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CISA vulnerability information is most useful when it is connected to your organization’s asset inventory, exposure, and remediation process. The central resource is CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog, which identifies vulnerabilities known to have been exploited in the wild. Use it to help prioritize remediation—not as a substitute for finding and validating vulnerabilities across your own systems.
What a CISA vulnerability review covers
“CISA Vulnerability Review” is not the name of a single, defined CISA report or review period in the available official material. For an organization, the practical subject is how to use CISA’s vulnerability information and operational guidance to identify, prioritize, and address risk.
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CISA describes KEV as an authoritative source of vulnerabilities exploited in the wild and recommends using the catalog as an input to vulnerability-management prioritization. Catalog membership is a signal of known exploitation; it does not tell you whether your organization runs affected software, whether an asset is exposed, or whether a listed vulnerability has already been fixed in your environment.
Who must follow BOD 22-01?
Binding Operational Directive 22-01 sets remediation requirements for Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies. Those agencies must remediate vulnerabilities listed in KEV by the applicable specified due dates.
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CISA also urges organizations generally to prioritize timely remediation of KEV entries. That broader advice should not be confused with the directive’s binding scope: BOD 22-01’s requirements and deadlines are for FCEB agencies, not universal legal deadlines for every organization. Check the current directive and applicable federal guidance when determining an agency’s obligations.
A practical workflow for reviewing vulnerabilities
A useful review joins scan results to the assets and software your organization actually operates. Work through the stages below, retaining the status and evidence needed to track unresolved findings.
| Stage | What to do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Asset discovery and scan coverage | Identify the organization’s assets and determine which are covered by vulnerability scans. | Findings are meaningful only in the context of the systems in scope; gaps in inventory or coverage can leave risk unexamined. |
| Analyze and validate findings | Check whether the affected asset and software version are present. Confirm remediation status rather than treating raw scanner output as the completed review. | Validation helps distinguish applicable, unresolved findings from results that do not match the deployed environment or have already been addressed. |
| Prioritize | Give attention to KEV entries, then consider the affected asset’s exposure and importance, any applicable due date, and the availability and test status of a fix. | Catalog status is an important input, but organizational context determines what needs action first and how urgently. |
| Test and apply remediation | Test patches where appropriate, apply available fixes, and record what remains outstanding. | Patch testing and patch management connect a vulnerability finding to a controlled remediation process. |
| Mitigate and track open risk | If a patch cannot be applied promptly, use appropriate temporary measures and continue tracking the unresolved issue. | Mitigations can reduce exposure while a permanent fix is pending; they do not make the finding disappear. |
How to prioritize findings
Use several factors together rather than ranking solely by scanner severity or catalog presence:
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches- Evidence of exploitation: Check whether the vulnerability is listed in KEV. Known exploitation is a strong reason to prioritize timely remediation.
- Organizational exposure: Establish whether the affected software and version are present, and whether the asset is reachable or otherwise exposed.
- Asset importance: Consider the asset’s role and the consequences of its compromise or unavailability.
- Applicable due date: For FCEB agencies, account for the deadline specified for a listed vulnerability. Other organizations should treat CISA’s prioritization advice as guidance, not assume the federal deadline applies to them.
- Fix readiness: Determine whether a patch is available and whether it has been tested for the relevant environment.
- Interim risk reduction: If a fix is not yet practical, decide whether access restrictions, isolation, configuration changes, or another temporary safeguard is appropriate.
What to do when a patch is not immediately available
Patching is the usual remediation approach in CISA’s response playbook. Depending on the situation, risk may also be reduced by limiting access to an affected asset, isolating it, or changing its configuration. If a patch cannot be applied promptly, temporary measures may include disabling services, restricting traffic with firewall rules, or increasing monitoring.
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Choose a mitigation that fits the affected system and its operational role, and record it alongside the open finding. A temporary control is not the same as installing a patch; keep the vulnerability in the remediation process until it is addressed.
Historical figures are not current catalog totals
CISA’s January 2025 CPG Adoption Report reported 1,199 KEVs as of August 31, 2024. This is a dated count, not the current size of the live catalog. CISA’s August 12, 2025 alert also added three vulnerabilities based on evidence of active exploitation; those additions are historical examples, not a statement of current catalog membership.
Because KEV changes over time, consult CISA’s live catalog for current entries rather than relying on a past count or search-result snapshot.
How to interpret federal assessment guidance
CISA’s FY 2025 assessment guide is framed for federal assessment and refers to federal directives and due dates. Its scanning, analysis, patch-testing, and patch-management concepts can inform an organizational review, but federal assessment timelines should not be presented as requirements for every organization. Verify current federal instructions where they apply.
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