Key Points
- CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog identifies vulnerabilities that are actively being exploited, providing a stronger remediation signal than severity scores alone.
- NinjaOne Vulnerability Management now surfaces KEV status alongside CVSS scores to help IT and security teams prioritize vulnerabilities based on real-world risk.
- Risk-based remediation enables organizations to focus patching efforts on actively exploited vulnerabilities rather than relying solely on vendor-assigned severity ratings.
- Automated workflows can accelerate remediation for KEV-listed vulnerabilities and support faster response to emerging threats.
- KEV intelligence strengthens audit, compliance, cyber insurance, and executive reporting by providing defensible, threat-informed remediation decisions.
- As AI speeds up how fast vulnerabilities are found and exploited, remediation backlogs will keep growing, and risk-based prioritization will be the only practical way to decide what to patch first.
NinjaOne Vulnerability Management now shows CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) status next to CVSS scores, so IT and security teams can see which vulnerabilities are being actively exploited, not just which ones are rated most severe.
The Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog identifies vulnerabilities known to be actively exploited by attackers. NinjaOne Vulnerability Management now surfaces KEV status directly alongside CVSS scores, so your team has both signals in one place.
What is the CISA KEV catalog?
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) created the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog because severity alone isn’t enough. It’s a curated, continuously updated list of vulnerabilities that have been confirmed as actively exploited in the wild. These vulnerabilities have documented evidence of active exploitation, regardless of their severity rating.
A vulnerability with a scoring of 9.8 on CVSS that has never been observed in active exploitation may be a lower priority than one with a scoring 8.1 that appears on CISA’s KEV catalog and is actively being used by attackers. Traditional severity-based patching prioritizes the first. Risk-based remediation prioritizes the second.
This isn’t a hypothetical scenario. It plays out constantly. A significant portion of KEV-listed vulnerabilities have CVSS scores below 9.0, and many high-scoring vulnerabilities never see active exploitation. Severity and exploitability are related, but they are not the same thing.
Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies are required to remediate KEV-listed vulnerabilities within defined timeframes, and the catalog provides an authoritative, real-world exploitation signal for IT and security teams.
How KEV works in NinjaOne Vulnerability Management
KEV intelligence is now integrated directly into the NinjaOne Vulnerability Management workflow. When scanning your environment, NinjaOne surfaces CVSS severity and KEV status alongside vulnerability findings, helping your team better assess each vulnerability’s real-world risk.
This means your team can prioritize remediation based on active exploitation, rather than just vendor ratings. You can configure automated workflows to accelerate patching for KEV-listed vulnerabilities, separate from your standard severity-based policies. And you can demonstrate to auditors, insurers, and executive stakeholders that your remediation decisions are grounded in real threat intelligence, rather than severity scores alone.
For MSPs managing multiple clients, KEV intelligence adds another layer of confidence to remediation reporting. When a client asks why a particular vulnerability was prioritized, you have a clear, defensible answer backed by CISA data.
The bigger picture
The timing of this release matters. AI-powered vulnerability discovery initiatives, including Anthropic’s Mythos and OpenAI’s Daybreak, could significantly increase the number of vulnerabilities discovered and shorten the time between discovery and active exploitation. Organizations may face growing remediation backlogs and increasing pressure to act faster on the vulnerabilities that matter most.
In that environment, the ability to distinguish between a vulnerability that is severe and one that is actively being exploited becomes even more valuable. KEV intelligence gives your team that distinction today, helping you prioritize remediation as the pace of vulnerability discovery accelerates.
Enterprise customers and compliance frameworks increasingly expect risk-based prioritization, not just patch compliance. KEV intelligence is one of the clearest signals available for meeting that standard and demonstrating that your security program is focused on real-world risk.
Available now
CISA KEV intelligence is available now in NinjaOne Vulnerability Management. If you’re already a NinjaOne customer, KEV intelligence is live in your Vulnerability Management dashboard today. If you haven’t tried NinjaOne Vulnerability Management yet, now is a good time to start.
