I spend most of my time analyzing and identifying vulnerabilities in various systems. It’s a crucial aspect of my profession, one that requires an excellent understanding of the technologies and tools used in the field. However, there’s much more to it than what meets the eye, and it’s a topic that often goes unnoticed.

Have you ever heard of a CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures)? It’s a global database of publicly known cybersecurity vulnerabilities, providing standardized names for security issues that affect different systems and software. The CVE system is a significant resource for researchers and security experts worldwide, but it’s not a comprehensive list of all vulnerabilities out there.

You might be wondering, “does every vulnerability have a CVE?” or “why are some vulnerabilities not included in the CVE system?” The truth is, not all security flaws are created equal, and not all vulnerabilities have an assigned CVE.

Join me as we unveil the truth behind CVEs and discover the ins-and-outs of cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Let’s dig deeper and find out the heart of the matter: do all vulnerabilities have a CVE?

Do all vulnerabilities have a CVE?

What is CVE?

CVE or Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures is a dictionary of publicly known cybersecurity vulnerabilities and exposures. CVE is an international standard maintained by the MITRE Corporation. It provides a standardized naming scheme for all vulnerabilities and exposures. This scheme allows organizations and individuals to communicate about security threats and take adequate measures to protect against them.

CVE IDs are assigned to each vulnerability or exposure as they are discovered. The identifier includes a sequential number and a prefix that represents the year in which the vulnerability was discovered. This creates a unique identifier for every vulnerability ever disclosed, allowing researchers and analysts to accurately track them.

The significance of CVE in cyber security

CVE has made significant contributions to cybersecurity by providing a centralized, standardized system to track vulnerabilities and exposures. With CVE, cyber security teams can discuss and address threats more effectively and efficiently. CVE ensures that all information about a specific vulnerability is consistent, easy to understand, and readily available to professionals.

CVE-ID pins down an attack definitively, allowing for quick identification, resolution, and dissemination of information. This naming standard facilitates sharing, training, and helps in the prioritization of the patching and mitigation of vulnerabilities.

How CVE works

CVE is a database of known vulnerabilities and exposures that are reported by various parties, including security researchers, software vendors, and security software providers. When a vulnerability is reported, the CVE program assigns that vulnerability a unique identifier, the CVE-ID.

CVE-ID consists of a distinctive prefix and a sequential number that assigns the vulnerability a unique identifier. Every new CVE-ID that is created by the program has an associated standardized vulnerability description, which is publicly available in the CVE database. This description contains various Metadata related to the vulnerability, including severity, exploitation, and affected systems.

Why some vulnerabilities are not tagged as CVE

Despite the usefulness of CVE, not all security threats are tagged as CVE by default. For example, if an organization discovers a vulnerability within their organization and decides to keep it entirely private, there will be no CVE-ID assigned to it. Another example is zero days, which are vulnerabilities that are unknown or have not yet been disclosed to the public. It is not possible to tag them with a CVE number as they don’t exist yet in the database.

Some vulnerabilities also don’t get a CVE number as they fall outside the scope of the program. Certain legacy systems or platforms that are no longer supported by vendors or licensees are unlikely to receive any CVE identifications. Also, vulnerabilities in hardware are not typically assigned any CVEs, although exceptions are made when the vulnerability is software based.

The impact of untagged vulnerabilities in cyber security

Not tagging vulnerabilities with a CVE number limits the amount of information available to cybersecurity professionals about security threats. It can create blind spots in vulnerability management programs, making it more difficult to take appropriate countermeasures or to assess risk accurately. Moreover, it becomes difficult to prioritize and manage the risk of untagged vulnerabilities.

Untagged vulnerabilities pose a greater security risk and are much harder to discover or defend against due to the lack of information and risk assessment. They may stay hidden for long periods, increasing the likelihood of cyberattacks and data breaches. The dangers of these vulnerabilities may be amplified as attackers recognize the absence of CVE identifiers as being reflective of the difficulty in defending against these threats.

Tracking vulnerabilities without CVEs

Tracking untagged vulnerabilities requires meticulous and frequent security reviews, thorough patchwork, and a robust incident response process. The primary way to identify and mitigate threats without a CVE-ID is through penetration testing and continuous network monitoring, scanning, and log review.

Reputed cybersecurity vendors and organizations offer private vulnerability databases that can be used to track and manage vulnerabilities that fall outside CVE identifications. Additionally, security researchers and vendors can tag non-CVE vulnerabilities, and add them to their private research database, which can be shared with other cybersecurity experts as well.

Best practices for identifying and mitigating untagged vulnerabilities

The best way to minimize the impact of untagged vulnerabilities is to maintain a robust cybersecurity program. Here are some best practices to detect and remediate untagged vulnerabilities:

Perform a risk analysis: Determine which assets are the most valuable and vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Continuous security monitoring: Maintain a continuous monitoring program that regularly scans all assets for untagged threats.

Penetration testing: Regular penetration testing simulates attacker behavior to identify security weaknesses and help mitigate threats before exploitation.

Software patching: Ensure that all software and hardware are up-to-date and patched regularly.

Keep an Asset Inventory: Maintain an inventory of all hardware and software assets, including operating systems, system applications, and infrastructure components.

Access controls: Implement access controls and network segmentation to restrict unauthorized access to systems and data.

In conclusion, while not all vulnerabilities may be CVE-tagged, they still pose considerable risks to organizations and society in general. Cybersecurity professionals must maintain a comprehensive cybersecurity program that is capable of detecting, mitigating, and responding to any untagged threats effectively.