thinQmaster Virtual testing partner Adaptive practice exams that find your weak spots and drill them. Every answer explained. From $69
Enroll

thinQmaster

Find your exam

Five questions free, before you decide.

Step 1 · choose a vendor

In one of our camps? Your practice exams come with the tuition — they are on your study page already.

Application & OT Security · Intermediate

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

A FIRST data-driven model estimating the probability that a CVE will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days.

Definition

EPSS produces a probability score from 0 to 1 and a percentile for each published CVE, updated daily using threat intelligence and exploit activity data. It complements CVSS, which measures severity rather than likelihood. Combining EPSS with CVSS and KEV lets teams focus patching on vulnerabilities most likely to be exploited.

Example

A CVSS 9.8 bug with an EPSS of 0.002 may be deprioritized below a CVSS 7.5 bug with EPSS 0.94.

Exam tip

When a question asks about likelihood of exploitation rather than severity, the answer is EPSS.

Related terms