Recent developments concerning the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) have emerged about the management of specific vulnerabilities. The processing of vulnerabilities published prior to 2018 now operates under new guidelines. While it’s important to understand these changes, what matters more is your ability to maintain strong, risk-based security.
Understanding current changes demonstrates why intelligent prioritization through solutions like OpsMx Delivery Shield should be your top strategy.
What’s Changing with NVD’s CVE Processing?
The National Vulnerability Database (NVD) operated by NIST serves as a fundamental tool for organizations in their vulnerability management processes. The database provides CVSS scores and CPE match data that help organizations assess the relevance and severity of vulnerabilities.
The NVD has changed how it reviews CVEs—prioritizing newer vulnerabilities due to resource constraints—marking them as ‘DEFERRED’. All vulnerabilities documented before December 13, 2018 may receive the status “DEFERRED.” The term “Deferred” has specific implications regarding NVD’s CVE status management and the term’s limitations.
Understanding the ‘Deferred’ Designation
NVD’s “Deferred” designation for pre-2018 CVEs means that their staff will not perform any analysis or enhancement on these particular records at this moment. The NVD is prioritizing newer vulnerabilities over older ones due to limited resources.
Why NVD’s Change Matters to Security Teams
Crucially, “Deferred” does not mean:
- The vulnerability is gone: The security flaw still exists in the affected software.
- The vulnerability is safe: The security threat linked to the CVE remains active even though it hasn’t been analyzed by NVD. NVD is not conducting active analysis on this particular CVE record at present.
- You should ignore it: Attackers can exploit any unpatched vulnerability regardless of its current analysis status with NVD.
Prioritization based only on the present NVD enrichment status risks missing important threats from older vulnerabilities that have been deferred.
The OpsMx Delivery Shield Advantage: How OpsMx Prioritizes Vulnerabilities
OpsMx Delivery Shield proves invaluable in such high-risk security scenarios that demand smarter security decisions. OpsMx expands beyond NVD’s foundational data through its advanced risk prioritization algorithm which evaluates multiple factors apart from basic CVE information and current NVD analysis status.
Multiple Risk Factors We Analyze
OpsMx’s algorithm considers:
- Exploitability: Is there known exploit code available? Does threat intelligence feed analysis show active exploitation of this vulnerability in real-world situations?
- Impact: What consequences could arise if this vulnerability becomes exploited within your particular environment?
- Context: How is the vulnerable component deployed? Is it internet-facing? Does it handle sensitive data? What security controls are already in place?
- Business Criticality: What role does the affected application or service play in your business operations?
- Multiple Data Sources: OpsMx sources information from multiple inputs instead of depending only on the present analysis status of NVD. The system utilizes threat feeds and exploit databases as well as proprietary risk intelligence to gather information.
Why Smarter Prioritization Matters More Now Than Ever Before
The “Deferred” status assigned to older CVEs shows why relying on a single data source or status flag for prioritization doesn’t work. Real-world risk is complex and context-dependent.
OpsMx Delivery Shield provides a solution that eliminates background noise. The system maintains ongoing analysis and prioritization for all applicable vulnerabilities which encompasses pre-2018 CVEs labeled as “Deferred” by NVD according to their real-world threat level to your individual applications and environment.
Our platform helps you focus remediation efforts on the most critical threats — regardless of NVD’s current analysis status. Even though NVD classifies it as “Deferred,” a high-risk vulnerability from 2017 remains a significant threat in your environment due to its ease of exploitation. OpsMx helps you see that.
Our Recommendation for OpsMx Customers
- Continue Relying on OpsMx’s Prioritization: The risk scores and prioritization from OpsMx Delivery Shield should be trusted. Our system is designed to handle exactly these scenarios—going beyond basic data points to determine actual risk.
- Understand the NVD Change: NVD assigns a “Deferred” status to pre-2018 CVEs based on their present analysis capacity rather than any alteration to the intrinsic risk of the vulnerability.
- Focus on Contextual Risk: Use OpsMx insights to determine the priority level of vulnerabilities in your deployment setting.
