CVE-2023-41179
A vulnerability in the 3rd party AV uninstaller module contained in Trend Micro Apex One (on-prem and SaaS), Worry-Free Business Security and Worry-Free Business Security Services could allow an attacker to manipulate the module to execute arbitrary commands on an affected installation. Note that an attacker must first obtain administrative console access on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability.
- CVSS
- 7.2Highscored by CISA
- Exploited in the wild
- Yes, in CISA KEV since 21 Sept 2023CISA deadline for US federal agencies: 12 Oct 2023
- EPSS
- 4.2%chance of exploitation in the next 30 daystop 9% of scored CVEsFIRST score of 11 Nov 2026
- Fix
- Not stated by the vendorno fixed release in the CVE record
- Published
- 19 Sept 2023analysed here 12 Nov 2026
Do first. Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. (CISA's required action for this KEV entry)
Summary
Triage
The summary, impact and action text on this page are written by our AI analysis pipeline, or taken from the NVD description when a CVE was imported from NVD. They are not the vendor's wording: check them against the sources. A longer AI executive summary and technical analysis are generated for signed-in accounts on the Max plan.
Affected products
| Product | Affected versions | Vendor says fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| Trend Micro, Inc. Trend Micro Apex One | >= 2019 (14.0) and < 14.0.0.12380>= SaaS and < 14.0.12637Vendor says fixed in: not stated | |
| Trend Micro, Inc. Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security | >= 10.0 SP1 and < 10.0 SP1 Build 2495Vendor says fixed in: not stated | |
| Trend Micro, Inc. Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Services | >= SaaS and < 6.7.3578 / 14.3.1105Vendor says fixed in: not stated |
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.
Products named in our analysis
- trendmicro:apex_one
- trendmicro:worry-free_business_security
- trendmicro:worry-free_business_security_services
Fix and mitigation
WAF and other mitigations
Can a WAF block it? No. The attacker must first obtain administrative console access on the target system, meaning local or privileged access is required before exploiting the vulnerability. This is not an attack delivered via HTTP requests, so a web application firewall cannot filter it.
Also consider: remove eval sinks · RASP
Based on an AI reading of the CVE description, and no vendor rule found yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.
Remediation steps (AI-written)
Step-by-step remediation is generated for accounts on the Max plan, for CVEs that match a technology in their stack. Add this technology to your stack to see the fix checklist.
Exploitation evidence
- CISA KEV catalog
- Listed since 21 Sept 2023.
- CISA due date
- 12 Oct 2023, the remediation deadline for US federal agencies
- CISA required action
- Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
- Public exploit code
- None on record in Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei templates or PoC-in-GitHub.
- CISA SSVC
- exploitation active, automatable no, technical impact totalAssessed by CISA 25 Sept 2024 (SSVC 2.0.3). Exploitation is none, poc (public proof of concept) or active.
Timeline
- 19 Sept 2023Published
- 21 Sept 2023Added to CISA KEV (exploited in the wild)1 day later
- 12 Oct 2023CISA remediation due date (US federal agencies)21 days later
- 25 Sept 2024CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation active350 days (about 12 months) later
- 21 Oct 2025CVE record last updated391 days (about 1 year) later
- 12 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com387 days (about 1 year) later
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
| Metric | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Attack vector | NetworkReachable over the internet or any routable network. | Reachable over the internet or any routable network. |
| Attack complexity | LowRepeatable attack, no special conditions. | Repeatable attack, no special conditions. |
| Privileges required | HighThe attacker needs admin-level privileges. | The attacker needs admin-level privileges. |
| User interaction | NoneNo victim action needed. | No victim action needed. |
| Scope | UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component. | Impact stays within the vulnerable component. |
| Confidentiality | HighTotal data disclosure possible. | Total data disclosure possible. |
| Integrity | HighComplete modification possible. | Complete modification possible. |
| Availability | HighFull outage possible. | Full outage possible. |
Common questions
Is CVE-2023-41179 being exploited?
Yes. CVE-2023-41179 appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed and reported. Treat it as active rather than theoretical, and patch it ahead of higher-scoring vulnerabilities that carry no exploitation evidence.
How severe is CVE-2023-41179?
CVE-2023-41179 is rated High with a CVSS score of 7.2. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2023-41179?
Not known from our data. No patch reference has been recorded for CVE-2023-41179, which is not the same as no patch existing — a fix may have shipped without a tagged reference, or after this record was written. The vendor advisory is the only authority on whether a fix exists, and mitigations may be available regardless.
What does CVE-2023-41179 affect?
CVE-2023-41179 affects trendmicro:apex_one, trendmicro:worry-free_business_security, trendmicro:worry-free_business_security_services. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
References
4 references in the CVE record, grouped by the tags the record gives them.
Other links (4)
- success.trendmicro.com /solution/000294994
- success.trendmicro.com /jp/solution/000294706
- jvn.jp /en/vu/JVNVU90967486/
- cisa.gov /known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2023-41179
Where the data on this page comes from
- CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
- NVD: CVSS and CPE data
- CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, due date
- CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
- FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.
Similar CVEs
Get CVEs like this by email. Join the free digest: the CVEs we flag as major, all CVSS 8.0 or higher, in up to three emails a day (sent at 05:00, 11:00 and 15:00 UTC). Matching alerts to the products you run needs an account, and accounts are invite-only during the beta.