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A proposed class action accuses University Hospitals of negligence after an October 22 cyberattack that took its MyChart portal offline; the Cleveland patient's suit, filed October 28, claims more than a million records were exposed, a number University Hospitals has not confirmed. University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center disclosed a cyberattack October 26 that diverted ambulances for about two hours; the BYOD extortion group claims it compromised 36,000 systems, a figure UNM has not confirmed. Philips updated its Node2Shell advisory October 27 for CVE-2026-111497, the Node.js Brotli decoder flaw it first flagged October 26 against PIC iX 4.x; the advisory still names no impacted products or fixed version. Philips updated its PHP2Shell advisory October 27 for CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619, adding five more affected products including IntelliSpace Portal V12 and Philips Axon to the seven already listed. NorthShore Health Centers disclosed a data breach to patients October 27, one of several Midwest provider notifications issued that week. Denver Health Medical Plan notified more than 238,000 members October 26 about a vendor-related data incident. A proposed class action accuses University Hospitals of negligence after an October 22 cyberattack that took its MyChart portal offline; the Cleveland patient's suit, filed October 28, claims more than a million records were exposed, a number University Hospitals has not confirmed. University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center disclosed a cyberattack October 26 that diverted ambulances for about two hours; the BYOD extortion group claims it compromised 36,000 systems, a figure UNM has not confirmed. Philips updated its Node2Shell advisory October 27 for CVE-2026-111497, the Node.js Brotli decoder flaw it first flagged October 26 against PIC iX 4.x; the advisory still names no impacted products or fixed version. Philips updated its PHP2Shell advisory October 27 for CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619, adding five more affected products including IntelliSpace Portal V12 and Philips Axon to the seven already listed. NorthShore Health Centers disclosed a data breach to patients October 27, one of several Midwest provider notifications issued that week. Denver Health Medical Plan notified more than 238,000 members October 26 about a vendor-related data incident.

Vulnerability

Philips lists IntelliSite Pathology Ultra Fast Scanner under PwnKit CVE-2021-4034

MedDevice Cyber Staff · Jan 28 · 2 min read · Via Philips product security advisories, 2022 archive

Philips listed the IntelliSite Pathology Solution Ultra Fast Scanner (452220709192) on January 28, 2022, as related to CVE-2021-4034, the local privilege escalation vulnerability in polkit's pkexec utility known as PwnKit. Red Hat published the advisory, and pkexec is installed by default on all major Linux distributions.

A local escalation bug turns any foothold on the scanner's Linux host into root, which is why default-installed setuid utilities belong in every device hardening review.

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Remediation Desk

For ProvidersOperators, hospitals, and clinical engineering

CVE-2021-4034 is fixed in updated polkit packages. Get the Philips-validated update for the IntelliSite Pathology Solution Ultra Fast Scanner, and limit local and remote logins to the scanner host until it is applied.

Request the update. Ask Philips service for the polkit fix validated for the Ultra Fast Scanner.
Limit logins. Restrict interactive access to the scanner's Linux host to service accounts.
Review setuid binaries. Ask Philips which default setuid utilities the scanner image needs.

For Device ManufacturersAm I affected, and how to fix the class

Am I affected?

This class applies to devices with the signals and properties below. Check them against your product to gauge exposure. The named product rows list what the sources state about the affected product.

Required

Named operating system

IntelliSite Pathology Solution Ultra Fast Scanner

PID-23 Named operating system

Fix the class in your product

The flaw is in the OS inside the controller, or a system past end of service still in the field. As the maker, own the embedded OS and server lifecycle as a safety obligation, design controllers to update in the field, and make every fault degrade to a defined safe state.

Own the OS lifecycle. Patch the OS and server components on a schedule with a tested delivery path.
Design for field update. And for planned replacement, so an unpatchable unit has a path off the network.
Degrade to safe. A fault drives a defined safe state, never an unexpected stop on a life-sustaining device.

Mapped EMB3D mitigations

Questions & Answers

Is the Philips IntelliSite Pathology Ultra Fast Scanner affected by PwnKit?

Yes. Philips listed the IntelliSite Pathology Solution Ultra Fast Scanner on January 28, 2022, as related to CVE-2021-4034, the PwnKit privilege escalation in polkit's pkexec.

What is CVE-2021-4034 PwnKit?

CVE-2021-4034, known as PwnKit, is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in polkit's pkexec utility, installed by default on all major Linux distributions. Philips named its IntelliSite Pathology Ultra Fast Scanner as related on January 28, 2022.

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