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Vulnerability Assessment Concepts

Cyber Security Mastery: From Zero to Hero

Identifying Flaws Systematically

A Vulnerability Assessment is the process of identifying, quantifying, and prioritizing the vulnerabilities (weaknesses) in a system.

Vulnerability vs. Exploit

  • Vulnerability: A weakness in the system (e.g., 'The web server is running outdated software').
  • Exploit: Code or a sequence of commands that takes advantage of a vulnerability to cause unintended behavior (e.g., 'The code that crashes the outdated web server and gives me a shell').

Scoring Vulnerabilities (CVSS)

We need to prioritize fixes. The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) provides a standard method for calculating the severity of computer system vulnerabilities (scores from 0.0 to 10.0).

  • Critical (9.0-10.0): Requires immediate attention.
  • High (7.0-8.9): Requires high priority remediation.

Vulnerability scanners automate this process, cross-referencing discovered services/versions against known CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) databases.