CAS-004 Security Operations Practice Question
A vulnerability management team is prioritizing patches for a large number of vulnerabilities discovered in a quarterly scan. A critical vulnerability in a widely used application has a CVSS base score of 9.8, but it is not currently being exploited in the wild and the application is not directly exposed to the internet. According to CVSS scoring principles, which factors should the team consider to adjust the priority?
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
✓
Environmental metrics such as collateral damage potential and target distribution
CVSS environmental metrics allow organizations to modify the base score based on the specific context, such as the asset's value and exposure. This helps prioritize vulnerabilities that pose the greatest risk to the organization.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The number of other vulnerabilities in the same software product
Why it's wrong here
This is not part of the CVSS scoring system; prioritization should consider individual vulnerability risk.
- ✗
The age of the vulnerability since its disclosure
Why it's wrong here
Age is not a formal CVSS metric; temporal metrics include exploit maturity, but environmental is more relevant here.
- ✗
Temporal metrics including exploit code maturity and remediation level
Why it's wrong here
Temporal metrics adjust for current exploit status, but the scenario says it is not exploited; however, environmental metrics are more relevant for organizational context.
- ✓
Environmental metrics such as collateral damage potential and target distribution
Why this is correct
Environmental metrics allow customization for the organization's environment, including asset criticality and exposure, which directly affects risk.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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