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Apex OneApplication · Trendmicro

CVE-2024-36305

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-06-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 14.0.0.12980 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 security agent link following vulnerability in Trend Micro Apex One 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.

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

This is a link following (symlink) vulnerability in Trend Micro Apex One security agent that allows a local attacker with low-privileged code execution to escalate to higher privileges. The vulnerability stems from improper handling of file system links by the security agent, potentially allowing an attacker to manipulate file access paths and gain elevated system permissions.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied patches for CVE-2024-36305 to Apex One installations; review and restrict file system permissions on systems where the security agent is deployed to limit symlink abuse vectors.

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:>= 14.0, < 14.0.0.12980

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. Identify Apex One installation path
    Check for Trend Micro Apex One installation directory at typical locations: C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\Apex One\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Trend Micro\Apex One\. Use command 'dir /s /b "C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\Apex One" 2>nul' to locate it.
    Affected if Apex One is installed in a non-standard location or the directory does not exist at expected paths.
  2. Determine installed Apex One version
    Open the Apex One console or right-click the Apex One icon in the system tray and select 'About' to view the version number. Alternatively, check the Windows Registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\TrendMicro\Apex One\CurrentVersion for the value of 'Version' or 'ProductVersion'.
    Affected if The installed version matches the vulnerable range: version is 14.0 or higher but lower than 14.0.0.12980.
  3. Verify Apex One service is running
    Open Services (services.msc) and locate the 'Trend Micro Apex One' service, or run 'sc query' to check if the service exists and is running. This confirms the vulnerable component is active.
    Affected if The Apex One service is installed and running on the system.
  4. Check file system permissions on Apex One directories
    Inspect permissions on the Apex One installation folder and subfolders (particularly the 'Security Agent' subfolder) using 'icacls "C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\Apex One" /T'. Verify that low-privileged users cannot write to directories that the security agent accesses.
    Affected if Low-privileged users have write permissions to directories accessed by the Apex One security agent, enabling symlink manipulation.

A system is affected if Trend Micro Apex One is installed with version 14.0 through 14.0.0.12979 inclusive, and low-privileged users have write access to directories used by the security agent.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 14.0.0.12980 or later
Fixed in 14.0.0.12980
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-supplied patches for CVE-2024-36305 to Apex One installations; review and restrict file system permissions on systems where the security agent is deployed to limit symlink abuse vectors.

Recommended fix High confidence

Apex One 14.0.0.12980

  1. 1. Ensure you have a backup of your Apex One installation and current configuration.
  2. 2. Download Apex One version 14.0.0.12980 or later from the Trend Micro Download Center.
  3. 3. Apply the upgrade during a planned maintenance window.
  4. 4. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the Apex One console version information.
  5. 5. Confirm the security agent service is running normally post-upgrade.
Caveat Standard Apex One upgrade procedure applies - review release notes for any migration considerations

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Apex One 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
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.

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-2024-36305 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