CVE-2025-71214
Privilege Escalation in Trend Micro Apex One macOS Agent
Publication date: 2026-05-21
Last updated on: 2026-05-21
Assigner: Trend Micro, Inc.
Description
Description
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
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Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| trend_micro | apex_one | to 2025 (inc) |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-346 | The product does not properly verify that the source of data or communication is valid. |
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
How can this vulnerability impact me? :
If exploited, this vulnerability allows an attacker with limited access to the system to gain root-level privileges. This means the attacker can execute arbitrary code with the highest system permissions, potentially leading to full system compromise, unauthorized access to sensitive data, and disruption of system operations.
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?
This vulnerability is a local privilege escalation issue in the Trend Micro Apex One (mac) agent's iCore service. It arises from an origin validation error where the service does not properly verify the source of inter-process communication (IPC) messages. As a result, an attacker who already has the ability to run low-privileged code on the system can exploit this flaw to escalate their privileges to root and execute arbitrary code.
How can this vulnerability be detected on my network or system? Can you suggest some commands?
This vulnerability involves a local privilege escalation in the Trend Micro Apex One (mac) agent iCore service due to insufficient origin validation of IPC messages.
Detection would require verifying if the affected Trend Micro Apex One agent is installed and running on the system.
Since exploitation requires local low-privileged code execution, monitoring for unusual privilege escalation attempts or suspicious IPC message activity related to the iCore service could help detect exploitation attempts.
Specific commands are not provided in the available resources.
What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?
The primary mitigation step is to apply the updates released by Trend Micro that address this vulnerability.
Trend Micro released ActiveUpdate/SaaS updates in mid to late 2025 (SaaS 2507 & 2005 Yearly Release) which fix this issue.
Ensuring that the Trend Micro Apex One agent is updated to the latest version will prevent exploitation of this vulnerability.
Additionally, limiting the ability of untrusted users to execute low-privileged code on the system reduces the risk of exploitation.
How does this vulnerability affect compliance with common standards and regulations (like GDPR, HIPAA)?:
The provided information does not specify how this vulnerability affects compliance with common standards and regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA.