CISA Warns of Actively Exploited Trend Micro Apex One Vulnerability

A newly disclosed command injection vulnerability in Trend Micro’s Apex One Management Console poses significant security risks to enterprise networks, potentially allowing pre-authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary commands on affected systems.

The vulnerability, designated as CVE-2025-54948, was added to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on August 18, 2025, with organizations required to implement mitigations by September 8, 2025.

Vulnerability Technical Analysis

The vulnerability affects the on-premise deployment of Trend Micro Apex One Management Console, a centralized security management platform widely deployed across enterprise environments.

This OS command injection flaw falls under the Common Weakness Enumeration category CWE-78, which represents improper neutralization of special elements used in OS commands.

The attack vector enables pre-authenticated remote attackers to upload malicious code and execute arbitrary commands on vulnerable installations.

This classification indicates that while attackers require some level of authentication to the system, they can subsequently escalate their privileges through command injection techniques.

The pre-authentication requirement suggests the vulnerability may be exploitable by users with legitimate but limited access credentials.

Threat Landscape and Exploitation Potential

Currently, security researchers have not confirmed whether this vulnerability has been leveraged in ransomware campaigns, though its classification as a Known Exploited Vulnerability indicates active exploitation in the wild.

The command injection capability presents multiple attack scenarios, including lateral movement, privilege escalation, and persistent access establishment within compromised networks.

The vulnerability’s inclusion in the KEV catalog reflects its critical nature and the potential for widespread exploitation.

Organizations utilizing Trend Micro Apex One Management Console face immediate risks from threat actors who may leverage this vulnerability to compromise security infrastructure and potentially disable endpoint protection mechanisms.

Vulnerability Details Summary

Security teams must immediately prioritize patching efforts according to vendor guidance.

Organizations should implement network segmentation to limit potential lateral movement and monitor management console access logs for suspicious activities.

If vendor mitigations remain unavailable, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recommends discontinuing product usage to prevent exploitation.

The vulnerability underscores the critical importance of securing management infrastructure, as compromised security consoles can undermine entire organizational defense strategies.

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