# CVE-2021-44021: Privilege escalation in Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security

> A local attacker with low-privileged code execution capabilities can escalate privileges on Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security installations.

- **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:** 3 Dec 2021
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-xj38-xc52-mx4x

## What is CVE-2021-44021?

CVE-2021-44021 is a high-severity vulnerability in Trendmicro Worry-Free Business Security, published on 3 Dec 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An unnecessary privilege vulnerability in Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security 10.0 SP1 could allow a local attacker to escalate privileges on affected installations. Please note: an attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. This vulnerability is similar to but not identical to CVE-2021-44019 and 44020.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-44021?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Trendmicro Worry-Free Business Security.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-44021?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-44021 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-44021 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-44021 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Trendmicro Worry-Free Business Security

- [CVE-2020-8600](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8600/): Path traversal in Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security (WFBS) (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-44019](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-44019/): Privilege escalation in Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2021-44020](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-44020/): Privilege escalation in Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2020-28574](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-28574/): Path traversal in Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2022-23805](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-23805/): Information disclosure in Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security (high 7.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-44021 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-44021 is a high-severity vulnerability in Trendmicro Worry-Free Business Security, published on 3 Dec 2021. 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-2021-44021 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Trendmicro Worry-Free Business Security. 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-2021-44021/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-44021/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-44021
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-44021
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-44021

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-44021/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.