Medtronic Conexus Radio Frequency Telemetry Protocol Improper Access Control
Medtronic · Conexus Radio Frequency Telemetry Protocol
The Conexus Radio Frequency Telemetry Protocol used across numerous Medtronic implantable cardiac devices and their associated monitors and programmers, including CareLink and MyCareLink products and a range of ICD and CRT-D models, does not implement authentication or authorization. An attacker with adjacent short-range access to an affected product, while its radio is enabled and without credentials or user interaction, can inject, replay, modify, or intercept telemetry data and use the protocol's memory read/write capability to alter memory in an implanted cardiac device.
The Conexus telemetry protocol utilized within Medtronic MyCareLink Monitor versions 24950 and 24952, CareLink Monitor version 2490C, CareLink 2090 Programmer, Amplia CRT-D, Claria CRT-D, Compia CRT-D, Concerto CRT-D, Concerto II CRT-D, Consulta CRT-D, Evera ICD, Maximo II CRT-D and ICD, Mirro ICD, Nayamed ND ICD, Primo ICD, Protecta ICD and CRT-D, Secura ICD, Virtuoso ICD, Virtuoso II ICD, Visia AF ICD, and Viva CRT-D does not implement authentication or authorization. An attacker with adjacent short-range access to an affected product, in situations where the product’s radio is turned on, can inject, replay, modify, and/or intercept data within the telemetry communication. This communication protocol provides the ability to read and write memory values to affected implanted cardiac devices; therefore, an attacker could exploit this communication protocol to change memory in the implanted cardiac device.
- Exploited
- Not confirmed
- Reports
- 0
- Tactics
- 5/15
How an attack unfolds
Based on MITRE ATT&CKA public catalogue of the techniques attackers use, maintained by MITRE. Patchfirst uses it to describe what attackers do with a vulnerability. mappings. Select a step to see the evidence.Exploitation timelineDated milestones for a CVE: when it was disclosed, when exploit code became public, when exploitation was confirmed, and when threat reports named it.
Disclosed on 25 Mar 2019. No public exploit code or confirmed exploitation is recorded.
MITRE ATT&CKA public catalogue of the techniques attackers use, maintained by MITRE. Patchfirst uses it to describe what attackers do with a vulnerability. techniques
4 TechniqueOne specific attacker behaviour in MITRE ATT&CK, such as T1190 “Exploit Public-Facing Application”. IDs with a dot, like T1059.004, are sub-techniques., grouped by TacticThe attacker’s goal at a stage of an attack in MITRE ATT&CK, such as Initial Access or Persistence. Each technique belongs to one or more tactics. in kill-chain order 4ExecutionTA0002
Credential AccessTA0006
CollectionTA0009
ImpactTA0040
Detection
0 rules for this CVE · 35 general rules for its techniquesRules for this CVE
0Sigma ruleAn open, vendor-neutral detection rule for log data. Security teams convert Sigma rules into searches for their own SIEM. that reference CVE-2019-6538 directly.CVE-specific rules are not available in this build. Search SigmaHQ ↗
General rules for this CVE’s techniques
These detect the technique in general, not this specific vulnerability.
Hijack Execution FlowT15748 general rules
- Exploiting SetupComplete.cmd CVE-2019-1378hightest
- Potential PrintNightmare Exploitation Attempthightest
- Suspicious Printer Driver Empty Manufacturerhightest
- DLL Execution Via Register-cimprovider.exemediumtest
- Potential Initial Access via DLL Search Order Hijackingmediumtest
- Potential Registry Persistence Attempt Via DbgManagedDebuggermediumtest
- Regsvr32 DLL Execution With Uncommon Extensionmediumtest
- Windows Spooler Service Suspicious Binary Loadinformationaltest
Adversary-in-the-MiddleT155710 general rules
- Suspicious Child Process of Notepad++ Updater - GUP.Exehighexperimental
- Uncommon File Created by Notepad++ Updater Gup.EXEhighexperimental
- Potential Suspicious Activity Using SeCEditmediumtest
- ISATAP Router Address Was Setmediumexperimental
- Notepad++ Updater DNS Query to Uncommon Domainsmediumexperimental
- Cisco BGP Authentication Failureslowtest
- Cisco LDP Authentication Failureslowtest
- Huawei BGP Authentication Failureslowtest
Data from Local SystemT100514 general rules
- OpenCanary - SMB File Open Requesthightest
- Potential Conti Ransomware Database Dumping Activity Via SQLCmdhightest
- SQLite Chromium Profile Data DB Accesshightest
- SQLite Firefox Profile Data DB Accesshightest
- VeeamBackup Database Credentials Dump Via Sqlcmd.EXEhightest
- Script Interpreter Spawning Credential Scanner - Linuxhighexperimental
- Script Interpreter Spawning Credential Scanner - Windowshighexperimental
- Shai-Hulud NPM Package Malicious Exfiltration via Curlhighexperimental
Application or System ExploitationT1499.0043 general rules
- Audit CVE Eventcriticaltest
- Apache Segmentation Faulthightest
- Nginx Core Dumphightest
Sigma rules © SigmaHQ, Detection Rule License 1.1; linked, not reproduced.
What security researchers reported
Not named in any threat report yetAlso mentioned in 3 community threat pulses (AlienVault OTX)
Weaker evidencePulses are indicator collections that anyone can publish. A mention is not confirmation of exploitation.
- Spam “Broken Seal” DocuSign-themed Delivery w/Fileless Process Hollowing (Zeppelin/Bloat-A) by msudosos22 Mar 2026
- Spam “Broken Seal” DocuSign-themed Delivery w/Fileless Process Hollowing (Zeppelin/Bloat-A) by msudosos22 Mar 2026
- “Broken Seal” DocuSign-themed Delivery with Fileless Process Hollowing (Zeppelin/Bloat-A)13 Feb 2026