CVE-2020-24560
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 · uneditedAn incomplete SSL server certification validation vulnerability in the Trend Micro Security 2019 (v15) consumer family of products could allow an attacker to combine this vulnerability with another attack to trick an affected client into downloading a malicious update instead of the expected one. CWE-295: Improper server certificate verification in the communication with the update server.
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 confidenceTrend Micro Security 2019 (v15) has an incomplete SSL certificate validation flaw in its update mechanism. The product fails to properly verify the server certificate when connecting to update servers, allowing a man-in-the-middle attacker to intercept the connection and deliver malicious updates instead of legitimate ones. This is a classic CWE-295 improper certificate verification issue.
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<= 15.0CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
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 productOpen Programs and Features (Windows) or check for Trend Micro processes in Task Manager. Look for: Antivirus+ 2019, Internet Security 2019, Maximum Security 2019, Officescan Cloud, or Premium Security 2019Affected if Any of the listed Trend Micro products are installed on the system
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Check installed product versionRight-click the Trend Micro icon in the system tray and select 'About' or open the main interface and navigate to Help > About. Verify if the version is 15.0 or lowerAffected if The installed version is 15.0 or lower (including version 15 exactly for Officescan Cloud)
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Verify automatic update is enabledOpen Trend Micro main console, go to Settings or Preferences, and check the 'Automatic Update' or 'Update' settings. Confirm if automatic updates are turned onAffected if Automatic update functionality is enabled (this makes the vulnerable certificate validation code path active)
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Check update server configurationOpen Trend Micro settings and examine the configured update servers/URLs. These are typically patternupdate.domain.trendmicro.com or similar update endpointsAffected if The product is configured to receive updates (default configuration), which uses the vulnerable certificate verification
You are affected if any Trend Micro 2019 product (Antivirus+, Internet Security, Maximum Security, Premium Security) version 15.0 or lower, or Officescan Cloud version 15, is installed with automatic updates enabled.
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 the vendor-supplied security update/patch for Trend Micro Security 2019 to remediate the improper certificate validation. Users should ensure automatic updates are enabled and verify they are running a patched version.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 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-2020-24560 — 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-2020-24560 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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