CVE-2024-36307
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 security agent link following vulnerability in Trend Micro Apex One and Apex One as a Service could allow a local attacker to disclose sensitive information about the agent 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 confidenceThis is a link following vulnerability in Trend Micro Apex One security agent that allows a local attacker with low-privileged code execution to access sensitive information about the agent installation. The vulnerability stems from improper validation of links followed by the security agent, potentially exposing configuration details or other agent-specific sensitive data.
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<= 14.0.13139>= 14.0, <= 14.0.0.12980CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 Apex One agent versionOpen Windows Registry Editor and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\TrendMicro\Apex One\CurrentVersion, or run 'wmic product get name,version' and filter for Trend Micro Apex One entriesAffected if The installed version is <= 14.0.13139 or between 14.0.0.12980 and 14.0 (inclusive)
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Check for the main Apex One serviceOpen Services console (services.msc) and locate the 'Apex One' or 'Trend Micro Apex One' service, then view its properties to see the executable path and version informationAffected if The service executable version matches the affected version ranges
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Inspect Apex One configuration directoryNavigate to the Apex One installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\Apex One\) and locate configuration files such as ini or xml files that may contain agent settingsAffected if Configuration files exist and the agent is running with default or permissive link-following settings
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Review Apex One diagnostic logsCheck the log directory within the Apex One installation path (commonly ..\ Apex One\Log\) for any entries indicating symbolic link traversal or unauthorized file access attemptsAffected if Log entries show repeated attempts to access files via symbolic links or unusual path traversals from the agent process
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Verify user privileges on Apex One directoriesRight-click the Apex One installation folder, select Properties, then Security to see which low-privileged users have read or execute permissions on agent directories and binariesAffected if Low-privileged users have excessive permissions that could allow them to manipulate symlinks accessible by the agent
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Check for presence of symbolic links in agent pathsUse Command Prompt with 'dir /AL' or PowerShell 'Get-Item -Path "C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\Apex One" -Recurse | Where-Object {$_.LinkType}' to enumerate any symbolic links in the agent directoryAffected if Symbolic links exist within the Apex One installation directory that could be exploited for link following
A user is affected if the installed Apex One agent version falls within 14.0 to 14.0.13139 (specifically <= 14.0.13139 or between 14.0 and 14.0.0.12980) and the agent process follows symbolic links without proper validation.
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.
dbcve · scopedApply the vendor patch or update to the latest version of Trend Micro Apex One. Since this requires local access with code execution, prioritize patching systems with higher exposure and monitor for anomalous access patterns.
Latest Apex One version (check Trend Micro security advisory for exact build number beyond 14.0.13139 and 14.0.0.12980)
- 1. Identify the current installed version of Apex One by checking the product console or installed programs
- 2. Confirm the version falls within the affected range: <= 14.0.13139 or >= 14.0 through <= 14.0.0.12980
- 3. Obtain the latest version of Apex One from the Trend Micro official download center or your licensed distribution channel
- 4. Create a backup of current Apex One configuration settings as a precaution
- 5. Apply the upgrade following Trend Micro's standard upgrade procedure for Apex One
- 6. Verify the new version is installed and the Apex One services are running properly
- 7. Confirm the vulnerability is resolved by checking release notes or security advisory for the new version
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-36307 — 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-2024-36307 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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- 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