easyMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
CAS-004 Practice Question: A financial institution is required to comply…
A financial institution is required to comply with PCI DSS. A low-severity vulnerability is found in the cardholder data environment that would cost significant downtime to patch. What is the BEST course of action?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates assume PCI DSS mandates immediate patching for any vulnerability in the CDE, but the standard explicitly allows risk acceptance for low-severity findings when patching causes significant business impact, provided compensating controls and formal approval are in place.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Implement compensating controls and formally accept the risk with documented approval
PCI DSS Requirement 6.2 allows organizations to formally accept risk for low-severity vulnerabilities when patching would cause significant operational impact, provided compensating controls are implemented and documented approval is obtained from management. This balances security compliance with business continuity, as the vulnerability is low-risk and the downtime cost outweighs the immediate threat.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Implement compensating controls and formally accept the risk with documented approval
Why this is correct
This satisfies PCI DSS requirements and manages risk.
- ✗
Transfer the risk to a third party
Why it's wrong here
Risk transfer does not address the vulnerability directly.
- ✗
Accept the risk without documentation
Why it's wrong here
Risk acceptance must be documented and approved.
- ✗
Immediately patch the vulnerability
Why it's wrong here
Patches may cause unacceptable downtime.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every CAS-005 question from scratch — 968 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CAS-005 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CAS-005 exam.