ServerprotectApplication · Trendmicro
CVE-2020-28575
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 heap-based buffer overflow privilege escalation vulnerability in Trend Micro ServerProtect for Linux 3.0 may allow an attacker to escalate privileges on affected installations. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute high-privileged code on the target 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 · moderate confidenceHeap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in Trend Micro ServerProtect for Linux 3.0 that enables privilege escalation. The attacker must already have the ability to execute high-privileged code on the target system to exploit this vulnerability.
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
ServerprotectApplication
= 3.0CVSS 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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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 ServerProtect for Linux is installedCheck for the presence of the product by searching for installation directories (typically /opt/TrendMicro or /usr/local/TrendMicro) or running 'rpm -qa | grep -i serverprotect' for RPM-based systems, or 'dpkg -l | grep -i serverprotect' for Debian-based systemsAffected if The product is not installed or no matching packages are found - not affected
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Confirm the exact installed versionRun 'rpm -qi ServerProtect' or 'dpkg -s serverprotect' depending on your package manager, or check /opt/TrendMicro/SProtectLinux/SPLX.module version files if they existAffected if Version is 3.0 specifically - potentially affected. If version is different (higher or not found), not affected
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Determine if ServerProtect service is runningRun 'ps aux | grep -i trend' or 'systemctl status splx' or check for processes named 'splx' or 'SProtectLinux'Affected if Service is actively running - the vulnerable component is in memory and could be exploited for privilege escalation. If not running, exploitation is not possible at this time
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Check for root/superuser execution contextReview process list for any ServerProtect processes running as root (ps aux | grep -E 'splx|SProtect' | grep root)Affected if ServerProtect is running with root privileges - the privilege escalation target exists. This CVE requires the attacker to already have high-privileged code execution, so this confirms the escalation path is relevant
You are affected if ServerProtect for Linux version 3.0 is installed and the service is running with root privileges, allowing a local attacker with existing high-privileged code execution to escalate to full root access.
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 upgrade to a patched version of Trend Micro ServerProtect for Linux. Since exploitation requires high-privileged code execution, restrict access to privileged accounts and monitor for suspicious activity.
Fix this in Serverprotect
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 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 $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-28575 — 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-2020-28575 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
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