# CVE-2018-8853: Privilege escalation in Brilliance CT Scanners

> Attackers can gain unauthorized elevated privileges and access underlying Windows resources on Philips Brilliance CT scanners due to default high-privilege kiosk configuration.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 4 May 2018
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-28xj-6327-x3mf

## What is CVE-2018-8853?

CVE-2018-8853 is a high-severity vulnerability in Philips Brilliance CT Scanners, published on 4 May 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Philips Brilliance CT devices operate user functions from within a contained kiosk in a Microsoft Windows operating system. Windows boots by default with elevated Windows privileges, enabling a kiosk application, user, or an attacker to potentially attain unauthorized elevated privileges in Brilliance 64 version 2.6.2 and prior, Brilliance iCT versions 4.1.6 and prior, Brillance iCT SP versions 3.2.4 and prior, and Brilliance CT Big Bore 2.3.5 and prior. Also, attackers may gain access to unauthorized resources from the underlying Windows operating system.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management), CWE-250 (Execution with Unnecessary Privileges)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-8853?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Philips  Brilliance Ct Big Bore Firmware, Philips Brilliance Firmware 64, Philips Brilliance Ict Firmware, Philips Brilliance Ict Sp Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-8853?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-8853 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-8853 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-8853 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Philips Brilliance CT Scanners

- [CVE-2018-8861](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-8861/): Privilege escalation in Brilliance CT Scanners (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2018-8857](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-8857/): Hardcoded credentials in Brilliance CT Scanners (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-8853 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-8853 is a high-severity vulnerability in Philips Brilliance CT Scanners, published on 4 May 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-8853 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Philips Brilliance CT Scanners. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-8853/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-8853/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-8853
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-8853
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-8853

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-8853/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.