Many CVEs are never or rarely exploited in the real world because they are too complex or require attackers to have access to high level privileges. “When analysing the potential risk that vulnerabilities pose, organisations must consider more than just CVE severity score. Vulnerability management advice for security teamsĪmong the recommendations of the new NIST report is that cyber security professionals should draw upon the latest threat intelligence data to improve vulnerability management. George Glass, Head of Threat Intelligence at Redscan However, we’re seeing more positive signs, including a drop in the percentage of vulnerabilities which require no user privileges to exploit.” “Vulnerabilities are on the rise, including some of the most dangerous variants. “Analysis of the NIST NVD presents a mixed outlook for security teams,” comments George Glass, Head of Threat Intelligence at Redscan. Vulnerabilities which require no user privileges to exploit are on the decline (from 71% in 2016 to 58% in 2020).Vulnerabilities which require no user interaction to exploit are also increasing, representing 68% of all CVEs recorded in 2020.Low complexity CVEs are on the rise, representing 63% of vulnerabilities disclosed in 2020.57% of vulnerabilities in 2020 were classified as being ‘critical’ or ‘high’ severity (10,342).More security vulnerabilities were disclosed in 2020 (18,103) than in any other year to date – at an average rate of 50 CVEs per day.Our report focuses on vulnerabilities added to the NVD in 2020, examines wider CVE trends since 1989 and also offers security advice to organisations. NIST is the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, and its National Vulnerability Database (NVD) is a repository of Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) one of the most trusted sources of information for IT and security professionals around the world.

There are also positive trends, such as a decrease in CVEs which require no privileges to exploit. These trends highlight the need for organisations to improve their understanding of the vulnerabilities actively exploited in the wild, as well as to adopt a multi-layered approach to vulnerability management. Our analysis also looks beyond severity scores, detailing the rise of low complexity vulnerabilities as well as those which require no user interaction to exploit. It reveals that well over half (57%) were rated ‘high’ or ‘critical’ severity – the highest recorded figure for any year to date. The report is based on an analysis of more than 18,000 Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) logged to NIST’s National Vulnerability Database in 2020. Today we’re delighted to publish our report, ‘NIST security vulnerability trends in 2020: an analysis’.

Nist vulnerability database