Vulnerability Validation

1. Prerequisites

• Vulnerability alert, advisory, disclosure, or report received
• CVE, advisory, or finding identifier available
• Access to vulnerability management platform
• Access to asset inventory
• Access to configuration management data
• Access to SIEM
• Access to threat intelligence sources
• Access to affected system information
• Incident or tracking ticket created

2. Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Review Vulnerability Information

   • Collect:
     • CVE identifier
     • Vendor advisory
     • Security bulletin
     • Vulnerability description
     • Severity rating
   • Document all available information.

2. Validate Vulnerability Authenticity

   • Verify the vulnerability through:
     • Vendor advisories
     • Official CVE records
     • Trusted security sources
     • Internal vulnerability management tooling
   • Confirm the vulnerability is legitimate and applicable.

3. Identify Affected Technologies

   • Determine:
     • Operating systems
     • Applications
     • Services
     • Cloud platforms
     • Network devices
   • Document affected technologies.

4. Identify Potentially Affected Assets

   • Review asset inventory and vulnerability management data.
   • Identify:
     • Externally exposed assets
     • Internal assets
     • Critical systems
     • Production environments
   • Document potentially affected assets.

5. Review Existing Vulnerability Data

   • Determine:
     • Existing detections
     • Previous scan results
     • Existing remediation status
     • Previous findings
   • Document relevant findings.

6. Assess Exposure

   • Determine:
     • Internet exposure
     • Internal exposure
     • Access requirements
     • Exploitation prerequisites
   • Document exposure level.

7. Review Threat Intelligence

   • Determine whether:
     • Public exploit code exists
     • Active exploitation has been reported
     • Threat actors are targeting the vulnerability
     • Exploitation campaigns are ongoing
   • Document findings.

8. Assess Preliminary Risk

   • Consider:
     • Severity score
     • Exposure level
     • Asset criticality
     • Exploitation availability
     • Existing mitigations
   • Assign a preliminary risk rating.

9. Determine Required Response Actions

   • Determine whether:
     • Further analysis is required
     • Immediate containment is required
     • Emergency remediation is required
     • Monitoring should be increased
   • Document recommended actions.

10. Escalate and Hand Off

    • Provide findings to the Incident Commander and Technical Lead.
    • Escalate to:
      • Vulnerability Exposure Assessment
      • Vulnerable Asset Identification
      • Exploitation Verification
      • Vulnerability Exposure Reduction
    • Update the incident record with all findings.

3. Post-Action

• Ensure all affected technologies are documented.
• Ensure all potentially affected assets are recorded.
• Preserve supporting advisories and intelligence sources.
• Document the preliminary risk assessment.
• Attach all validation findings to the incident record.
• Ensure appropriate analysis and remediation activities have been initiated.

Contributor

Vishal Thakur GitHub: https://github.com/malienist

Contributed to the Arcana Incident Response Documentation Framework.