CVE-2025-52521VulnerabilityPublished 10 Jul 2025Updated 26 Feb 2026

CVE-2025-52521: Trend Micro Security (Consumer) · Windows Shortcut Following (.LNK)

Affects Trend Micro Security (Consumer)Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.8 High.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.8High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 32% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 10 Jul 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Trend Micro, Inc. Trend Micro Security (Consumer)	Affected =17.8	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-52521, organizations and users should: 1) Immediately restrict local user permissions to the minimum necessary, preventing untrusted users from manipulating .LNK files or accessing Trend Micro's installation directories. 2) Monitor file system activity for unusual deletions or modifications of Trend Micro security files, using endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools or native Windows auditing. 3) Isolate or limit local user environments where possible, such as through application whitelisting or sandboxing, to reduce the risk of malicious .LNK file execution. 4) Educate users about the risks of opening or interacting with suspicious shortcut files, even locally. 5) Regularly check for and apply vendor patches or updates as soon as they are released, as no patches were available at the time of disclosure. 6) Consider deploying additional layered security controls that do not rely solely on the affected Trend Micro product to maintain protection during remediation. 7) Conduct vulnerability scanning and penetration testing to identify any local privilege escalation risks in the environment. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on controlling local file manipulation, monitoring specific security product files, and preparing for patch deployment.

Description

Trend Micro Security 17.8 (Consumer) is vulnerable to a link following local privilege escalation vulnerability that could allow a local attacker to unintentionally delete privileged Trend Micro files including its own.

Impact

The impact of CVE-2025-52521 is significant for organizations and individual users running Trend Micro Security (Consumer) version 17.8 on Windows. Successful exploitation allows a local attacker to delete privileged security files, potentially disabling or impairing the security product. This can lead to a full compromise of system confidentiality, as malware or attackers can operate undetected; integrity, as security controls are bypassed or disabled; and availability, as critical security components may be removed or corrupted. For organizations, this vulnerability could facilitate lateral movement, privilege escalation, and persistence by adversaries who have gained limited local access. It also increases the risk of further attacks, data breaches, or ransomware infections due to the loss of endpoint protection. The requirement for local access limits remote exploitation but does not eliminate risk, especially in environments with multiple users or where attackers can gain initial local foothold through other means. The absence of known exploits currently reduces immediate widespread risk but does not preclude targeted attacks or future exploit development.

CWE-64Windows Shortcut Following (.LNK) (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: Low
The product, when opening a file or directory, does not sufficiently handle when the file is a Windows shortcut (.LNK) whose target is outside of the intended control sphere. This could allow an attacker to cause the product to operate on unauthorized files.
Architecture and Design · Separation of Privilege
Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights to entities in a software system.
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 27 Feb 2026, 03:13 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-64

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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