Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-49212 is a critical-severity Use of Obsolete Function (CWE-477) vulnerability in Trendmicro Trend Micro Endpoint Encryption. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 5% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2025-49212 is an insecure deserialization vulnerability in the Trend Micro Endpoint Encryption PolicyServer that enables pre-authentication remote code execution on affected installations. The issue stems from improper handling of serialized data and is tracked under CWEs 477 and 502; it is similar to CVE-2025-49220 but resides in a separate method. The flaw received a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8 reflecting network attack vector, low complexity, and no required privileges or user interaction.
An unauthenticated attacker with network access can supply malicious serialized objects to the PolicyServer, triggering arbitrary code execution and full compromise of the affected system without any authentication. The published EPSS score remains low, with a current value of 0.0527 and a peak of 0.0630.
Advisories addressing the issue are available from Trend Micro at https://success.trendmicro.com/en-US/solution/KA-0019928 and from the Zero Day Initiative at https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-25-369/.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-18640
Vulnerability Data
An insecure deserialization operation in the Trend Micro Endpoint Encryption PolicyServer could lead to a pre-authentication remote code execution on affected installations. Note that this vulnerability is similar to CVE-2025-49220 but is in a different method.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation can uncover deserialization flaws before deployment.
Input validation directly stops deserialization of untrusted data by ensuring inputs are valid before processing.
Documented developer standards and tools can mandate current APIs and prohibit deprecated functions during coding.
Engineering principles such as safe deserialization and input sanitization structurally prevent the weakness from being introduced.
Flaw remediation processes and updates can identify and replace obsolete functions discovered after introduction.
Integrity verification tools can detect malformed or tampered serialized data after the fact.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Software maintenance and replacement directly eliminates use of deprecated functions.
Secure SDLC practices enforce review and removal of obsolete functions during development.
Lifecycle management of software includes replacing obsolete functions and code.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing includes validation of deserialization routines and the use of untrusted data, reducing the likelihood that unsafe object reconstruction will be deployed.
Secure SDLC processes include code reviews and maintenance that catch obsolete functions.
Secure coding standards explicitly prohibit use of deprecated/obsolete functions.
Change management can trigger reviews that remove obsolete functions but does not directly address them.
Regular scanning of third-party libraries and timely patching reduce the likelihood that unsafe deserialization vulnerabilities remain active.
Mandatory malware scanning of data received over networks or storage media intercepts malicious serialized payloads before they are deserialized by the target application.