Glossary

CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures)

What Is a CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures)?

A CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) is a unique identifier assigned to a publicly disclosed cybersecurity vulnerability, maintained as a standard reference so that tools, vendors, and security teams can communicate about the same issue using a shared name.

The CVE system, maintained by MITRE, is the foundation for vulnerability management programs worldwide. Every CVE has a record that describes the affected software, the nature of the flaw, and (typically) a severity score. But a CVE alone does not indicate exploitability — that requires additional context like CVSS, KEV status, EPSS, VEX, and execution-aware reachability.

Vulnerabilities & RiskHarvest Now, Forge Later (HNFL)Harvest Now, Forge Later (HNFL) is an adversary strategy of collecting signatures and certificates today to forge them once quantum computing derives private keys.Read definition
Vulnerabilities & RiskCWE (Common Weakness Enumeration)A CWE (Common Weakness Enumeration) is a category of underlying software flaw — like buffer overflow or SQL injection — that can lead to vulnerabilities.Read definition
Vulnerabilities & RiskExploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)EPSS is a FIRST-maintained probabilistic score estimating the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in the wild within 30 days — prioritizing by real-world risk.Read definition

CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures)

What Is a CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures)?

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