The volume of Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) has reached staggering levels, placing immense pressure on organizations’ cyber defenses. According to SecurityScorecard, there were 29,000 vulnerabilities recorded in 2023, and by mid-2024, nearly 27,500 had already been identified.
Meanwhile, Coalition’s 2024 Cyber Threat Index forecasts that the total number of CVEs for 2024 will hit 34,888—a 25% increase compared to the previous year. This upward trend presents a significant challenge for organizations trying to manage vulnerabilities and mitigate potential exploits.
What’s behind the dramatic rise in CVEs? And what can security teams do to minimize the risk? Let’s find out.
The drivers behind CVE proliferation
The rise in CVEs can be attributed to several factors. Each element adds new layers of complexity, which ultimately provide more opportunities for vulnerabilities to surface. Some of the main causes of CVE proliferation include:
1. Increased complexity of IT systems
Modern enterprise networks are vast ecosystems of on-premises infrastructure, remote endpoints, cloud applications and third-party services. Every new piece of hardware or software introduces potential vulnerabilities that cyber criminals can exploit. As businesses adopt more tools to stay competitive, their attack surfaces widen. And a single CVE can affect multiple software versions or be embedded across different packages.
For instance, software vulnerabilities like MOVEit, Log4Shell and Citrix Bleed have all garnered significant media attention ..
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