# CVE-2021-25227: Denial of service in Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac

> An attacker with low-privileged code execution can cause memory exhaustion in Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac, disabling scanning functionality.

- **Severity:** Low 3.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 4 Feb 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-j2x4-hphx-h7rg

## What is CVE-2021-25227?

CVE-2021-25227 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac, published on 4 Feb 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac 2021 (Consumer) is vulnerable to a memory exhaustion vulnerability that could lead to disabling all the scanning functionality within the application. Please note: an attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability - i.e. the attacker must already have access to the target system (either legitimately or via another exploit).

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-25227?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Trendmicro Antivirus.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-25227?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-25227 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-25227 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-25227 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac

- [CVE-2022-24671](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-24671/): Privilege escalation in Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2021-43771](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-43771/): Privilege escalation in Trend Micro Antivirus for MAC 2021 (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2021-28648](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-28648/): Privilege escalation in Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2020-25776](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-25776/): Privilege escalation in Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac (Consumer) (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-19695](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-19695/): Path traversal in Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-25227 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-25227 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac, published on 4 Feb 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-25227 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac. 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-2021-25227/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-25227/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-25227
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-25227
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-25227

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-25227/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.