Vulnerability Management
Prioritization
Security
How to Prioritize Vulnerabilities When Everything is 'Critical'
ThreatMate Team
Apr 2, 2024
4 min read
The Prioritization Problem
Modern vulnerability scanners find hundreds or thousands of issues. Many are marked "critical" or "high" severity. No organization can fix everything immediately, so prioritization is essential.
Why CVSS Alone Fails
CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) measures theoretical severity but ignores:
- Exploitability — Is there a working exploit in the wild?
- Asset Value — Is this system important to the business?
- Exposure — Is the vulnerable system internet-facing?
- Compensating Controls — Are there mitigating factors?
A Better Prioritization Framework
1. Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Start with CISA's KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities) catalog. These are actively being used in attacks.
2. EPSS Scores The Exploit Prediction Scoring System predicts the likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days.
3. Asset Context Prioritize vulnerabilities on: - Internet-facing systems - Systems handling sensitive data - Systems with privileged access
4. Attack Path Analysis A medium-severity vulnerability that enables lateral movement may be more dangerous than an isolated critical.
Practical Application
ThreatMate combines CVSS, EPSS, asset context, and attack path analysis to surface the vulnerabilities that actually matter.
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