CVE-2022-45797 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting Trend Micro Apex One, both the On-Premise (version 14.0) and SaaS (version 14.0) deployments. The vulnerability resides in the Damage Cleanup Engine component, which is responsible for remediating or cleaning up damage caused by malware or other threats. Specifically, this flaw allows an attacker with local, low-privileged code execution capabilities to perform arbitrary file deletion on the affected system. By exploiting this vulnerability, an attacker can escalate privileges and delete critical files, potentially disrupting the security product's functionality or other system components. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 7.1, reflecting a high severity due to the impact on integrity and availability, with a vector indicating local attack vector (AV:L), low attack complexity (AC:L), requiring low privileges (PR:L), no user interaction (UI:N), unchanged scope (S:U), no confidentiality impact (C:N), high integrity impact (I:H), and high availability impact (A:H). Exploitation requires the attacker to have already gained the ability to execute code with low privileges on the target system, which means initial access must be obtained through other means. There are no known exploits in the wild as of the publication date. The vulnerability could be leveraged to disable or impair the endpoint protection capabilities of Trend Micro Apex One, potentially allowing further malicious activity to go undetected or unmitigated. No specific patches or mitigation links were provided in the source information, but given the vendor and product involved, it is likely that Trend Micro has or will release updates to address this issue.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2022-45797 can be significant, especially for those relying on Trend Micro Apex One for endpoint security. Successful exploitation can lead to deletion of critical files, potentially disabling or degrading the security posture of affected endpoints. This can result in increased risk of malware persistence, lateral movement, and data integrity compromise. The integrity and availability impacts are high, meaning that operational disruptions or security failures could occur. Organizations in sectors with stringent regulatory requirements (e.g., finance, healthcare, critical infrastructure) may face compliance risks if endpoint protections are compromised. Additionally, the requirement for local code execution means that attackers might leverage this vulnerability as part of a multi-stage attack, escalating privileges after initial foothold. This could facilitate more damaging attacks such as ransomware deployment or espionage. The lack of known exploits in the wild reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, as attackers may develop exploits over time. European organizations with large deployments of Trend Micro Apex One, especially in environments where endpoint security is critical, should prioritize addressing this vulnerability to maintain defense-in-depth.

1. Apply official patches or updates from Trend Micro as soon as they become available, ensuring that both On-Premise and SaaS versions of Apex One are updated to versions that remediate CVE-2022-45797. 2. Restrict local code execution capabilities by enforcing strict application whitelisting and endpoint privilege management to reduce the risk of attackers gaining low-privileged code execution. 3. Implement robust endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions to monitor for suspicious local activities that could precede exploitation, such as unauthorized file deletions or privilege escalation attempts. 4. Harden systems by minimizing the number of users with local access and applying the principle of least privilege to all accounts and processes. 5. Conduct regular security audits and vulnerability assessments specifically targeting endpoint security products to detect misconfigurations or signs of compromise. 6. For SaaS deployments, coordinate with Trend Micro support to confirm the status of the vulnerability and any cloud-side mitigations or updates. 7. Educate IT and security teams about the vulnerability to ensure rapid response and incident handling if exploitation is suspected. 8. Employ network segmentation to limit the spread of potential attacks originating from compromised endpoints.