End the Struggle of Risk Prioritization with Vulnerabilities

You have 10,000 open vulnerabilities. 2,000 are labeled "High" or "Critical." You have enough engineering bandwidth to fix 50 this sprint. Which 50 do you choose?

This is the daily nightmare of security leaders. The traditional method—sorting by CVSS score—is broken. A CVSS 9.8 on a forgotten, air-gapped test server is not the same risk as a CVSS 8.1 on your public-facing payment portal.

The struggle to prioritize isn't a lack of data; it's a lack of context. To end the struggle, we must move beyond simple severity scores and start measuring true risk.

Why "Patching by Numbers" (CVSS) Fails

For years, the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) has been the default standard. It's a great tool for defining technical *severity*, but it was never meant to define *risk*.

• It's Static: A CVSS score doesn't change even if exploit code is published overnight.
• It's Blind to Context: It doesn't know if the vulnerable asset holds PII or is just a brochure website.
• It Creates Panic: When dozens of bugs are all marked "Critical," teams become desensitized to the alert level.

Relying solely on CVSS leads to "compliance patching"—fixing things to satisfy an auditor, not to stop a hacker.

The Modern Framework for Prioritization

In 2026, mature organizations use a multi-factor approach to prioritize vulnerabilities. True risk is calculated at the intersection of three things:

1. Likelihood of Exploit (EPSS)

Just because a vulnerability *can* be exploited doesn't mean it *will* be. The Exploit Prediction Security Scoring (EPSS) system provides a real-time probability score that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild in the next 30 days.

A CVSS 9.8 with an EPSS of 0.01% is a lower priority than a CVSS 7.5 with an EPSS of 85%. Prioritize what hackers are actually using.

2. Business Impact (Asset Context)

Where does the vulnerability live? Context is everything. You must tag your assets based on their importance:

• Internet-Facing vs. Internal
• Production vs. Staging
• Contains PII/PCI Data vs. No Sensitive Data

A vulnerability on a "Crown Jewel" asset always trumps the same vulnerability on a low-impact asset.

3. Threat Intelligence

Is there proof-of-concept (PoC) code available on GitHub? Are ransomware gangs actively discussing this vulnerability on the dark web? Real-time threat intelligence provides the final layer of urgency.

How to Operationalize Risk Prioritization

You can't calculate this multi-factor risk score in a spreadsheet. You need a centralized platform designed to ingest data, apply context, and crunch the numbers.

DefectDojo Pro acts as the central brain for your prioritization strategy:

• Automated EPSS Ingestion: DefectDojo automatically pulls the latest EPSS scores for your CVEs, giving you a real-time view of exploitability.
• Asset Tagging & Context: Easily define your business context through tags and product grading, ensuring asset importance is always part of the risk equation.
• Custom Risk Scoring: Don't like the default formula? Create your own prioritized lists based on a weighted combination of CVSS, EPSS, and business impact that matches your organization's risk appetite.

Conclusion: Focus on the "Now," Not Just the "Big"

Ending the struggle of prioritization means accepting that you will never fix everything. And that's okay. Your job is to ensure that the vulnerabilities you *do* fix are the ones that would have caused a breach tomorrow.

Stop letting a static number dictate your strategy. Start fixing what matters.

Get a Prioritized View of Your Risk

Stop drowning in data. See how DefectDojo Pro uses EPSS and business context to tell you exactly what to fix next.

Book a Demo and End the Struggle