CVE-2019-14686
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 DLL hijacking vulnerability exists in the Trend Micro Security's 2019 consumer family of products (v15) Folder Shield component and the standalone Trend Micro Ransom Buster (1.0) tool in which, if exploited, would allow an attacker to load a malicious DLL, leading to elevated privileges.
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 DLL hijacking vulnerability in Trend Micro Security 2019 v15 Folder Shield component and Trend Micro Ransom Buster 1.0 allows an attacker to load a malicious DLL by placing it in a location where the application searches for DLLs, resulting in elevated privileges.
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= 15.0= 15.0= 15.0= 15.0= 1.0CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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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Identify installed Trend Micro product and versionOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features, or use PowerShell: Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*' | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like '*Trend Micro*'} | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersionAffected if The installed product is one of: Antivirus + Security 2019, Internet Security 2019, Maximum Security 2019, or Premium Security 2019, with DisplayVersion = 15.0; or Ransom Buster with DisplayVersion = 1.0
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Check if Folder Shield component is activeOpen Trend Micro main UI, navigate to Folder Shield settings, or check running processes for the Folder Shield module (typically named something like 'TMSSF.exe' or 'FolderShield.exe' depending on the product)Affected if Folder Shield component is enabled or running on the system
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Verify DLL loading behavior of Trend Micro processUse Process Explorer or Process Monitor from Sysinternals to monitor the Trend Micro security process (e.g., TMSSF.exe or core service) and check if it loads DLLs from user-writable directories without full path specificationAffected if The Folder Shield process loads DLLs from locations with weak access controls or without using safe DLL search mode
You are affected if you have Trend Micro Security 2019 v15.0 or Ransom Buster v1.0 installed with the Folder Shield component enabled and the process exhibits unsafe DLL loading behavior.
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 dataApply vendor patches or update to a patched version of the affected Trend Micro products; ensure the application uses secure DLL loading mechanisms (e.g., full path specification or safe DLL search mode).
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-14686 — 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-2019-14686 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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