Multiple Trend Micro Apex Central Vulnerabilities released
BLUF
A critical unauthenticated RCE vulnerability in Trend Micro Apex Central (on-premises) is a high-priority threat, with proof-of-concept (PoC) exploits publicly available since January 7, 2026, making exploitation highly likely by various threat actors.
Executive Cost Summary
This cost analysis was developed by the CyberDax team using expert judgment and assisted analytical tools to support clarity and consistency.
For organizations affected by unauthenticated remote code execution and denial-of-service vulnerabilities in Trend Micro Apex Central management servers.
Low-end total cost: $75,000 – $250,000
(rapid patching, no confirmed lateral movement or data access)Typical expected range: $350,000 – $1.2M
(management server compromise, short operational disruption, limited investigation scope)Upper-bound realistic scenarios: $2.0M – $5.5M
(extended dwell time, downstream endpoint exposure, regulatory scrutiny)
Key Cost Drivers
Duration of attacker access to centralized security management infrastructure
Scope of forensic investigation across managed endpoints
Operational downtime during containment and rebuild
Legal and regulatory notification requirements by jurisdiction
Cyber insurance coverage limits and deductible structure
Potential Affected Sectors
· Those using Trend Micro Apex Central for security management.
Potential Affected Countries
· Global
Date of First Reported Activity
· January 9, 2026
Date of Last Reported Activity Update
· January 12, 2026
CVE-2025-69258
Allows unauthenticated threat actors to load malicious DLLs and execute arbitrary code as SYSTEM.
CVSS 3.1 Vector
· (9.8) AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Nessus ID
· 282525
· 282524
Is this on the KEV list?
· No
What is the patch date for CVE-2025-69258
· Not applicable at this time
Patch release date
· January 7, 2026
URL Link to Patch information
· hxxps://success.trendmicro.com/en-US/solution/KA-0022071
CVE-2025-69259
CVSS 3.1 Vector
· (9.8) AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Nessus ID
· 282525
Is this on the KEV list?
· No
What is the patch date for CVE-2025-69259
· Not applicable at this time
Patch release date
· January 7, 2026
URL Link to Patch information
· hxxps://success.trendmicro.com/en-US/solution/KA-0022071
CVE-2025-69260
CVSS 3.1 Vector
· (7.5) 1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Nessus ID
· 282525
Is this on the KEV list?
· No
What is the patch date for CVE-2026-69260
· Not applicable at this time
Patch release date
· January 7, 2026
URL Link to Patch information
· hxxps://success.trendmicro.com/en-US/solution/KA-0022071
APT names
· No Apt groups have been associated with these CVEs at this time
Associated criminal organization names
· No criminal organization have been associated with these CVEs at this time.
IOCs
Network Port
· Attackers target TCP Port 20001
Vulnerable Process
· Monitor for unusual child processes or crashes involving MsgReceiver.exe on Windows-based Apex Central servers.
Tools used
· Public PoC Exploits
· Crafted Network Packets
TTPs
CVE-2025-69258
· T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution
o Used to trigger the remote code execution vulnerability in the management console.
· T1574.002 Hijack Execution Flow
o DLL Side-Loading: The core mechanism of the attack, where the attacker loads an unauthorized DLL into a trusted executable.
· T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
o Exploiting the service to gain SYSTEM-level access.
· T1021.002 Remote Services
o SMB/Windows Admin Shares: Used to host and deliver the malicious DLL via a remote share during exploitation.
CVE-2025-69259
· T1499.004 Endpoint Denial of Service
o Application or Service Layer DoS: Sending crafted messages to cause the MsgReceiver.exe service to crash.
· T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services
o Targeting the exposed network service on TCP port 20001 without authentication.
CVE-2025-69260
· T1499.004 Endpoint Denial of Service
o Application or Service Layer DoS: Creating a crash or hang condition on the Apex Central installation.
· T1592 Gather Victim Host Information
o While primarily a DoS, out-of-bounds reads can sometimes be leveraged for memory layout information gathering (Reconnaissance).
Malware names
· No malware has been associated with these CVEs at this time
Malware Samples
· Not applicable at this time
Suggested rules/ potential hunts
Suricata
Detecting RCE Attempt (CVE-2025-69258)
alert tcp any any -> any 20001 (msg:"Trend Micro Apex Central MsgReceiver RCE Attempt (CVE-2025-69258)"; content:"|8d 0a|"; offset:0; depth:2; reference:cve,2025-69258; classtype:attempted-admin; sid:1000001; rev:1;)
Detecting DoS Attempt (CVE-2025-69259/60):
alert tcp any any -> any 20001 (msg:"Trend Micro Apex Central MsgReceiver DoS Attempt (CVE-2025-69259/60)"; content:"|5b 1b|"; offset:0; depth:2; reference:cve,2025-69259; reference:cve,2025-69260; classtype:attempted-dos; sid:1000002; rev:1;)
SentinelOne
Hunt for Unsigned or Remote DLL Loading (CVE-2025-69258):
sql
ProcessName = "MsgReceiver.exe" AND (ModulePathLink STARTS_WITH "\\" OR ModulePathLink STARTS_WITH "//")
Hunt for Suspicious Child Processes:
sql
ParentProcessName = "MsgReceiver.exe" AND (ProcessName IN ("cmd.exe", "powershell.exe", "whoami.exe", "net.exe"))
Splunk
Hunt for Remote Path Execution (Sysmon Event ID 7):
index=windows sourcetype="XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational" EventCode=7
Image="*MsgReceiver.exe" (ImageLoaded="\\\\*" OR ImageLoaded="//*")
| table _time, host, Image, ImageLoaded, Hashes
Hunt for DoS Symptoms (Service Crashing):
index=windows sourcetype="WinEventLog:System" EventCode=7034
"MsgReceiver"
| stats count by host, _time
| where count > 3
Delivery method
· This is a network based attack
Email samples
· Not applicable
References
NVD
· hxxps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-69258
Trend Micro
· hxxps://success.trendmicro.com/en-US/solution/KA-0022071
Tenable
· hxxps://www.tenable.com/cve/CVE-2025-69258/plugins
· hxxps://www.tenable.com/cve/CVE-2025-69259/plugins
· hxxps://www.tenable.com/cve/CVE-2025-69260/plugins
ArcticWolf
· hxxps://arcticwolf.com/resources/blog/cve-2025-69258/
