Trend Micro Apex One and OfficeScan: authentication bypass flaw under attack

What is affected

Trend Micro Apex One and OfficeScan is mostly run by companies, schools and public bodies, not on home computers. You are unlikely to have it yourself, but organisations that hold your data may. Breaches that start with flaws like this one are how personal data ends up leaked.

Trend Micro Apex One and OfficeScan server contain a vulnerable EXE file that could allow a remote attacker to write data to a path on affected installations and bypass root login.

What an attacker can do

This is a authentication bypass flaw. It lets an attacker get in without a valid username and password and act as a legitimate user, often as an administrator.

How it is reached

Over the internet or network

Access the attacker needs

No account needed

Does the victim have to do something?

No, works without the victim doing anything

What to do

1. At home: nothing to install. Keep your own devices updated and use a different password for every service, so that a breach at one organisation does not open your other accounts.
2. If you administer Trend Micro Apex One and OfficeScan at work: apply the vendor's fix or mitigation now and review logs for signs of compromise, because the flaw was being exploited before it was listed.
3. If the product is past its support date and no fix exists, take it off the internet or retire it.

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

How urgent is it

CISA added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on November 3, 2021, which means there is reliable evidence of attacks in the wild. US federal agencies must fix it by May 3, 2022, a deadline that has already passed. That deadline does not bind anyone else, but it shows how seriously the agency rates it.

The EPSS model estimates a 12% probability that this flaw will be exploited somewhere in the next 30 days. That is higher than 96% of all scored vulnerabilities.

Its CVSS severity score is 9.8 out of 10 (critical), as recorded in the US National Vulnerability Database.

Technical description

Trend Micro Apex One (2019) and OfficeScan XG server contain a vulnerable EXE file that could allow a remote attacker to write arbitrary data to an arbitrary path on affected installations and bypass ROOT login. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability.