CVE-2018-6232
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedA buffer overflow privilege escalation vulnerability in Trend Micro Maximum Security (Consumer) 2018 could allow a local attacker to escalate privileges on vulnerable installations due to a flaw within processing of IOCTL 0x22205C by the tmnciesc.sys driver. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceA buffer overflow in the Trend Micro tmnciesc.sys kernel driver when handling IOCTL 0x22205C allows a low-privileged local user to escalate to SYSTEM privileges by overflowing a kernel-mode buffer.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data<= 12.0<= 12.0<= 12.0<= 12.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify the vulnerable driver file existsSearch for tmnciesc.sys on the system: open File Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\, or run `dir C:\Windows\System32\drivers\tmnciesc.sys` in command promptAffected if The file tmnciesc.sys exists on the system
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Check the installed Trend Micro product versionOpen Programs and Features (appwiz.cpl), locate the Trend Micro product (Antivirus+, Internet Security, Maximum Security, or Premium Security), and note the version number in the Version column; alternatively, run `reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\TrendMicro\DirectPlug" /v Version` or check the product's About/About Trend Micro interfaceAffected if The installed version is 12.0 or lower, or the version cannot be determined (older unpatched install)
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Confirm the specific driver is loadedOpen an elevated command prompt and run `sc query tmnciesc` or check Device Manager for the driver under System Devices; you can also use `driverquery /v | findstr tmnciesc`Affected if The tmnciesc driver service exists and shows a Running status or is present in driver list
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Verify product is within affected familyCross-reference the installed product name against the affected list: Antivirus+, Internet Security, Maximum Security (2018), or Premium Security (2018)Affected if The installed product is any of the four affected products listed in CVE-2018-6232
A user is affected if they have any Trend Micro Antivirus+, Internet Security, Maximum Security, or Premium Security at version 12.0 or below with the tmnciesc.sys driver present on their system.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade to a patched version of Trend Micro Maximum Security 2018 or migrate to a supported product version; as an interim measure, restrict local user permissions and monitor for attempts to interact with the vulnerable IOCTL.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-6232 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-6232 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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