Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-69258 is a critical-severity Classic Buffer Overflow (CWE-120) vulnerability in Trendmicro Apex Central. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique DHCP Spoofing (T1557.003); ranked in the top 12% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-4 (Information Flow Enforcement) and IA-2 (Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users)) — 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-2025-69258 is a LoadLibraryEX vulnerability in Trend Micro Apex Central, published on 2026-01-08. It affects installations of this security management platform and has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), with associated CWEs including CWE-120 (Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input), CWE-290 (Authentication Bypass by Spoofing), and CWE-346 (Origin Validation Error).
An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability over the network with low complexity and no user interaction required. Successful exploitation allows the attacker to load a malicious DLL into a key executable, resulting in arbitrary code execution under the SYSTEM context on affected installations, potentially granting full compromise of the host.
Trend Micro has published security advisories detailing the issue and mitigation steps, available at https://success.trendmicro.com/en-US/solution/KA-0022071 and https://success.trendmicro.com/ja-JP/solution/KA-0022081. Additional analysis is provided by Tenable Research at https://www.tenable.com/security/research/tra-2026-01. Security practitioners should consult these for patch availability and workaround guidance.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-1568
Vulnerability Data
A LoadLibraryEX vulnerability in Trend Micro Apex Central could allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to load an attacker-controlled DLL into a key executable, leading to execution of attacker-supplied code under the context of SYSTEM on affected installations.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 6 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
V5.2.1V6.4.3V10.4.16V10.5.1
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Proper unique identification and authentication of users directly stops spoofing-based bypass of authentication.
Device identification and authentication before connection prevents spoofing of devices to bypass auth.
Authentication of non-organizational users blocks external spoofing attempts against the scheme.
Information flow enforcement directly requires validating the source of data before allowing transmission or receipt.
Authenticator management ensures credentials cannot be easily spoofed or reused to bypass authentication.
Developer testing and analysis can find missing size checks before deployment.
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.
Protecting, conveying, and verifying identity assertions specifically prevents the spoofing that enables authentication bypass.
Requiring authentication of users/services/hardware directly counters spoofing-based bypass when strong methods are used.
Secure development practices directly enforce bounds checking and input validation that prevent classic buffer overflows.
Documenting authorized flows supports origin validation by defining expected sources.
Vulnerability identification processes such as code review or scanning detect classic buffer overflows before exploitation.
Proofing and binding identities reduces spoofing opportunities during enrollment but does not address runtime authentication implementation flaws.
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.
Secure authentication control directly mitigates authentication bypass by spoofing.
Authentication information management directly addresses credential handling that prevents spoofing.
Secure coding directly requires bounds-checked memory operations, addressing the root cause of CWE-120.
Security testing in development and acceptance can detect buffer overflows through fuzzing and static analysis, though it does not prevent them at the source.
Access control policy reduces spoofing opportunities but does not prescribe authentication mechanisms.
Identity management supports unique identities but does not guarantee resistance to spoofing.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (3 rules)
- V-248574 YUM must be configured to prevent the installation of patches, service packs, device drivers, or OL 8 system components that have not been digitally signed using a certificate that is recognized and approved by the organization. prevents CWE-346
- V-248575 OL 8 must prevent the installation of software, patches, service packs, device drivers, or operating system components of local packages without verification they have been digitally signed using a certificate that is issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) that is recognized and approved by the organization. prevents CWE-346
- V-248827 OL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-290, CWE-346
RHEL 7 (1 rule)
- V-204442 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-290
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
- V-230492 RHEL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-290