Trend Micro Apex One CVE-2025-71213: Local Privilege Escalation Risk
The National Vulnerability Database has disclosed CVE-2025-71213, an origin validation error vulnerability impacting Trend Micro Apex One. This flaw could allow a local attacker to escalate privileges on affected installations, posing a significant risk to system integrity.
Critically, exploitation of this vulnerability requires an attacker to first achieve low-privileged code execution on the target system. While this prerequisite may seem to raise the bar, it’s a common initial access point for many advanced persistent threats and insider attacks. Once achieved, this vulnerability provides a clear path to full system compromise.
The National Vulnerability Database has assigned CVE-2025-71213 a CVSSv3.1 score of 7.8 (HIGH), with a vector of CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. This indicates high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability once exploited, underscoring the severity for defenders. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-346 (Origin Validation Error).
What This Means For You
- If your organization uses Trend Micro Apex One, you need to understand this isn't a remote, unauthenticated RCE, but it's still dangerous. Local privilege escalation is the bread and butter for attackers who've already landed on a system. Review your endpoints for any signs of low-privileged compromise and prepare to patch Apex One immediately once a fix is available.
Related ATT&CK Techniques
🛡️ Detection Rules
2 rules · 6 SIEM formats2 detection rules auto-generated for this incident, mapped to MITRE ATT&CK. Sigma YAML is free — export to any SIEM format via the Intel Bot.
Privilege Escalation Attempt Detection
title: Privilege Escalation Attempt Detection
id: scw-2026-05-21-1
status: experimental
level: high
description: |
Detects processes spawned with elevated privileges from medium-integrity parents, indicating potential privilege escalation exploitation.
author: SCW Feed Engine (auto-generated)
date: 2026-05-21
references:
- https://shimiscyberworld.com/posts/nvd-CVE-2025-71213/
tags:
- attack.privilege_escalation
- attack.t1068
logsource:
category: process_creation
product: windows
detection:
selection:
IntegrityLevel: 'High'
ParentIntegrityLevel: 'Medium'
Image|endswith:
- '\cmd.exe'
- '\powershell.exe'
condition: selection
falsepositives:
- Legitimate activity from CVE-2025-71213
Source: Shimi's Cyber World · License & reuse
Indicators of Compromise
| ID | Type | Indicator |
|---|---|---|
| CVE-2025-71213 | Privilege Escalation | Trend Micro Apex One |
| CVE-2025-71213 | Privilege Escalation | origin validation error |
Written by SCW Vulnerability Desk
Source & Attribution
| Source Platform | NVD |
| Channel | National Vulnerability Database |
| Published | May 21, 2026 at 17:16 UTC |
This content was AI-rewritten and enriched by Shimi's Cyber World based on the original source. All intellectual property rights remain with the original author.
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