# CVE-2019-20357: Privilege escalation in Trend Micro Security (Consumer)

> Attackers can escalate privileges and gain persistence on systems running Trend Micro Security via a malicious program exploiting unquoted service paths.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/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:** 17 Jan 2020
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-q2hv-qv75-g6vg

## What is CVE-2019-20357?

CVE-2019-20357 is a high-severity vulnerability in Trend Micro Security (Consumer), published on 17 Jan 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A Persistent Arbitrary Code Execution vulnerability exists in the Trend Micro Security 2020 (v160 and 2019 (v15) consumer familiy of products which could potentially allow an attacker the ability to create a malicious program to escalate privileges and attain persistence on a vulnerable system.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-20357?

It affects 8 products.


Products: Trendmicro Antivirus \+ Security 2019, Trendmicro Antivirus \+ Security 2020, Trendmicro Internet Security 2019, Trendmicro Internet Security 2020, Trendmicro Maximum Security 2019, Trendmicro Maximum Security 2020, Trendmicro Premium Security 2019, Trendmicro Premium Security 2020.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-20357?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-20357 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-20357 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-20357 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Trend Micro Security (Consumer)

- [CVE-2019-14685](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-14685/): 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-2019-20357 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-20357 is a high-severity vulnerability in Trend Micro Security (Consumer), published on 17 Jan 2020. 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-2019-20357 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-2019-20357/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-20357/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-20357
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-20357
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-20357

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-20357/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.