Vulnerability (computer security): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:40, 15 July 2024

Revision as of 02:19, 18 July 2024

Line 7:

[[Vulnerability management]] is a process that includes identifying systems and prioritizing which are most important, scanning for vulnerabilities, and taking action to secure the system. Vulnerability management typically is a combination of remediation (fixing the vulnerability), mitigation (increasing the difficulty or reducing the danger of exploits), and accepting risks that are not economical or practical to eliminate. Vulnerabilities can be scored for risk according to the [[Common Vulnerability Scoring System]] or other systems, and added to vulnerability databases. {{as of|2023}}, there are more than 20 million vulnerabilities catalogued in the [[Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures]] (CVE) database.

A vulnerability is initiated when it is introduced to into hardware or software. It becomes active and exploitable when the software or hardware containing the vulnerability is running. The vulnerability may be discovered by the vendor or a third party. Disclosing the vulnerability (as a [[software patch |patch]] or otherwise) is associated with an increased risk of compromise because attackers often move faster than patches are rolled out. Regardless of whether a patch is ever released to remediate the vulnerability, its lifecycle will eventually end when the system, or older versions of it, fall out of use.

==Causes ==