CVE-2021-28649
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 incorrect permission vulnerability in the product installer for Trend Micro HouseCall for Home Networks version 5.3.1179 and below could allow an attacker to escalate privileges by placing arbitrary code on a specified folder and have that code be executed by an Administrator who is running a scan. Please note that an attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system 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 confidenceThe installer for Trend Micro HouseCall for Home Networks (versions 5.3.1179 and below) sets incorrect permissions on a folder, allowing a low-privileged attacker to place arbitrary code in that location. When an Administrator runs a scan, the application executes code from this folder with elevated privileges, enabling local privilege escalation.
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<= 5.3.1179CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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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Verify HouseCall for Home Networks is installedCheck Program Files or Program Files (x86) for a Trend Micro HouseCall for Home Networks folder, or look for it in the list of installed programs in Control Panel.Affected if The application is present on the system
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Check installed version numberRight-click the HouseCall application icon, select Properties, and look at the version information in the Details tab. Alternatively, check the version in the application's Help or About section.Affected if The version is 5.3.1179 or lower (any version <= 5.3.1179)
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Inspect folder permissionsRight-click the HouseCall installation folder (typically in Program Files), select Properties, go to the Security tab, and examine which users have Write or Modify permissions.Affected if Low-privileged users (non-Administrators) have Write or Modify permissions to the installation folder or any of its subfolders
If HouseCall for Home Networks version 5.3.1179 or lower is installed AND low-privileged users can write to the application folder, the system is vulnerable to local privilege escalation.
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 Trend Micro HouseCall for Home Networks to a version newer than 5.3.1179. Additionally, restrict file system permissions on the affected folder to prevent low-privileged users from writing executable content.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-28649 — 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-2021-28649 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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