# CVE-2020-24562: Privilege escalation in Trend Micro OfficeScan

> An attacker with low-privileged code execution can create hard links to manipulate files, leading to privilege escalation and code execution on Trend Micro OfficeScan.

- **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:** 28 Sep 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-74vv-q3rm-9hv6

## What is CVE-2020-24562?

CVE-2020-24562 is a high-severity vulnerability in Trendmicro Officescan, published on 28 Sep 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in Trend Micro OfficeScan XG SP1 on Microsoft Windows may allow an attacker to create a hard link to any file on the system, which then could be manipulated to gain a privilege escalation and code execution. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. This CVE is similar, but not identical to CVE-2020-24556.

Weakness: CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-24562?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Trendmicro Officescan.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-24562?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-24562 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-24562 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-24562 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Trendmicro Officescan

- [CVE-2019-18187](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-18187/): Trend Micro OfficeScan Directory Traversal (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2017-14089](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-14089/): Memory corruption in Trend Micro OfficeScan (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-11393](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-11393/): Command injection in Trend Micro OfficeScan (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-11394](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-11394/): Command injection in Trend Micro OfficeScan (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-10508](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-10508/): Privilege escalation in Trend Micro OfficeScan (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-24562 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-24562 is a high-severity vulnerability in Trendmicro Officescan, published on 28 Sep 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-2020-24562 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Trendmicro Officescan. 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-2020-24562/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24562/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-24562
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-24562
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-24562

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24562/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.