CVE-2020-25775
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 · uneditedThe Trend Micro Security 2020 (v16) consumer family of products is vulnerable to a security race condition arbitrary file deletion vulnerability that could allow an unprivileged user to manipulate the product's secure erase feature to delete files with a higher set of 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 race condition vulnerability in Trend Micro Security 2020 (v16) consumer products allows an unprivileged local attacker to manipulate the product's secure erase feature to delete arbitrary files with elevated privileges through time-of-check-time-of-use (TOCTOU) manipulation.
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<= 16.0<= 16.0<= 16.0<= 16.0CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 productOpen the Trend Micro application main window, or go to Add/Remove Programs (Windows Apps & Features), and locate the installed Trend Micro security product name (Antivirus+, Internet Security, Maximum Security, or Premium Security)Affected if The product name matches any of the four affected products (Antivirus+, Internet Security, Maximum Security, or Premium Security)
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Check installed version numberIn the Trend Micro application, go to About or Help > About, or check the installed program version in Windows Apps & Features. Compare the version to the affected range.Affected if The version is 16.0 or lower (any version <= 16.0)
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Verify secure erase feature presenceOpen the Trend Micro main interface and navigate through the settings or tools menu to locate the 'Secure Erase' or 'File Eraser' feature. This feature is typically found under Privacy or Tools sections.Affected if The secure erase feature is present and accessible in the installed product
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Inspect for suspicious file deletion activityReview Windows Event Logs (Security and Application logs) for unexpected or unauthorized file deletion events, especially those occurring in rapid succession or targeting system files. Check if any critical system or user files have been recently deleted.Affected if There are unexplained file deletion events, particularly of system files or files owned by other users, especially in conjunction with Steps 1-3 being positive
If the system has Trend Micro Antivirus+, Internet Security, Maximum Security, or Premium Security version 16.0 or lower with the secure erase feature present, the environment is vulnerable to this race condition flaw.
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 patch or update to Trend Micro Security 2020 to remediate the race condition; ensure least-privilege user accounts and monitor for suspicious file deletion activity in the interim.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-25775 — 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-2020-25775 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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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data