CVE-2021-32460
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 Maximum Security 2021 (v17) consumer product is vulnerable to an improper access control vulnerability in the installer which could allow a local attacker to escalate privileges on a target machine. Please note than an attacker must already have local user privileges and access 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 · moderate confidenceTrend Micro Maximum Security 2021 v17 contains an improper access control vulnerability in its installer component. The installer creates files, services, or registry entries with overly permissive access controls that allow a local authenticated user to modify these elements and achieve privilege escalation to SYSTEM or administrator privileges.
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= 17.0CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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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Identify installed Trend Micro Maximum Security versionOpen Programs and Features in Control Panel or use 'wmic product get name,version' to list installed Trend Micro productsAffected if The product 'Trend Micro Maximum Security 2021' is present with version 17.0
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Verify the exact version numberLocate the installed product in Programs and Features or check the installation directory for version informationAffected if Version is listed as exactly 17.0 (any build within this version)
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Confirm installer component was usedCheck if the product was installed using the Trend Micro Maximum Security 2021 v17 installer (look for installation logs or the original installer file)Affected if The v17 installer was used to install the product
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Inspect installation directory permissionsRight-click the Trend Micro installation folder (typically in Program Files), go to Properties, then Security tab, and examine the permissions granted to Users or authenticated usersAffected if Users or authenticated users have Write or Modify permissions to installation directories or subdirectories
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Check for service or registry permissionsUse 'sc qc' commands or check registry permissions at HKLM\SOFTWARE\TrendMicro for any entries created by the installer that may be writable by standard usersAffected if Standard users can modify Trend Micro-related services, registry keys, or files created by the installer
A user is affected if Trend Micro Maximum Security 2021 version 17.0 is installed and the installation directory or related services/registry entries grant write/modify permissions to standard user accounts.
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 dataUsers should update to the latest version of Trend Micro Maximum Security once a vendor patch is released. Until then, restrict local user access to installation directories and monitor for unauthorized service creation.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-32460 — 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-2021-32460 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data