dbcve.org
Worry Free Business SecurityApplication · Trendmicro

CVE-2021-44021

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-12-03
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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 unnecessary privilege vulnerability in Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security 10.0 SP1 could allow a local attacker to escalate privileges on affected installations. Please note: an attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. This vulnerability is similar to but not identical to CVE-2021-44019 and 44020.

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 confidence

Local privilege escalation vulnerability in Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security 10.0 SP1 where the application grants unnecessary privileges to low-privileged users, allowing code execution with elevated permissions.

MitigationApply vendor security patches for Worry-Free Business Security 10.0 SP1; until patched, restrict local code execution capabilities and monitor for suspicious privilege escalation activity.

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
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
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 checks

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

  1. Confirm Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security is installed
    Look for the product in Add/Remove Programs, or check for the installation directory typically at C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\ or check for the Worry-Free Business Security service (usually 'Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security' or similar service name in Services.msc)
    Affected if The product is installed and running on the system
  2. Identify the installed version
    Open Add/Remove Programs and find 'Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security', or check the version in the product UI under Help > About, or inspect the version from the installed service executable properties
    Affected if The version shown is 10.0 or 10.0 SP1 (or 10.0 without a service pack specified, as this maps to the affected range)
  3. Check permissions on the application installation directory
    Right-click the Trend Micro installation folder (usually in Program Files), go to Properties > Security, and examine what users or groups have Full Control or Write permissions
    Affected if Users marked as 'Users', 'Authenticated Users', or other low-privileged groups have Write or Full Control permissions to the application directory or its executables
  4. Verify low-privileged user access to service executables
    Use icacls.exe on the main Trend Micro service executable (look for .exe files in the installation directory) to see which users can read or write to these files
    Affected if Standard users or low-privilege accounts have Modify or Write access to service executables or configuration files
  5. Check for excessive user rights to the service
    Open Services.msc, find the Worry-Free Business Security service, check Properties > Log On tab, and review what user account the service runs under; also check if low-privileged users can restart the service
    Affected if The service runs with LocalSystem or administrator privileges and standard users have permission to interact with the service (start/stop/restart)
  6. Identify low-privileged accounts on the system
    Open Computer Management > Local Users and Groups > Users, or run 'net user' command to list local users, and note which accounts are members of only the 'Users' group (not 'Administrators')
    Affected if There are standard user accounts present on the system where the vulnerable product version is installed

A user is affected if Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security version 10.0 or 10.0 SP1 is installed AND low-privileged users have write access to application directories, service executables, or the ability to interact with the privileged service.

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 security patches for Worry-Free Business Security 10.0 SP1; until patched, restrict local code execution capabilities and monitor for suspicious privilege escalation activity.

Fix this in Worry Free Business Security Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2021-44021 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