Grassroots DICOM (GDCM)

Summary

CISA released an advisory for CVE-2026-3650, a high-severity memory leak vulnerability in Grassroots DICOM (GDCM) 3.2.2 affecting healthcare and public health critical infrastructure worldwide. The vulnerability occurs when parsing malformed DICOM files with non-standard VR types, causing resource depletion and denial-of-service. The vendor has not responded to CISA's mitigation requests; no public exploitation has been reported yet.

Full text

ICS Medical Advisory Grassroots DICOM (GDCM) Release DateMarch 24, 2026 Alert CodeICSMA-26-083-01 Related topics: Industrial Control System Vulnerabilities, Industrial Control Systems View CSAF Summary Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to send a specially crafted file, and when parsed, could result in a denial-of-service condition. The following versions of Grassroots DICOM (GDCM) are affected: Grassroots DICOM (GDCM) 3.2.2 (CVE-2026-3650) CVSS Vendor Equipment Vulnerabilities v3 7.5 Grassroots Grassroots DICOM (GDCM) Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime Background Critical Infrastructure Sectors: Healthcare and Public Health Countries/Areas Deployed: Worldwide Company Headquarters Location: United States Vulnerabilities Expand All + CVE-2026-3650 A memory leak exists in the Grassroots DICOM library (GDCM). The bug occurs when parsing malformed DICOM files with non-standard VR types in file meta information. The vulnerability leads to vast memory allocations and resource depletion, triggering a denial-of-service condition. A maliciously crafted file can fill the heap in a single read operation without properly releasing it. View CVE Details Affected Products Grassroots DICOM (GDCM) Vendor:Grassroots Product Version:Grassroots Grassroots DICOM (GDCM): 3.2.2 Product Status:known_affected Remediations MitigationThe maintainer of Grassroots DICOM (GDCM) has not responded to requests to work with CISA to mitigate this vulnerability. For update information refer to the software page on SourceForge. Mitigationhttps://sourceforge.net/projects/gdcm/.https://sourceforge.net/projects/gdcm/ Relevant CWE: CWE-401 Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime Metrics CVSS Version Base Score Base Severity Vector String 3.1 7.5 HIGH CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Acknowledgments Volodymyr Bihunenko, Mykyta Mudryi, and Markiian Chaklosh of ARIMLABS reported this vulnerability to CISA Legal Notice and Terms of Use This product is provided subject to this Notification (https://www.cisa.gov/notification) and this Privacy & Use policy (https://www.cisa.gov/privacy-policy). Recommended Practices CISA recommends users take defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation of this vulnerability. Minimize network exposure for all control system devices and/or systems, ensuring they are not accessible from the internet. Locate control system networks and remote devices behind firewalls and isolating them from business networks. When remote access is required, use more secure methods, such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), recognizing VPNs may have vulnerabilities and should be updated to the most current version available. Also recognize VPN is only as secure as the connected devices. CISA reminds organizations to perform proper impact analysis and risk assessment prior to deploying defensive measures. CISA also provides a section for control systems security recommended practices on the ICS webpage on cisa.gov/ics. Several CISA products detailing cyber defense best practices are available for reading and download, including Improving Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity with Defense-in-Depth Strategies. CISA encourages organizations to implement recommended cybersecurity strategies for proactive defense of ICS assets. Additional mitigation guidance and recommended practices are publicly available on the ICS webpage at cisa.gov/ics in the technical information paper, ICS-TIP-12-146-01B--Targeted Cyber Intrusion Detection and Mitigation Strategies. Organizations observing suspected malicious activity should follow established internal procedures and report findings to CISA for tracking and correlation against other incidents. CISA also recommends users take the following measures to protect themselves from social engineering attacks: Do not click web links or open attachments in unsolicited email messages. Refer to Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams for more information on avoiding email scams. Refer to Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks for more information on social engineering attacks. No known public exploitation specifically targeting this vulnerability has been reported to CISA at this time. Revision History Initial Release Date: 2026-03-24 Date Revision Summary 2026-03-24 1 Initial Publication. Legal Notice and Terms of Use This product is provided subject to this Notification and this Privacy & Use policy. Tags Sector: Healthcare and Public Health Sector Topics: Industrial Control System Vulnerabilities, Industrial Control Systems Please share your thoughts We recently updated our anonymous product survey; we welcome your feedback. Related Advisories Feb 10, 2026 ICS Medical Advisory | ICSMA-26-041-01 ZOLL ePCR IOS Mobile Application Dec 30, 2025 ICS Medical Advisory | ICSMA-25-364-01 WHILL Model C2 Electric Wheelchairs and Model F Power Chairs (Update A) Dec 11, 2025 ICS Medical Advisory | ICSMA-25-345-02 Varex Imaging Panoramic Dental Imaging Software Dec 11, 2025 ICS Medical Advisory | ICSMA-25-345-01 Grassroots DICOM (GDCM)

Indicators of Compromise

• cve — CVE-2026-3650
• malware — CWE-401