[Cyber Security Terms](/glossary) Common Vulnerabilities & Exposures [Blog](/blog)[Breaches](/breaches)[Resources](/resources)[News](/news) [Cyber Security Terms](/glossary) # Common Vulnerabilities & Exposures ##### [Edward Kost](/team/edward-kost) updated Sep 22, 2021 ###### Contents ## What are Common Vulnerabilities & Exposures? [Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures](https://www.upguard.com/blog/cve) (CVEs) is a public catalog of known cybersecurity issues in software solutions. The CVE program was launched in September 1999 and is currently overseen by the MITRE Corporation. Each vulnerability is documented as a separate record in the CVE catalog and published by organizations that have partnered with the CVE program.  The CVE catalog can be accessed on the [MITRE website](https://cve.mitre.org/cve/index.html) and also via the [National Vulnerability Database (NVD)](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/search). ## What is the Common Vulnerability Scoring System? The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) measures the severity of each vulnerability with a number ranging from 0.0 to 10.0.  The categories for each scoring range are as follows: * 0.0 represents no risk * 0.1 - 3.3 represents a low risk * 4.0 - 6.9 represents medium risk * 7.0 - 8.9 represents a high risk * 9.0 - 10.0 represents a critical risk ## What Qualifies as a CVE? To qualify as a CVE, a vulnerability needs to meet three conditions: 1. The vulnerability must only be associated with a single product. 2. The impacted vendor must acknowledge the security vulnerability or the reporting party must prove its violation of the impacted vendor’s security policy. 3. It must be possible to remediate the vulnerability independently from other software issues. ## Key takeaways * CVE records keep organizations informed of the latest exposures impacting their third-party software. * Security teams should regularly reference the CVE catalog to stay updated about the latest software exploits. * Vendor risk management programs should incorporate the latest CVEs in their security questionnaires and risk assessments. * * ###### Reviewed by No items found. ###### Author ##### [Edward Kost](/team/edward-kost) ###### Reviewed by ##### [Kaushik Sen](/team/kaushik-sen) ###### Join 27,000+ cybersecurity newsletter subscribers ## Read more about Common Vulnerabilities & Exposures Learn more about Common Vulnerabilities & Exposures and the latest issues in cybersecurity. [UpGuard](/blog/cve) [CVE Explained: How Vulnerabilities Are Named and Scored](/blog/cve) #### [CVE Explained: How Vulnerabilities Are Named and Scored](/blog/cve) Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) is a list of publicly disclosed information security vulnerabilities and exposures. [](/team/abi-tyas-tunggal) [Abi Tyas Tunggal](#) July 28, 2026 [UpGuard](/blog/vulnerability) [Security Vulnerabilities Explained: Examples, Causes, and Risk](/blog/vulnerability) #### [Security Vulnerabilities Explained: Examples, Causes, and Risk](/blog/vulnerability) A vulnerability is a weakness that can be exploited by cybercriminals to gain unauthorized access to a computer system. Learn more. [](/team/abi-tyas-tunggal) [Abi Tyas Tunggal](#) July 28, 2026 [View all blog posts](/blog) ## See UpGuard In Action Book a free, personalized onboarding call with one of our cybersecurity experts. 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