Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 17 Nov 2021.
OfficescanApplication · Trendmicro

CVE-2021-36741

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-07-29
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Remotely reachable Zero-click

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 · unedited
An improper input validation vulnerability in Trend Micro Apex One, Apex One as a Service, OfficeScan XG, and Worry-Free Business Security 10.0 SP1 allows a remote attached to upload arbitrary files on affected installations. Please note: an attacker must first obtain the ability to logon to the product�s management console 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 · high confidence

An improper input validation vulnerability in Trend Micro Apex One, Apex One as a Service, OfficeScan XG, and Worry-Free Business Security 10.0 SP1 allows authenticated remote attackers to upload arbitrary files to affected installations via the management console.

MitigationApply vendor patches when available. Restrict and monitor access to the management console using network segmentation, VPNs, and strong authentication credentials.

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
OfficescanApplication
Affected:= xg
Officescan Business SecurityApplication
Affected:= 10.0
Apex OneApplication
Affected:= 2019
Worry Free Business SecurityApplication
Affected:= 10.0

CVSS 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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Trend Micro product
    Check installed programs or running services for Apex One, OfficeScan XG, or Worry-Free Business Security. On Windows, open Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'services.msc' to find related services.
    Affected if Any of these three products (Apex One, OfficeScan XG, or Worry-Free Business Security) is installed
  2. Determine product version
    Open the management console or check registry/ program files for the exact version number. For Apex One, check the 'Version' in the About page of the management console or in the installation directory.
    Affected if Version matches: OfficeScan XG (any), OfficeScan Business Security 10.0, Apex One 2019, or Worry-Free Business Security 10.0
  3. Verify management console is accessible
    Confirm the management console web interface is running and reachable. Check if port 4343 (default for Apex One/OfficeScan) or the configured HTTPS port is open and responding.
    Affected if Management console is accessible over the network without immediate IP restrictions
  4. Confirm console authentication is enabled
    Verify that authentication is required to log into the management console. Check the 'Authentication' or 'Login' settings within the console security configuration.
    Affected if Valid credentials exist or can be obtained for the management console, as exploitation requires authenticated access

User is affected if they have Apex One 2019, OfficeScan XG, OfficeScan Business Security 10.0, or Worry-Free Business Security 10.0 installed AND the management console is network-accessible with valid credentials in use.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply vendor patches when available. Restrict and monitor access to the management console using network segmentation, VPNs, and strong authentication credentials.

Fix this in Officescan Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
Get help mitigating

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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-36741 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-36741 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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