Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2023-41179

Trend Micro Apex One

Trend Micro / Trend Micro Apex One · 2019

Severity
CVSS 7.2 · High
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
4.7%
First observed
Last observed

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2023-41179 is a vulnerability affecting Trend Micro, Inc. Trend Micro Apex One and 2 other products. A vulnerability in the 3rd party AV uninstaller module contained in Trend Micro Apex One (on-prem and SaaS),...

Is it exploited?

Yes. KEV Intelligence tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed.

Who is affected?

Trend Micro, Inc. / Trend Micro Apex One 2019.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

Trend Micro Apex One

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.

Vendor Product Affected Status
trendmicro apex_one 2019 Affected
trendmicro worry-free_business_security 10.0 Affected
trendmicro worry-free_business_security_services Before * Affected
trendmicro apex_one 2019 Affected
Trend Micro, Inc. Trend Micro Apex One Before 14.0.0.12380 Affected
Trend Micro, Inc. Trend Micro Apex One Before 14.0.12637 Affected
Trend Micro, Inc. Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Before 10.0 SP1 Build 2495 Affected
Trend Micro, Inc. Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Services Before 6.7.3578 / 14.3.1105 Affected
Published
19 Sep 2023
Exploitation Reported
21 Sep 2023
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
High
User interaction
None

Tags

cisa nessus_scanner

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Why KEV Intelligence marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CISA

Recorded 21 Sep 2023

Independent exploitation attestation added to the KEV Intelligence record.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the KEV Intelligence Pro API.

Learn about Pro API access
Source Added
CISA First 2023-09-21 00:00 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
0
User-Agents
0

Raw values available in Pro and Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No KEV Intelligence virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Nessus https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/192567 02 Jun 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

4.7%

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. Nessus plugin available

    Scanner coverage available

  2. Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  3. CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  4. CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2023-41179

Free JSON includes basic KEV fields
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2023-41179",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 7.2,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.04739,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}

Early warning alerts

Get alerts on high-impact exploitation

Receive curator-selected alerts when exploitation activity warrants attention. Each alert includes the evidence and context needed to decide what requires attention now.

Occasional high-impact alerts. Unsubscribe anytime. See our Privacy Policy.