Top Exploitable Vulnerabilities & Affected Applications

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1. Day in the Life of an AppSec Engineer Using This Chart

An Application Security (AppSec) Engineer would use this Pareto-style vulnerability distribution chart to identify and prioritize remediation efforts for the most exploitable vulnerabilities affecting applications. Here’s how it fits into their daily workflow:

• Morning Security Review:

  • The engineer checks which Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) are impacting the largest number of applications.

  • The CVEs at the top of the list (left side) should be the highest priority for remediation.

• Vulnerability Prioritization & Risk Reduction:

  • If a single highly exploitable CVE (e.g., CVE-2024-1004) is affecting a large number of applications, it gets flagged for immediate attention.

  • Engineers communicate with development teams to ensure fixes are quickly applied across all affected applications.

• Security Meetings & Reporting:

  • Uses this data to discuss top risk factors in weekly security meetings.

  • Helps in justifying patching urgency to executives or compliance teams.

• Patch Management Coordination:

  • Works with IT and DevSecOps teams to ensure patches for high-impact vulnerabilities are deployed as quickly as possible.

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2. Impact on AppSec Operations

This chart significantly improves vulnerability management and security risk assessment by enabling:

• Efficient Risk-Based Prioritization:

  • Focuses remediation efforts on the most widely exploited vulnerabilities, ensuring maximum risk reduction.

• Better Remediation Planning:

  • Helps teams plan batch fixes for multiple applications affected by the same CVE, reducing operational overhead.

• Optimized Patch Management:

  • Security teams can coordinate bulk patching efforts for vulnerabilities that affect many applications simultaneously.

• Improved Compliance Posture:

  • Reducing exposure to widely known vulnerabilities strengthens compliance with security frameworks (e.g., ISO 27001, NIST, PCI-DSS, CIS Controls).

• Cross-Team Collaboration:

  • Enables AppSec engineers to proactively engage with developers and infrastructure teams to ensure timely vulnerability remediation.

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3. What Decisions Does This Chart Drive?

• Which vulnerabilities should be remediated first?

  • The most impactful CVEs (those affecting the most applications) should be fixed immediately.

• Are there systemic security weaknesses across multiple applications?

  • If multiple applications are affected by the same CVE, it may indicate:

    • A recurring misconfiguration.

    • A shared vulnerable dependency (e.g., a vulnerable third-party library).

• How should vulnerability patches be rolled out?

  • The team can group fixes based on CVEs to deploy patches more efficiently across multiple applications.

• Is there a need for vendor or third-party coordination?

  • If certain CVEs are linked to third-party software, security teams may need to engage with vendors for security patches.

• Do developers need additional security training?

  • If a specific vulnerability type keeps recurring, it might indicate a training gap for developers (e.g., insecure coding practices).