# CVE-2023-52338: Privilege escalation in Trend Micro Deep Security Agent

> A local attacker with low-privileged code execution can escalate privileges via a link following vulnerability in the Trend Micro Deep Security Agent.

- **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:** 23 Jan 2024
- **Updated:** 2 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-gvqj-cjp6-grrv

## What is CVE-2023-52338?

CVE-2023-52338 is a high-severity vulnerability in Trend Micro Deep Security Agent, published on 23 Jan 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A link following vulnerability in the Trend Micro Deep Security 20.0 and Trend Micro Cloud One - Endpoint and Workload Security Agent 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.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52338?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Trendmicro Deep Security, Trendmicro Deep Security Agent.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52338?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-52338 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-52338 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52338 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Trend Micro Deep Security Agent

- [CVE-2023-52337](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52337/): Privilege escalation in Trend Micro Deep Security Agent (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-15626](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-15626/): Information disclosure in Deep Security Manager (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2019-15627](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-15627/): Path traversal in Deep Security Agent (high 7.1)
- [CVE-2018-6218](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6218/): Other in Trend Micro User-Mode Hooking (UMH) Module (high 7.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-52338 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52338 is a high-severity vulnerability in Trend Micro Deep Security Agent, published on 23 Jan 2024. 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-2023-52338 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Trend Micro Deep Security Agent. 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-2023-52338/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52338/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52338
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52338
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52338

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52338/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.