mediumMultiple Choice
CS0-003 Practice Question: A company has implemented a vulnerability…
A company has implemented a vulnerability management program. The security team needs to ensure that all critical vulnerabilities are remediated within 30 days. Which of the following metrics would BEST measure the effectiveness of this goal?
⚠ Common exam trap
The CS0-004 exam often tests the distinction between measuring remediation activity (e.g., number of closures) versus measuring remediation timeliness (e.g., MTTR), leading candidates to pick Option B because they confuse 'closure count' with 'time to closure.'
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
✓
Mean time to remediate critical vulnerabilities
The goal is to ensure all critical vulnerabilities are remediated within 30 days. Mean time to remediate (MTTR) directly measures the average time taken to fix critical vulnerabilities, making it the best metric to assess compliance with the 30-day remediation window. Other metrics, such as detection counts or patch levels, do not capture the timeliness of remediation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Number of critical vulnerabilities detected per month
Why it's wrong here
While tracking the number of critical vulnerabilities detected per month provides valuable insight into the effectiveness of scanning tools or the evolving threat landscape, it does not directly measure the speed or efficiency of the remediation process itself. This metric focuses solely on the volume of new findings, not the elapsed time taken to address and resolve them, making it unsuitable for evaluating adherence to a 30-day remediation goal.
- ✗
Number of rescan results showing vulnerability closure
Why it's wrong here
Counting the number of rescan results showing vulnerability closure indicates that remediation actions have been successfully completed and verified at specific points in time. However, this metric fails to capture the duration between a vulnerability's initial detection and its eventual closure. It's a binary measure of 'fixed' rather than a continuous time-based metric, thus not directly assessing the time taken to meet a 30-day remediation target.
- ✗
Percentage of systems with up-to-date patches
Why it's wrong here
The percentage of systems with up-to-date patches is a vital indicator of an organization's overall security posture and proactive maintenance efforts. Nevertheless, this metric is too broad to specifically assess the remediation performance for critical vulnerabilities. It does not differentiate between patch types or severity levels, nor does it measure the elapsed time from the discovery of a specific critical vulnerability to its resolution, which is essential for a 30-day goal.
- ✓
Mean time to remediate critical vulnerabilities
Why this is correct
Mean time to remediate (MTTR) critical vulnerabilities directly quantifies the average duration from the initial detection of a critical vulnerability to its verified resolution. This metric is precisely designed to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the remediation process against a specific service level agreement or internal goal, such as a 30-day target. By tracking this average time, the company can accurately determine if its remediation efforts consistently meet or exceed the desired timeframe for its most severe security findings.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Patch and Remediation Workflows
Key term
Vulnerability management
Vulnerability management is the continuous process of identifying, classifying, prioritizing, and remediating security weaknesses in an organization's IT environment.
Key term
General Data Protection Regulation
A European Union law that gives individuals control over their personal data and sets strict rules for how organizations collect, store, and process that data.
About these practice questions
One of 701 original CS0-004 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CS0-004 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 CS0-004 exam.