Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-69260

Memory Safety in Trendmicro Apex Central 2019

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
08 January 2026
Modified
15 January 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.016 73th percentile
Risk Priority 60 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-69260 is a high-severity Classic Buffer Overflow (CWE-120) vulnerability in Trendmicro Apex Central. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique DHCP Spoofing (T1557.003); ranked in the top 27% 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-3 (Device Identification and Authentication) — 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-2025-69260 is a message out-of-bounds read vulnerability in Trend Micro Apex Central that could allow a remote attacker to create a denial-of-service condition on affected installations. Published on 2026-01-08, the issue is linked to CWE-120 (Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input), CWE-346 (Origin Validation Error), and CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read), with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H), indicating high availability impact without confidentiality or integrity effects.

The vulnerability can be exploited by any remote attacker over the network, as authentication is not required. Attackers need only low complexity, no privileges, and no user interaction to trigger the out-of-bounds read, resulting in a denial-of-service condition that disrupts service availability on vulnerable Apex Central installations.

Trend Micro has published security advisories detailing the issue and mitigation steps, available at https://success.trendmicro.com/en-US/solution/KA-0022071 (English) and https://success.trendmicro.com/ja-JP/solution/KA-0022081 (Japanese). Additional technical analysis is provided in Tenable's research advisory at https://www.tenable.com/security/research/tra-2026-01.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A message out-of-bounds read vulnerability in Trend Micro Apex Central could allow a remote attacker to create a denial-of-service condition on affected installations. Please note: authentication is not required in order to exploit this vulnerability.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1557.003 DHCP Spoofing Credential Access
Adversaries may redirect network traffic to adversary-owned systems by spoofing Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) traffic and acting as a malicious DHCP server on the victim network.
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1557 Adversary-in-the-Middle Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to position themselves between two or more networked devices using an adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) technique to support follow-on behaviors such as [Network Sniffing](https://attack.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-69259Same product: Microsoft Windows
CVE-2025-69258Same product: Microsoft Windows
CVE-2023-32553Same product: Microsoft Windows
CVE-2023-28349Same product: Microsoft Windows
CVE-2025-12905Same product: Microsoft Windows
CVE-2023-0132Same product: Microsoft Windows
CVE-2024-30283Same product: Microsoft Windows
CVE-2023-21620Same product: Microsoft Windows
CVE-2024-30287Same product: Microsoft Windows
CVE-2024-30286Same product: Microsoft Windows

Affected Assets

trendmicro
apex central
2019

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 3 hardening rules · 1 OS baseline
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.2.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Information flow enforcement directly requires validating the source of data before allowing transmission or receipt.

Device identification and authentication mandates verifying the source before establishing connections.

Developer testing and analysis can find missing size checks before deployment.

Session authenticity mechanisms require validation that communications originate from the expected party.

Input validation directly enforces size checks before buffer copies.

Engineering principles require bounds checking and safe buffer handling in design.

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.

PR.AA-03 mostly match
prevents

Authentication directly verifies the source of users/services/hardware, mitigating origin validation failures.

PR.AA-04 mostly match
prevents

Verifying identity assertions enforces origin validation for conveyed claims.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure development practices directly enforce bounds checking and input validation that prevent classic buffer overflows.

ID.AM-03 partial match
prevents

Documenting authorized flows supports origin validation by defining expected sources.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes such as code review or scanning detect classic buffer overflows before exploitation.

PR.IR-01 partial match
prevents

Protecting networks from unauthorized access requires origin checks on communication sources.

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.

prevents

Secure coding directly requires bounds-checked memory operations, addressing the root cause of CWE-120.

finds

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect buffer overflows through fuzzing and static analysis, though it does not prevent them at the source.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging can record evidence of an out-of-bounds read but does not prevent the weakness itself.

mitigates

Network security controls enforce origin validation at network boundaries.

mitigates

Security of network services includes validating the authenticity of service endpoints.

mitigates

Network segregation reduces exposure but does not directly validate origins.

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-346

References