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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2025-53948 Santesoft CVE debrief

CVE-2025-53948 is a high-severity denial-of-service issue in Santesoft Sante PACS Server. According to the CISA advisory published on 2025-08-12, a remote attacker can send a crafted HL7 message that crashes the application's main thread. The affected service requires a manual restart, and no authentication is needed. Santesoft's recommended mitigation is to update PACS Server to version 4.2.3 or later.

Vendor
Santesoft
Product
Sante PACS Server
CVSS
HIGH 7.5
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2025-08-12
Original CVE updated
2025-08-12
Advisory published
2025-08-12
Advisory updated
2025-08-12

Who should care

Organizations running Santesoft Sante PACS Server, especially healthcare and imaging environments that rely on PACS availability. Security and operations teams responsible for HL7-integrated clinical systems should treat this as a service-impacting issue because unauthenticated remote traffic can interrupt availability.

Technical summary

The reported flaw is an unauthenticated network-reachable denial of service. A crafted HL7 message sent to Sante PACS Server can crash the main thread, stopping service until the application is manually restarted. The supplied advisory does not describe data corruption, code execution, or privilege escalation; the impact described is availability only.

Defensive priority

High for any exposed or operationally critical deployment. Because the attack is unauthenticated and can halt the PACS service, affected environments should prioritize patching and access restriction promptly, especially where downtime would affect clinical workflows.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Update Sante PACS Server to version 4.2.3 or later, per Santesoft's recommendation.
  • Restrict network exposure to PACS and HL7-facing services to trusted hosts and segments only.
  • Review monitoring and alerting for unexpected service crashes or restarts affecting PACS availability.
  • Coordinate downtime planning and validation testing before and after applying the update in production environments.

Evidence notes

The vulnerability description and remediation come from the CISA CSAF advisory for ICSMA-25-224-01 published on 2025-08-12. The source states that a crafted HL7 message can crash the main thread, requires a manual restart, and needs no authentication. The advisory also lists Santesoft's remediation to update PACS Server to version 4.2.3 or later.

Sources and references

Verified primary and authoritative sources

  • CVE-2025-53948 CVE Program record

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-53948

    CVE Program - Official CVE Program record with source-provided CVE metadata.

  • CVE-2025-53948 NVD vulnerability detail

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-53948

    NIST National Vulnerability Database - Official NIST NVD detail page and source-specific vulnerability assessment.

Supplemental references

  • Source item URL

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cisagov/CSAF/develop/csaf_files/OT/white/2025/icsma-25-224-01.json

    cisa_csaf

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-medical-advisories/icsma-25-224-01

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ics/alerts/ICS-ALERT-10-301-01

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/resources-tools/resources/ics-recommended-practices

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Cybersecurity_Best_Practices_for_Industrial_Control_Systems.pdf

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/topics/industrial-control-systems

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/sites/default/files/publications/emailscams0905.pdf

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ncas/tips/ST04-014

    Reference

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.