CVE-2021-25247
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 Trend Micro HouseCall for Home Networks version 5.3.1063 and below could allow an attacker to use a malicious DLL to escalate privileges and perform arbitrary code execution. An attacker must already have user privileges on the machine 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 confidenceDLL hijacking vulnerability in Trend Micro HouseCall for Home Networks allows an attacker with existing user-level access to place a malicious DLL that gets loaded by the application, achieving privilege escalation to SYSTEM or administrator level and executing arbitrary code.
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= 5.3.0.1063CVSS 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:3.1/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 the installed version of Trend Micro HouseCall for Home NetworksOpen Add or Remove Programs (appwiz.cpl), locate 'Trend Micro HouseCall for Home Networks', and note the version shown. Alternatively, right-click the HouseCall executable in the installation directory, select Properties, and check the Details tab for the File Version.Affected if The installed version is exactly 5.3.0.1063 (this specific version is vulnerable)
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Locate the HouseCall installation directoryRight-click the HouseCall shortcut on the desktop or Start menu, select 'Open file location' to find the installation folder path. Note this path for the next check.Affected if The installation directory path has been identified for permission checking
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Determine if standard users have write access to the application directoryRight-click the HouseCall installation folder, go to Properties, then the Security tab. Check the permissions for 'Users' or 'Authenticated Users' group. Alternatively, open a command prompt as a standard (non-admin) user and attempt to create a test file in the folder using 'echo test > [path]\test.txt'.Affected if Standard (non-privileged) users can write files to the HouseCall installation directory - this is the condition that allows DLL hijacking to succeed
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Inspect for suspicious or unexpected DLLs in the application folderOpen the HouseCall installation directory and list all .DLL files. Compare against known legitimate DLLs expected in a clean install (such as core application DLLs). Look for unfamiliar DLLs, recently created DLLs, or DLLs with unusual names.Affected if Unknown, recently added, or suspicious DLL files are present in the HouseCall installation directory
A user is affected if HouseCall for Home Networks version 5.3.0.1063 is installed AND the application directory is writable by standard users, allowing placement of a malicious DLL.
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 dataUpdate to version 5.3.1063 or later. Until patched, ensure the application directory is not writable by standard users and monitor for suspicious DLLs in the application folder.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 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-2021-25247 — 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-2021-25247 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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