# CVE-2019-14685: Privilege escalation in Trend Micro Security (Consumer)

> A local attacker can exploit a service loading flaw in Trend Micro Security to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 21 Aug 2019
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-vvp7-94rj-24rc

## What is CVE-2019-14685?

CVE-2019-14685 is a high-severity vulnerability in Trend Micro Security (Consumer), published on 21 Aug 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in Trend Micro Security 2019 (v15.0) in which, if exploited, would allow an attacker to manipulate a specific product feature to load a malicious service.

Weakness: CWE-428 (Unquoted Search Path or Element)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-14685?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Trendmicro Antivirus \+ Security 2019, Trendmicro Internet Security 2019, Trendmicro Maximum Security 2019, Trendmicro Premium Security 2019.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-14685?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-14685 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-14685 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-14685 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Trend Micro Security (Consumer)

- [CVE-2019-20357](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-20357/): Privilege escalation in Trend Micro Security (Consumer) (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-14686](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-14686/): Other in Trend Micro Ransom Buster, Trend Micro Security (Consumer) (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-19697](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-19697/): Privilege escalation in Trend Micro Security (Consumer) (medium 6.7)
- [CVE-2019-19694](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-19694/): Race condition in Trend Micro Security (Consumer) (medium 4.7)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-14685 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-14685 is a high-severity vulnerability in Trend Micro Security (Consumer), published on 21 Aug 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-14685 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Trend Micro Security (Consumer). No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-14685/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-14685/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-14685
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-14685
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-14685

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-14685/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.