CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) is a U.S. government agency. It is responsible for protecting the United States' critical infrastructure from cyber and physical threats by providing support, tools, and recommendations to government agencies, businesses, and the public.
In the field of cybersecurity, CISA acts as a coordination center to prevent cyberattacks, respond to incidents, share threat information, and promote security best practices. Although American, its role and resources influence cybersecurity practices globally due to its transparency and leadership.
A CVE is simply a public declaration that a flaw exists in a given product, while an exploited vulnerability means that an attacker is actively using this flaw to compromise systems. In other words, not all CVEs are exploited in real-world conditions: some may remain theoretical or technical.
Conversely, a vulnerability can be exploited without yet having received a CVE - this is what is called a zero-day. To assess the real danger of a CVE, it is necessary to consult additional information such as the CISA's KEV data or the EPSS score, which indicate whether the flaw is actively used in cyberattacks. This information is available directly from our website CVE Find.
The KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities) list published by CISA identifies vulnerabilities that are actively exploited in the wild, meaning they are already being used in real-world cyberattacks. The purpose of this list is to help organizations prioritize their remediation efforts by focusing on vulnerabilities that pose an immediate threat.
By publishing this list, CISA provides a very practical risk management tool: it identifies not only known vulnerabilities, but also the most critical and urgent ones. For U.S. federal agencies, patching these vulnerabilities is mandatory within strict deadlines. But beyond the United States, the KEV is widely consulted by cybersecurity professionals worldwide to guide their patch management strategy.