The CVE list provides common identifiers that help vendors, security researchers and organizations identify vulnerabilities. A vulnerability is defined as a mistake in software code that gives attackers direct access to a system or network by allowing them to pose as superusers or system administrators with full privileges.
The CVE program and the associated Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) help security professionals assess risks and prioritize vulnerabilities. This is the core of vulnerability management.
Vulnerabilities
Vulnerabilities are flaws that allow hackers to break into a system and access sensitive information. Vulnerabilities are caused by design oversights, misconfigurations, or programming errors that expose the system to attacks and unauthorized access.
Organizations must practice vulnerability management to fix these weaknesses, which includes identifying, classifying, prioritizing, and mitigating vulnerabilities. The CVE naming standard helps to improve transparency and consistency in the vulnerability management process by providing standardized identifiers for each exposure.
While the CVE list of publicly known vulnerabilities is incomplete, it can be an important reference when assessing a product or service’s security features. The CVE list is updated regularly by the CVE Numbering Authority (CNAs), comprised of researchers, white hat hackers, and vendors that report vulnerabilities they find. Some vendors also offer bug bounties to encourage the community to test and find product weaknesses.
The best CVE-compatible products and services is backed by the CVE Board, which comprises members from cybersecurity-related associations globally, such as government offices and research organizations. The board ensures consistency across all information sources and tools that use the CVE naming system. This enables rapid data correlation regarding vulnerabilities across multiple tools and databases, reducing the effort needed to identify them in a system. This makes it easier to find fixes for them and reduces the risk of an attack.
Exposures
As a global standard, CVE provides information about public cybersecurity vulnerabilities and allows security teams to assess and work with vendors on fixing them. Its structure consists of an identifier, a description, and a four-digit year to indicate when the vulnerability was first published or discovered.
Regarding vulnerability management, CVE is widely recognized as an important process part. It makes it easier for organizations to identify and prioritize issues so they can be resolved before attackers exploit them.
Before CVE, different databases and tools used their naming systems and attributes for vulnerabilities. This led to inconsistency between devices and gaps in security coverage. CVE was created 1999 to reduce this problem by providing a common set of reference points that ensures that different tools can communicate and share data on vulnerabilities.
CVE is widely used today to develop many products and services, including the National Vulnerability Database (NVD). The NVD is built upon and fully synchronized with CVE so that any updates to CVE appear immediately in NVD. CVE also enables organizations to use the same terms and definitions when discussing vulnerabilities with their partners. This helps to streamline the vulnerability management process and improves the consistency of results across different products and solutions.
Risk Assessment
A vulnerability is a gap in your cybersecurity controls that an attacker could exploit to launch a cyberattack. An exposure could give the attacker access to sensitive information or let them control your system and spread malware.
Vulnerabilities are identified and documented by the CVE threat list published by MITRE Corporation, a nonprofit that runs federal government-sponsored research and development centers. The CVE system has become the industry standard for identifying vulnerabilities and exposures. Security product vendors, bug bounty services, and many other products and services also use it.
Each vulnerability is assigned a unique CVE identifier. Its structure consists of a four-digit year and a number that defines the issue’s severity level. The [Year] indicates the Year the vulnerability was first reported. The [Number] indicates the severity level of the problem:
Each vulnerability description is brief. As a result, you may need to use the references provided with each CVE Record to determine whether a specific issue affects your organization. The CVE References include the URL where more information is available. The descriptions are often based on a single, authoritative source such as a vendor or a well-known researcher . There’s growing agreement that the CVE Program is helping to reduce the attack surface of many cyber attacks, including ransomware.
Mitigation
CVE is an international catalog of cybersecurity vulnerabilities and exposures that allows for standardized identification. The list is used to mitigate cyberattacks and provide a reference point for organizations as they evaluate security tools, services, and databases.
The CVE dictionary contains:
- Standard identifiers with a status indicator.
- A brief description.
- References to related vulnerability reports and advisories.
The information provided by the identifiers is intended to help security administrators quickly and accurately access technical details of a particular threat across multiple CVE-compatible information sources.
Since the CVE program was launched in 1999, it has grown to become a global standard for identifying vulnerabilities and exposures. The information is freely available for all users and is a critical tool for assessing, prioritizing, and mitigating the risks of cyberattacks.
Vulnerabilities are weaknesses in software code that allow a threat actor to gain unauthorized access to systems and networks. Cyber attackers can exploit them to take control of those systems and networks, access or manipulate data, or even destroy it.
Organizations must practice vulnerability management as part of the ongoing effort to protect against vulnerabilities. The process includes identifying, classifying, prioritizing, mitigating, and patching vulnerabilities. Organizations must also use CVE and Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) to identify, understand, and mitigate vulnerabilities in their unique environments. Combining CVE’s precise vulnerability tracking and CWE’s comprehensive understanding of the underlying issues can lead to better mitigation strategies and secure coding practices.
