vulnerability
Sign in to saveAlso known as computer vulnerability, computer security vulnerability, computing vulnerability, software vulnerability, security vulnerability
security weakness which allows an attacker to reduce a system's information assurance
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- software bug
- Image
- Man in the middle attack.svg
- Said to be same as
- vulnerability
Show 6 more facts
- exact match
- w3id.org/secure-chain/Vulnerability
- ACM Classification Code (2012)
- 10002997
- Commons category
- Vulnerability (computing)
- facet of
- computer security
- used by
- exploit
- handled, mitigated, or managed by
- vulnerability management
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~20 min read
Encyclopedic overview
In computer security, vulnerabilities are flaws or weaknesses in a system's design, implementation, or management that can be exploited by a malicious actor to compromise its security.
Despite a system administrator's best efforts to achieve complete correctness, virtually all hardware and software contain bugs where the system does not behave as expected. If the bug could enable an attacker to compromise the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of system resources, it can be considered a vulnerability. Insecure software development practices as well as design factors such as complexity can increase the burden of vulnerabilities.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “vulnerability” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.