We’re joined by Dominic Jainy, an IT professional with deep expertise in artificial intelligence and blockchain, to dissect the rapidly evolving landscape of vulnerability management. Today, we’ll explore the dramatic acceleration in threat actor timelines, the tactical shift towards exploiting known—but unpatched—vulnerabilities, and the critical visibility gaps that leave even large organizations exposed. We’ll also examine why the very tools designed to protect us are becoming prime targets themselves.
The window for patching vulnerabilities has shrunk dramatically, now standing at around 44 days. What are the primary drivers behind this acceleration, and how should an organization fundamentally rethink its patching strategy to keep pace?
It’s a staggering compression of time. We’ve watched the average “time to exploit” plummet from a leisurely 745 days just five years ago to a frantic 44 days today. This isn’t a gradual shift; it’s a 94% collapse of the defensive timeline. The primary driver is the adversary’s efficiency. They’ve realized that the real gold isn’t in discovering novel zero-days, but in weaponizing publicly disclosed vulnerabilities—what we call n-days—before defenders can react. Organizations can no longer treat patching as a routine, cyclical task. It must become a high-tempo, intelligence-driven operation, prioritizing flaws that are not just critical in theory, but are actively being exploited in the wild.
N-day vulnerabilities, which are publicly known, now represent the vast majority of exploited flaws. Why have threat actors shifted their focus so heavily to n-days, and what does this reveal about the economics and incentives of the modern cybercrime ecosystem?
The shift is all about return on investment. Developing a true zero-day exploit is incredibly resource-intensive—it takes time, rare expertise, and a lot of money. In contrast, an n-day is a known quantity. The vulnerability has been disclosed, and often, security researchers even publish proof-of-concept code. For an attacker, this is a gift. It dramatically lowers the barrier to entry, requiring far less effort and expense. The fact that over 80% of the vulnerabilities in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities database are n-days tells us that the cybercrime ecosystem operates on a business model of ruthless efficiency. Why build a weapon from scratch when you can pick one up off the shelf and start using it immediately? A recent example is the compromise of several government agencies through critical bugs in Ivanti Endpoint Manager Mobile, which were quickly weaponized.
The combination of public proof-of-concept code and internet-wide scanning tools creates a “turn-key” solution for attackers. Can you walk us through the step-by-step process an adversary uses for mass exploitation, and what are the most critical, immediate defensive actions a company should take?
It’s a disturbingly simple and effective process. First, the attacker sees a new vulnerability disclosure, often accompanied by a functional proof-of-concept. This gives them a ready-made exploit, a “turn-key” weapon. Second, they fire up an internet-wide scanning tool, something like Shodan or FOFA, and search for every single public-facing device running the vulnerable software. This gives them a target list in minutes. Finally, they automate the attack, hitting every vulnerable system on that list. Even an unsophisticated actor can achieve mass exploitation across the internet in a matter of hours. The most critical defense is speed and awareness. You must have a real-time inventory of your internet-facing assets and a process to immediately patch publicly disclosed vulnerabilities in those systems, especially when PoC code is available.
Many organizations struggle with poor asset visibility and a “CVE blind spot” from uncatalogued flaws. How do these two visibility gaps compound each other to increase risk, and what practical strategies or tools can help security teams discover their true attack surface?
These two gaps create a perfect storm of unseen risk. The first issue is basic asset visibility; it’s shocking, but most large organizations probably haven’t even inventoried more than a quarter of their total assets. You simply can’t protect what you don’t know you have. The second gap, the “CVE blind spot,” is more insidious. Our security tools are overwhelmingly dependent on official CVE IDs to identify vulnerabilities. The problem is that thousands of flaws are disclosed every year that never receive a CVE. So, you have unknown assets running software with unknown vulnerabilities. This combination creates a massive, unmonitored attack surface. The solution starts with robust asset discovery and management tools, but it must be supplemented with threat intelligence that tracks all disclosed vulnerabilities, not just those with a CVE tag, to get a true picture of your exposure.
We’re seeing a rise in attacks targeting security and perimeter software itself. Why are these tools becoming such attractive targets for n-day exploits, and what unique dangers does this trend pose for defenders who rely on them?
Targeting security and perimeter software is a brilliant move from an attacker’s perspective. These tools are the gatekeepers; they’re trusted, have high privileges, and sit right at the edge of the network. A successful exploit here doesn’t just breach the perimeter; it compromises the very system designed to prevent breaches. It’s like a thief stealing the security guard’s keys and uniform. This trend is incredibly dangerous because it turns our defenses against us. For instance, an attacker could exploit a flaw in a VPN appliance to gain an initial foothold, then pivot from that trusted device to move laterally across the internal network, completely bypassing other controls. Last year alone, we saw 37 n-day attacks specifically targeting these types of tools, showing just how popular this tactic has become.
What is your forecast for vulnerability management over the next few years?
I believe vulnerability management will have to fundamentally merge with threat intelligence. The old model of scanning, getting a list of thousands of CVEs, and slowly patching based on a generic severity score is completely broken. The future is predictive and proactive. We will see AI-driven platforms that not only identify your assets and their vulnerabilities but also analyze exploit chatter, PoC releases, and attacker trends to forecast which flaws are most likely to be weaponized next. The focus will shift from “what is my CVSS score?” to “what is my real-world risk of being breached by this flaw in the next 72 hours?” It will be a race, and the winners will be those who can see the attack coming before it’s launched.