CVE-2026-45206
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 · uneditedAn origin validation vulnerability in the Apex One/SEP agent could allow a local attacker to escalate privileges on affected installations. This is similar to CVE-2026-45207 but exists in a different process protection communication mechanism. 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 an origin validation vulnerability in the Apex One/SEP agent's process protection communication mechanism that allows a local attacker with prior low-privileged code execution to escalate to SYSTEM/privileged access. It affects a different process protection communication channel than CVE-2026-45207.
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< 14.0.0.17079< 14.0.20731CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if Trend Micro Apex One is installedCheck for Apex One installation by looking for its service or process. On Windows, open Services console (services.msc) and look for 'Trend Micro Apex One' service, or check Program Files for Trend Micro Apex One directory.Affected if Apex One is installed on the system
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Retrieve the installed Apex One versionOpen Windows Registry editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\TrendMicro\Apex One\CurrentVersion or check the version from the installed program's About/Properties dialog.Affected if Version cannot be determined or is lower than 14.0.0.17079 or 14.0.20731
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Verify the vulnerable IPC component statusReview Apex One process protection settings. The vulnerability involves the process protection communication mechanism - check if the 'Process Protection' or similar security feature is enabled in the Apex One console under Agent settings.Affected if Process protection feature is enabled and version is vulnerable
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Check for suspicious process communicationMonitor network or IPC activity using Process Monitor (Sysinternals) for unexpected communication attempts to/from Apex One processes (e.g., TmCcSys.exe, TmListen.exe). Look for connections from low-privilege processes to Apex One protected processes.Affected if Low-privilege processes are able to establish communication with protected Apex One processes
System is affected if Trend Micro Apex One is installed with a version lower than 14.0.0.17079 or 14.0.20731 and the process protection feature is enabled.
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 · scoped14.0.0.1707914.0.20731
Apply the vendor patch for CVE-2026-45206 when released; in the interim, restrict user privileges and monitor process communication logs for suspicious inter-process calls from untrusted processes.
Apex One version 14.0.0.17079 or later (or version 14.20731 or later)
- 1. Back up the current Apex One installation and configuration before proceeding with any changes
- 2. Download the latest Apex One version from the Trend Micro Enterprise Portal or authorized distribution channel
- 3. Ensure the target version is 14.0.0.17079 or higher (or 14.20731 or higher for the alternative version scheme)
- 4. Apply the upgrade during a planned maintenance window to minimize business impact
- 5. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the Apex One console for the updated version number
- 6. Confirm the vulnerability is remediated by verifying process protection communication mechanisms are functioning correctly
- 7. Test that normal security features (real-time scanning, behavior monitoring, etc.) are operating as expected
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing10.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-45206 — 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-2026-45206 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
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