AntivirusApplication · Trendmicro

CVE-2022-24671

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-02-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 11.0.2150 or later.
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
A link following privilege escalation vulnerability in Trend Micro Antivirus for Max 11.0.2150 and below could allow a local attacker to modify a file during the update process and escalate their privileges. Please note: an attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system 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

A time-of-check-to-time-of-use (TOCTOU) vulnerability exists in Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac 11.0.2150 and below where the update process follows symbolic links, allowing a local attacker with low-privileged code execution to manipulate file placement during updates and escalate to elevated privileges.

MitigationUpdate Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac to a version above 11.0.2150 which contains the vendor fix for proper symlink validation during the update process.

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
AntivirusApplication
Affected:<= 11.0.2150

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. Check if Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac is installed
    Open Terminal and run: ls /Applications | grep -i trendmicro OR check /Library/Application Support/TrendMicro for presence of the product
    Affected if Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac is not found in the system, the vulnerability does not apply
  2. Determine installed version of Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac
    Open Terminal and run: defaults read /Applications/TrendMicroSecurityAgent.app/Contents/Info CFBundleVersion 2>/dev/null OR right-click the app in Applications, select Get Info, and check the Version field
    Affected if Version is 11.0.2150 or lower (any version up to and including 11.0.2150)
  3. Verify if the update service component is enabled
    Open Terminal and run: launchctl list | grep -i trend OR check System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items for Trend Micro updater components
    Affected if The Trend Micro update service (TmUpdate or similar) is listed as running or enabled
  4. Check for symbolic links in the update directory
    Run: ls -la /Library/Application\ Support/TrendMicro/TmUpdate/ 2>/dev/null to examine the update folder for any symbolic links that could be exploited
    Affected if Symlinks exist in the update directory and the installed version is 11.0.2150 or below

A system is affected if Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac version 11.0.2150 or lower is installed and the update service component is present and enabled on the system.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 11.0.2150
Interim mitigation

Update Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac to a version above 11.0.2150 which contains the vendor fix for proper symlink validation during the update process.

Fix this in Antivirus Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,540
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,464.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-24671 — 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-2022-24671 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