Overview
A high severity vulnerability, dubbed as CVE-2025-53503, has been discovered in Trend Micro Cleaner One Pro. This cybersecurity vulnerability could enable a local attacker to unintentionally delete privileged Trend Micro files, including its own. This vulnerability is particularly critical as it could lead to potential system compromise or data leakage, causing significant harm to the integrity and confidentiality of the system. The affected entities include businesses and individual users relying on Trend Micro Cleaner One Pro for their system protection and cleanup needs.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-53503
Severity: High (7.8 CVSS Score)
Attack Vector: Local
Privileges Required: None to Low
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Trend Micro Cleaner One Pro | All prior versions to the patched release
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability is a Privilege Escalation flaw in the Trend Micro Cleaner One Pro. A local attacker, by exploiting this vulnerability, could unintentionally delete privileged files of Trend Micro, including its own. This could happen if the attacker manages to manipulate the cleaner functionality to target privileged files or directories. The deletion of these critical files could potentially compromise the system or lead to data leakage.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how an attacker might exploit this vulnerability. This is a simple command line instruction that tricks the cleaning software into deleting its own files.
# This is a conceptual example and does not represent a real exploit.
CMD /C "echo Y | DEL /F /Q /A:H C:\Path\to\TrendMicro\*"Please note that the above is a conceptual example and should not be attempted on a live system as it could cause harm. The purpose of this example is to illustrate the potential damage that could be achieved by an attacker.
Recommendations
Users are urged to apply the vendor patch as soon as it is available. In the meanwhile, it is recommended to use a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) as a temporary mitigation measure to protect against potential exploits. These systems can help detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability until a permanent fix is applied. It’s also crucial to keep all software up-to-date and regularly check for new patches or updates from software vendors.
