issue is local-only and availability-focused, but it can halt sequencing operations on affected hosts.

Recommended defensive actions

• Upgrade MinKNOW to a version later than 24.11 as recommended by Oxford Nanopore Technologies.
• If you cannot upgrade immediately, follow Oxford Nanopore's guidance for older versions and contact support for configuration-specific advice.
• Keep Remote Connect disabled unless it is strictly required, and enable it only in trusted network environments.
• Maintain endpoint protection, including antivirus and malware scanning tools, to help mitigate local denial-of-service conditions.
• Apply CISA ICS recommended practices and general host hardening on systems that run MinKNOW, especially where multiple local users or processes are present.

Evidence notes

Primary evidence comes from the CISA CSAF advisory published on 2025-10-21 for Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinKNOW. The advisory states that affected versions at or prior to 24.11 create a temporary token file in a directory accessible to all users and that a local flock lock can prevent token generation, causing a denial-of-service that blocks sequencing operations. The supplied CVSS 3.1 vector is AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H. No CISA KEV entry was provided.

Sources and references

Methodology and review provenance

AI-assisted synthesis based on stored public vulnerability evidence. System validation, approval state, and publication status do not by themselves establish human review of this revision. PatchSiren helps prioritize defensive review and does not prove exposure or remediation on any system.