Vulnerability Assessment and Prioritization

Vulnerability Assessment and Prioritization

Effective patch management requires continuous vulnerability assessment to identify systems requiring updates. Automated vulnerability scanners provide comprehensive views of patch status across heterogeneous environments. Integrating vulnerability assessment with patch management creates a closed-loop process ensuring all identified vulnerabilities receive appropriate attention.

Deploy vulnerability scanning tools supporting both authenticated and unauthenticated scans. Authenticated scans provide detailed patch status by examining installed software versions. Configure regular scanning schedules covering all systems:

# Example OpenVAS scan automation
omp -u admin -w password --xml='<create_task>
  <name>Weekly Vulnerability Scan</name>
  <target id="target-uuid"/>
  <scanner id="scanner-uuid"/>
  <config id="config-uuid"/>
  <schedule id="schedule-uuid"/>
</create_task>'

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) or its successor, Microsoft Security Compliance Toolkit, identifies missing patches on Windows systems. PowerShell scripts can automate assessment across multiple systems:

$computers = Get-ADComputer -Filter * | Select -ExpandProperty Name
foreach ($computer in $computers) {
    $updates = Get-WmiObject -ComputerName $computer -Class Win32_QuickFixEngineering
    $missing = Get-WindowsUpdate -ComputerName $computer -MicrosoftUpdate
    Export-Csv -Path "\\share\reports\$computer-patches.csv"
}

Prioritization matrices help manage overwhelming numbers of vulnerabilities. Consider multiple factors when prioritizing patches: CVSS base score indicating vulnerability severity, temporal score reflecting exploit availability, environmental score based on your specific context, asset criticality to business operations, and network exposure level. Create automated scoring systems combining these factors: Priority = CVSS_Base * Exploit_Activity * Asset_Criticality * Exposure_Level.