Cybersecurity definition
What is CVE?
CVE stands for Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures.
By Cyber Tool Stack Editorial TeamUpdated
Definition
A public catalog that assigns a unique identifier to a specific, publicly known software or hardware vulnerability, so vendors, researchers, and tools can all refer to the same flaw unambiguously.
Where CVE fits in the security landscape
These beginner lessons use this term while explaining the surrounding security control.
Related cybersecurity terms
CVSSCommon Vulnerability Scoring SystemAn industry-standard formula for scoring how severe a vulnerability is, producing a 0-10 number from factors like how easily it can be exploited and what an attacker gains. The current major version, CVSS 4.0, added metrics for real-world threat activity and automatability that earlier versions lacked.KEVKnown Exploited VulnerabilitiesA catalog, maintained by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, of vulnerabilities confirmed to be actively exploited by attackers — a fast, evidence-based way to prioritize patching over relying on severity scores alone.CWECommon Weakness EnumerationA catalog of general categories of security weaknesses in software design or code — like SQL injection or improper input validation — as distinct from CVE, which tracks specific, individual instances of a vulnerability in a specific product.