VEX (Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange)
O que é VEX (Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange)?
VEX (Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange)A machine-readable companion to the SBOM that tells consumers whether a listed CVE actually affects a given product — distinguishing 'present in the bill of materials' from 'reachable and exploitable'.
VEX (Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange) is a class of attestation document, formalized by CISA and the U.S. NTIA in 2022–2023, designed to suppress SBOM noise. When a customer scans a vendor's product, they typically discover every CVE listed against every transitive dependency — most of which are not actually exploitable because the affected code path is unused, mitigated, or compiled out. A VEX statement, signed by the vendor or downstream maintainer, declares one of four statuses for each (product, CVE) pair: not_affected, affected, fixed, or under_investigation, plus a justification (e.g. 'vulnerable_code_not_in_execute_path'). VEX is format-agnostic and is currently produced as OpenVEX (a minimal JSON profile), CSAF VEX (an OASIS-standardized profile), or embedded in CycloneDX vulnerability extensions. It is becoming a contractual deliverable alongside SBOMs in regulated sectors.
● Exemplos
- 01
A library upgrade adds a transitive dep flagged with five CVEs; the vendor ships an OpenVEX document marking four as 'not_affected: vulnerable_code_not_in_execute_path'.
- 02
An automated scanner consumes the customer's SBOM plus the vendor's VEX statements and reduces 200 raw CVE findings to 7 actionable ones.
● Perguntas frequentes
O que é VEX (Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange)?
A machine-readable companion to the SBOM that tells consumers whether a listed CVE actually affects a given product — distinguishing 'present in the bill of materials' from 'reachable and exploitable'. Pertence à categoria Segurança de aplicações da cibersegurança.
O que significa VEX (Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange)?
A machine-readable companion to the SBOM that tells consumers whether a listed CVE actually affects a given product — distinguishing 'present in the bill of materials' from 'reachable and exploitable'.
Como funciona VEX (Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange)?
VEX (Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange) is a class of attestation document, formalized by CISA and the U.S. NTIA in 2022–2023, designed to suppress SBOM noise. When a customer scans a vendor's product, they typically discover every CVE listed against every transitive dependency — most of which are not actually exploitable because the affected code path is unused, mitigated, or compiled out. A VEX statement, signed by the vendor or downstream maintainer, declares one of four statuses for each (product, CVE) pair: not_affected, affected, fixed, or under_investigation, plus a justification (e.g. 'vulnerable_code_not_in_execute_path'). VEX is format-agnostic and is currently produced as OpenVEX (a minimal JSON profile), CSAF VEX (an OASIS-standardized profile), or embedded in CycloneDX vulnerability extensions. It is becoming a contractual deliverable alongside SBOMs in regulated sectors.
Como se defender contra VEX (Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange)?
As defesas contra VEX (Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange) costumam combinar controles técnicos e práticas operacionais, conforme detalhado na definição acima.
Quais são outros nomes para VEX (Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange)?
Nomes alternativos comuns: Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange, OpenVEX, CSAF VEX.
● Termos relacionados
- appsec№ 1185
Software Bill of Materials (SBOM)
Inventário formal e legível por máquina dos componentes, bibliotecas e dependências que compõem um software, com versões e respetivas relações.
- appsec№ 297
CycloneDX
An OWASP-curated open standard for software, SaaS, ML, and crypto bills of materials, designed from the start for security use cases and now widely used to ship SBOMs alongside releases.
- appsec№ 1190
SPDX (Software Package Data Exchange)
A Linux Foundation-maintained, ISO/IEC 5962-standardized open format for software bills of materials, originally focused on license metadata and now broadly used for SBOMs.
- vulnerabilities№ 285
CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures)
Catálogo público que atribui um identificador único a cada vulnerabilidade divulgada para que possa ser referenciada de forma inequívoca em toda a indústria.
- vulnerabilities№ 428
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System)
Modelo orientado por dados, mantido pelo FIRST, que estima a probabilidade de uma CVE ser explorada em ambiente real nos próximos 30 dias.
- vulnerabilities№ 663
Vulnerabilidade explorada conhecida (KEV)
CVE que a CISA dos EUA confirma estar ativamente a ser explorada e adiciona ao seu catálogo público KEV, acionando prazos de remediação para agências federais.