An uncontrolled search path element vulnerabilities in Trend Micro Apex One and Apex One as a Service could allow a local attacker to escala
An uncontrolled search path element vulnerabilities in Trend Micro Apex One and Apex One as a Service could allow a local attacker to escalate privileges on affected installations. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. This vulnerability is similar but not identical to CVE-2021-42103.
- Published
- Oct 21, 2021
- Updated
- Jun 17, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.5% · 37th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-427
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Report tools
Action score
31
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 31 / 40 · 7.8 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.5%
Affected systems
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| trendmicro | apex one | cpe:2.3:a:trendmicro:apex_one |
| microsoft | windows | cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- trendmicro apex one2019
Versions reported by the vendor
Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (trendmicro). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.
Trend Micro Trend Micro Apex One
- 2019, SaaSaffected
Same product
trendmicro: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2025-54948A vulnerability in Trend Micro Apex One (on-premise) management console could allow a pre-authenticated remote attacker to upload malicious KEV76This week
- CVE-2020-8599Trend Micro Apex One (2019) and OfficeScan XG server contain a vulnerable EXE file that could allow a remote attacker to write arbitrary datKEV73This week
- CVE-2020-8467A migration tool component of Trend Micro Apex One (2019) and OfficeScan XG contains a vulnerability which could allow remote attackers to eKEV68This week
- CVE-2020-8468Trend Micro Apex One (2019), OfficeScan XG and Worry-Free Business Security (9.0, 9.5, 10.0) agents are affected by a content validation escKEV67This week
- CVE-2023-41179A vulnerability in the 3rd party AV uninstaller module contained in Trend Micro Apex One (on-prem and SaaS), Worry-Free Business Security anKEV59Plan
- CVE-2022-40139Improper validation of some components used by the rollback mechanism in Trend Micro Apex One and Trend Micro Apex One as a Service clients KEV59Plan
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
No credits in the CNA record.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
- A low-privileged account is enough.
- No user action is required.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- high · data can be read
- Integrity
- high · data or configuration can be modified
- Availability
- high · the service can be disrupted
- Attack vector
- Local
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- High
- Integrity impact
- High
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-427 · Uncontrolled Search Path ElementCVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
nvd-primary
Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
Attack patterns (CAPEC)
ATT&CK techniques
- Hijack Execution Flow:DLL search order hijackingT1574.001
- Hijack Execution Flow: Dylib HijackingT1574.004
- Hijack Execution Flow: Path Interception by PATH Environment VariableT1574.007
- Hijack Execution Flow: Path Interception by Search Order HijackingT1574.008
- Hijack Execution Flow: Path Interception by Unquoted PathT1574.009
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.
We use this product, ask for helpChange log
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.
References
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.