Standards for Vulnerability Classification

During a penetration test, we usually encounter a wide variety of different vulnerabilities. Some of them can be identified quickly and exploited relatively easily, while others are significantly more complex and require deeper analysis. Regardless of how critical a vulnerability may be in an individual case, one question always arises: How do we describe and classify our findings in a way that makes them understandable and comparable for others?

Without a common terminology, every security assessment would use its own designations and categories. Such an approach would be of little practical use, especially when multiple teams, organizations, or security tools are involved. For this reason, several standards and classification systems have emerged over time that allow vulnerabilities to be categorized in a structured and consistent manner. Although many of these standards were not originally designed specifically for the classification of penetration test findings, they have nevertheless become widely adopted in practice.

You may already have encountered identifiers such as “CVE-2023-XXXX” or references to categories like “CWE-79” in a security report. Behind these identifiers are standardized systems for describing and categorizing security vulnerabilities. They help us uniquely identify weaknesses, assign them to specific categories, and better assess their potential impact.

For us as penetration testers, these standards are particularly important. They allow us to document our results consistently and communicate them clearly to clients. At the same time, they help developers and security teams understand identified weaknesses and plan appropriate remediation measures.

In the following sections, we will therefore examine the most important standards used to classify vulnerabilities and discuss their role in the context of security assessments and penetration testing.