CVE-2021-44023
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 link following denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerability in the Trend Micro Security (Consumer) 2021 familiy of products could allow an attacker to abuse the PC Health Checkup feature of the product to create symlinks that would allow modification of files which could lead to a denial-of-service.
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 confidenceA link following vulnerability in Trend Micro Security 2021 Consumer family products allows the PC Health Checkup feature to be abused for creating symlinks. This symlink creation flaw enables modification of arbitrary files on the system, leading to denial-of-service conditions.
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<= 17.0<= 17.0<= 17.0<= 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
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 productOpen Windows Settings > Apps & Features (or use 'Get-ItemProperty' in PowerShell at HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*) to locate any Trend Micro Security 2021 family product (Antivirus+, Internet Security, Maximum Security, or Premium Security 2021)Affected if Any of the four affected products (Antivirus+ Security 2021, Internet Security 2021, Maximum Security 2021, or Premium Security 2021) are installed
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Check installed product versionIn the Apps & Features list, note the version number displayed next to the Trend Micro product; alternatively, check the product's About or Help > About section within the Trend Micro interfaceAffected if The version number is 17.0 or lower (any version <= 17.0 is within the affected range)
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Verify PC Health Checkup component existsSearch for the PC Health Checkup module within the Trend Micro product interface (usually found under Tools, Privacy, or a dedicated Checkup section), or look for the module file in the installation directory (typically in C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\)Affected if The PC Health Checkup feature or module is present and accessible in the installed product
A user is affected if any of the four Trend Micro Security 2021 products is installed with version 17.0 or lower and the PC Health Checkup feature is available on the system.
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 dataApply the vendor security update/patch for Trend Micro Security 2021 family products to remediate the symlink creation vulnerability in the PC Health Checkup feature.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-44023 — 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-2021-44023 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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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.
- 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