Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 6 Oct 2022.
Apex OneApplication · Trendmicro

CVE-2022-40139

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-09-19
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Remotely reachable Zero-click Patch available

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
Improper validation of some components used by the rollback mechanism in Trend Micro Apex One and Trend Micro Apex One as a Service clients could allow a Apex One server administrator to instruct affected clients to download an unverified rollback package, which could lead to remote code execution. Please note: an attacker must first obtain Apex One server administration console access 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

This vulnerability exists in Trend Micro Apex One's rollback mechanism where improper validation of rollback package components allows a malicious server administrator to push unverified rollback packages to clients, leading to remote code execution on affected client machines. The attacker needs valid Apex One server administration console credentials to exploit this vulnerability.

MitigationApply the vendor-provided patch which adds proper validation and verification of rollback packages before deployment to clients. Additionally, restrict and monitor access to the Apex One server administration console to trusted personnel only.

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
Apex OneApplication
Affected:all versions= 2019

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
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/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 Apex One client installation
    Check for Apex One service or process: On Windows, run 'sc query' or look for 'Apex One' in Services; check for process 'ApexClientCore.exe' in Task Manager
    Affected if Apex One client software is found running on the system
  2. Identify Apex One version
    Check registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\TrendMicro\Apex One\CurrentVersion or look in Add/Remove Programs for the installed version
    Affected if Any version of Apex One is installed (all versions are affected according to advisory)
  3. Verify rollback feature configuration
    Check Apex One client settings or policy for 'Rollback' configuration. On Windows, check registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\TrendMicro\Apex One\ for Rollback-related keys, or inspect client configuration files in the Apex One installation directory
    Affected if Rollback feature is enabled or configurable on the client
  4. Check server communication settings
    Review Apex One client-server communication settings to determine if the client accepts rollback packages from the server. Check Security Agent settings in the client console for 'Rollback' or 'Update' component settings
    Affected if Client is configured to receive updates or rollback packages from the Apex One server without additional verification
  5. Inspect rollback package handling
    Examine the Apex One installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\Apex One\) for rollback-related folders or logs indicating recent rollback operations. Check client logs for rollback activity
    Affected if Rollback functionality exists and has been used or is available on the client

If Apex One client is installed and the rollback feature is accessible or enabled, the environment is potentially affected by this vulnerability that allows remote code execution through unverified rollback packages.

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
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-provided patch which adds proper validation and verification of rollback packages before deployment to clients. Additionally, restrict and monitor access to the Apex One server administration console to trusted personnel only.

Fix this in Apex One Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation24.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
56.0 hours of engineering $9,760
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $15,616.

Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2022-40139 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