Vulnerability Risk Scoring Using CVSS Vectors and Asset Context
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current vulnerability assessment methods, such as the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS), are inadequate for providing a nuanced organizational analysis, failing to scale to asset or asset group levels, and do not account for indirect impacts or likelihoods involving integrated or adjacent organizations, thus not accurately representing an organization's risk posture in evolving threat landscapes.
Innovation Solution
A security tool that identifies vulnerabilities in computing systems and determines risk levels based on CVSS vectors and additional factors, including virtualization, malware, exploitability, asset classification, connected assets, and interdependencies, providing a comprehensive risk assessment that encompasses both direct and indirect threats.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional CVSS scoring system is used for vulnerability assessment, then vulnerability ranking is provided, but nuanced organizational analysis is problematic and scaling to asset level is not achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the vulnerability assessment into multiple hierarchical levels: vulnerability-level scoring (using CVSS base, environmental, and temporal vectors), asset-level aggregation, and organizational-level synthesis. This segmentation allows precise vulnerability ranking while simultaneously enabling scalable organizational analysis by processing assessments at appropriate granularities for each level.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds temporal and environmental dimensions to the traditional CVSS base vectors, creating a multi-dimensional risk assessment model. By incorporating time-dependent factors (temporal vectors) and context-dependent factors (environmental vectors), the system transforms static vulnerability scores into dynamic, organization-specific risk assessments that scale across different organizational contexts.
2Measurement precision
If CVSS base vectors are used for vulnerability assessment, then vulnerability scoring is achieved, but indirect impact and inter-organizational risk factors are not accounted for
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple risk assessment frameworks and data sources into a unified organizational risk model. It combines CVSS base vectors with environmental vectors, temporal vectors, asset criticality ratings, inter-organizational dependency maps, and indirect impact factors into a comprehensive assessment that captures both direct vulnerability impacts and indirect organizational risks.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces environmental vectors as intermediary elements that mediate between base vulnerability scores and organizational risk outcomes. These environmental vectors act as translators that contextualize raw vulnerability data within organizational frameworks, incorporating factors like asset criticality, compensating controls, and inter-organizational relationships to bridge the gap between technical vulnerability data and business risk.
3Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If traditional risk assessment methods are used, then vulnerability identification is achieved, but comprehensive risk posture management is not enabled
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal risk assessment platform that performs multiple functions: vulnerability detection, CVSS scoring, environmental context analysis, temporal trend tracking, asset-level aggregation, and organizational risk synthesis. This multi-functional system reduces the need for separate tools for each assessment task while managing complexity through integrated processing and standardized data models.
Data Source
AI summary
A security tool can identify vulnerabilities in a computing system and determine a risk level of the vulnerabilities based on base and optional CVSS vectors and additional factors that represent the evolving nature of vulnerabilities. Likewise, the security tool can determine an overall risk for vulnerabilities, an asset, and/or a collection of assets that encompasses a global view of an asset's risk and/or collection of assets' risk, business considerations of an entity that own and controls the asset and/or the collection of assets, and the entity's associations.