SSCP Risk Identification, Monitoring, and Analysis Practice Question
A company's vulnerability scanner reports a critical vulnerability in a third-party library. The remediation SLA for critical vulnerabilities is 48 hours. However, the patch is not yet available from the vendor. Which of the following is the most appropriate immediate action?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers assume 'no patch available' means 'no action required' (Option C), but the SSCP exam expects proactive risk mitigation through compensating controls even when patching is delayed.
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 to mitigate the vulnerability
When a patch is unavailable, implementing compensating controls (e.g., network segmentation, WAF rules, disabling unused features) is the immediate action to reduce risk exposure while awaiting an official fix. This aligns with the NIST SP 800-40 risk mitigation framework, which prioritizes compensating controls when patching is not feasible. Simply removing the software (A) may break business operations, extending the SLA (B) violates policy, and accepting risk (C) ignores the need for active mitigation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Remove the vulnerable software immediately
Why it's wrong here
Removing the software may disrupt operations and is not always feasible.
- ✗
Extend the SLA to 30 days
Why it's wrong here
Extending SLA without action increases risk exposure.
- ✗
Accept the risk because the vendor has not released a patch
Why it's wrong here
Acceptance should be a formal decision, not default; compensating controls are preferred.
- ✓
Implement compensating controls to mitigate the vulnerability
Why this is correct
Compensating controls reduce risk until a patch is available.
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This SSCP question is part of Courseiva's 920-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam 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 SSCP practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 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 SSCP exam.