- Stay Informed: The vulnerability landscape is constantly evolving. Our platform will undergo necessary updates based on continuous situation assessment.
Final Thoughts: Navigating Vulnerability Prioritization in a Changing Landscape
The modifications public databases like NVD make to their reporting methods may raise concerns but demonstrate the necessity of security tools that use intelligence and context. The NVD’s action to postpone analysis on older CVEs maintains their potential danger but emphasizes the need for strong prioritization mechanisms.
Using OpsMx Delivery Shield ensures your vulnerability management program remains concentrated on major threats enabling efficient resource distribution and solid security maintenance despite changes in reporting standards.
About OpsMx
OpsMx is a leading innovator and thought leader in the Application Security space. Leading technology companies such as Google, Cisco, Western Union, among others rely on OpsMx to secure their application lifecycle.
OpsMx Delivery Shield offers Risk Prioritization, Remediation, and Compliance Automation—all with an integrated suite of open source Application Security tools to help you enforce security policies and achieve unified visibility.
Frequently Asked Questions around NVD and CVEs
What does "Deferred" mean for NVD CVEs?
A CVE with a “Deferred” status means the NVD (National Vulnerability Database) has decided not to address or analyze it anymore. These are CVEs that are older than December 13, 2018. They decided not to address them anymore because of resource constraints.
Are deferred CVEs still dangerous?
Yes, deferred CVEs can still pose significant risks. The ‘deferred’ status only indicates that the CVE will not be looked into/addressed by NVD; but it can still be exploited and the risks of using them continue to remain the same. If a vulnerability is unpatched and exploitable, attackers can still take advantage of it, regardless of its NVD status
How does OpsMx prioritize deferred vulnerabilities?
OpsMx does not solely rely on NVD’s CVE status; it relies on contextual risk-based analysis to address and prioritize threats. We consider factors like exploitability, business impact, network exposure, and real-world threat intelligence to assess the true risk of each vulnerability—deferred or not. This ensures we do not overlook the threats that NVD chooses to ignore.
What factors determine contextual risk scoring?
OpsMx’s contextual risk scoring is based on:
– Exploitability: Availability of known exploits or active threat activity.
– Impact: Potential consequences if exploited in your environment.
– Exposure: Whether the affected component is internet-facing or handles sensitive data.
– Business Criticality: Importance of the vulnerable application or service to operations
Why should I trust OpsMx over NVD’s data?
NVD is a foundational source, but recent developments where they mark older CVEs as “Deferred”—mean it may lack current analysis on known threats. OpsMx enhances and contextualizes vulnerability data using multiple sources, real-time threat intelligence, exploit feeds, and environment-specific factors. This allows you to prioritize based on real-world risk, not just its database status.
How do deferred CVEs affect compliance?
If your codebase contains ‘deferred’ CVEs, then you are likely to get exploited by threat actors. Compliance by definition means you are secure by design, but deferred CVEs can compromise your security posture and leave you vulnerable—meaning you are not in compliance anymore.
Can attackers exploit deferred CVEs?
Yes, attackers can exploit deferred CVEs. ‘Deferred’ status is an opportunity that is ripe for exploitation by malicious actors. Because “deferred” status simply means NVD has turned its resources away from addressing that particular CVE; it does not indicate the vulnerability is resolved or addressed. Any CVE that remains unpatched and is exploitable, can still be a target for threat actors.
What tools integrate with OpsMx Delivery Shield?
OpsMx Delivery Shield integrates with over 100 DevOps and security tools across the application lifecycle. This includes CI/CD platforms like Jenkins, GitHub Actions, and GitLab; artifact repositories such as Docker and JFrog Artifactory; container registries like Amazon ECR and Azure ACR; and Security tools including Trivy, Semgrep, Kubescape, and SonarQube.
How to update vulnerability management for deferred CVEs?
You can update your process by not relying solely on NVD analysis and instead leveraging contextual, risk-based prioritization offered by tools like the OpsMx Delivery Shield. OpsMx considers factors like exploitability, business impact, deployment context, and threat intelligence to ensure outdated and exploitable CVEs are not present in your application code and that they are prioritized as needed.
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