Definition.Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: a public identification scheme for security vulnerabilities, run by MITRE in cooperation with numerous CNAs (CVE Numbering Authorities). Each CVE ID (e.g. CVE-2026-12345) uniquely identifies a vulnerability, together with a description, affected products and usually a CVSS score.

Why it matters. A CVE ID is the common language between vendor, distributor, patch pipeline and auditor. Without it, vulnerability management does not scale.

Related. CVSS, EPSS, CISA KEV, RCE, Local Privilege Escalation (LPE)