EUVD-2025-18528
CVSS Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Lifecycle Timeline
3Description
A link following vulnerability in the Trend Micro Apex One Damage Cleanup Engine could allow a local attacker to escalation privileges on affected installations. Please note: an attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability.
Analysis
Privilege escalation vulnerability in Trend Micro Apex One's Damage Cleanup Engine that exploits improper link following (CWE-269), allowing local attackers with low-privilege code execution to escalate to higher privileges. The vulnerability requires initial code execution on the target system but presents significant risk due to its high CVSS score (7.8) and likely real-world exploitability given the common prevalence of local code execution vectors in enterprise environments.
Technical Context
This vulnerability resides in the Trend Micro Apex One Damage Cleanup Engine, a component responsible for remediating malware-related system damage. The root cause is classified as CWE-269 (Improper Access Control / Failure to Use Least Privilege), manifesting as a link-following vulnerability that likely exploits symlink or junction point attacks on the Windows filesystem. The Damage Cleanup Engine operates with elevated privileges to repair system-level infections, but fails to validate symbolic links or implement proper privilege boundary checks when accessing files or directories during cleanup operations. An attacker with low-privileged execution context (such as a standard user account or sandboxed process) can craft malicious links pointing to sensitive system files or registry locations, causing the high-privileged engine to perform unauthorized operations, thereby achieving privilege escalation.
Affected Products
Trend Micro Apex One (specific affected versions not explicitly provided in available data, but Damage Cleanup Engine component affected). Typical CPE would be: cpe:2.3:a:trendmicro:apex_one:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*. Organizations should consult Trend Micro's official CVE advisory and security bulletins for exact version scope (e.g., Apex One 2019.x through specific patched version). This affects Windows-based deployments running the Damage Cleanup Engine with elevated service-level privileges.
Remediation
Remediation steps: (1) Apply the latest security patch from Trend Micro for Apex One addressing CVE-2025-49157—consult Trend Micro's Security Advisory website for version-specific patches; (2) Prioritize patching in environments where standard user accounts or service accounts have local code execution risk (e.g., systems exposed to untrusted code execution, web servers, development systems); (3) Implement Windows security hardening: disable unnecessary symbolic link creation via Group Policy (secedit.exe or Group Policy Editor), restrict SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege, and enforce File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) on sensitive system directories; (4) Temporarily mitigate by restricting low-privilege account execution contexts if operationally feasible; (5) Monitor Trend Micro's advisory pages for patch release dates and compatibility notes. Contact Trend Micro support for guidance on patching timelines if immediate patching is not possible.
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External POC / Exploit Code
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