dbcve.org
Apex OneApplication · Trendmicro

CVE-2025-49157

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-06-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 14.0.0.14002 / 14.0.14492 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 vulnerability in the Trend Micro Apex One Damage Cleanup Engine could allow a local attacker to escalation 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

A link following (symlink attack) vulnerability in the Trend Micro Apex One Damage Cleanup Engine allows a local attacker with low-privileged code execution to escalate privileges by manipulating symbolic links that the privileged cleanup engine follows during file operations.

MitigationApply the vendor patch from Trend Micro for Apex One as soon as possible. Prioritize patching systems where untrusted users may have local access.

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:< 14.0.14492>= 14.0.0.12994, < 14.0.0.14002

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. Verify Apex One installation
    Check for Apex One installation by looking for the product in Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\TrendMicro\Apex One, or check for the presence of the Apex One installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\Apex One).
    Affected if Apex One is installed and running on the system
  2. Check Apex One version
    Run the command: reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\TrendMicro\Apex One" /v "ProductVersion" to retrieve the installed version, or check the version via the Apex One console or the installed program's properties.
    Affected if The installed version is < 14.0.14492, or is between 14.0.0.12994 and 14.0.0.14001 inclusive
  3. Confirm Damage Cleanup Engine is enabled
    Check if the Damage Cleanup Engine feature is active. This can be verified through the Apex One console under Settings > Damage Cleanup Engine, or by checking the Windows service 'Trend Micro Damage Cleanup Engine' (DCE) is running.
    Affected if The Damage Cleanup Engine service is installed and running on the system
  4. Verify service runs with elevated privileges
    Check the properties of the 'Trend Micro Damage Cleanup Engine' Windows service to confirm it runs under a high-privilege account (such as SYSTEM). Open Services, locate the DCE service, right-click and view Properties.
    Affected if The Damage Cleanup Engine service runs under an administrative or SYSTEM account, allowing the symlink attack to enable privilege escalation

The system is affected if Apex One is installed with a version less than 14.0.14492 (or between 14.0.0.12994 and 14.0.0.14001) and the Damage Cleanup Engine feature is enabled and running.

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 14.0.0.14002 / 14.0.14492 or later
Fixed in 14.0.0.1400214.0.14492
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor patch from Trend Micro for Apex One as soon as possible. Prioritize patching systems where untrusted users may have local access.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Apex One version 14.0.14492 or later (or 14.0.14002 or later for the 14.0.0.x branch)

  1. 1. Identify the current installed version of Trend Micro Apex One on the target system via the Apex One console or installed program information.
  2. 2. Navigate to the Trend Micro Apex One download center or patch management section within the Apex One management console.
  3. 3. Download and apply the latest hotfix or service pack that addresses CVE-2025-49157. Based on affected version ranges, apply version 14.0.14492 or later.
  4. 4. Alternatively, if your version is in the range >= 14.0.0.12994 and < 14.0.0.14002, apply version 14.0.14002 or later.
  5. 5. After installation, verify the Damage Cleanup Engine component has been updated and restart the Apex One services if required.
  6. 6. Confirm the patch was successfully applied by checking the Apex One version information.

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
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,328.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-49157 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2025-49157 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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