Vulnerabilities are security flaws that create risk when combined with threats and insufficient controls. Managing vulnerabilities is a continuous process essential to cybersecurity.
Why it matters
- Most breaches exploit known vulnerabilities with available patches.
- The average time to exploit a new vulnerability is shrinking (now under 15 days).
- Organizations typically have thousands of vulnerabilities across their systems.
- Prioritization is essential—you can't fix everything at once.
Vulnerability lifecycle
- Discovery: Vulnerability is found by researchers, vendors, or attackers.
- Disclosure: Reported to vendor (responsible disclosure) or publicly.
- Patch released: Vendor issues a fix.
- Exploitation: Attackers develop exploits, sometimes before patches.
- Remediation: Organizations apply patches and mitigations.
Severity scoring
- CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System): 0-10 scale based on exploitability and impact.
- Critical (9.0-10.0): Immediate action required.
- High (7.0-8.9): Prioritize patching.
- Medium (4.0-6.9): Schedule remediation.
- Low (0.1-3.9): Address when convenient.
Types of vulnerabilities
- Software bugs: Buffer overflows, injection flaws, logic errors.
- Misconfigurations: Default credentials, open ports, excessive permissions.
- Design flaws: Weak cryptography, missing authentication.
- Human factors: Social engineering susceptibility, weak passwords.
- Zero-days: Unknown vulnerabilities with no available patch.
Vulnerability management process
- Asset inventory: Know what you have to protect.
- Scanning: Regular automated vulnerability assessments.
- Prioritization: Risk-based ranking considering asset criticality and exploitability.
- Remediation: Patching, configuration changes, or compensating controls.
- Verification: Confirm vulnerabilities are actually fixed.
- Reporting: Track metrics and communicate risk to leadership.
Related Tools
Related Articles
View all articlesCORS Security Guide: Preventing Cross-Origin Attacks and
Learn how to implement secure CORS policies, avoid common misconfigurations like wildcard origins and origin reflection, and protect your APIs from cross-origin attacks.
Read article →HIPAA Security Assessment & Gap Analysis Workflow
Systematic workflow for conducting comprehensive HIPAA Security Rule assessments, identifying compliance gaps, and preparing for OCR audits in 2025.
Read article →Vulnerability Management & Patch Prioritization Workflow
Master the complete vulnerability management lifecycle with risk-based patch prioritization. From discovery to remediation, learn how to protect your infrastructure before attackers strike.
Read article →SOC Alert Triage & Investigation Workflow | Complete Guide
Master the complete SOC alert triage lifecycle with this practical guide covering SIEM alert handling, context enrichment, threat intelligence correlation, MITRE ATT&CK mapping, and incident escalation. Learn industry frameworks from NIST, SANS, and real-world best practices to reduce MTTC by 90% and eliminate alert fatigue.
Read article →Explore More Security Foundations
View all termsAttack Surface
The total number of points where an unauthorized user could try to enter data into, or extract data from, an environment.
Read more →Authentication
The process of verifying the identity of a user, device, or system before granting access to resources or services.
Read more →Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP)
The practice of granting users and services the minimum access they need to perform their duties.
Read more →Zero Trust Architecture
A security model that assumes breach, requiring continuous verification of every user, device, and workload regardless of location.
Read more →