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Application & OT Security · Foundational

Vulnerability Assessment

A systematic process of identifying, quantifying and prioritizing vulnerabilities without attempting to exploit them.

Definition

A vulnerability assessment uses automated scanners and manual review to enumerate weaknesses across assets and rate them, usually with CVSS. It favors breadth over depth and is less intrusive than a penetration test. Results feed a vulnerability management program for remediation tracking.

Example

Running a credentialed Nessus scan across all servers each month and ranking findings by CVSS score.

Exam tip

If a question says the goal is to find as many weaknesses as possible without exploitation or disruption, the answer is a vulnerability assessment, not a pen test.

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