# Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS)

A standardized scale from 0 to 10 used to rate how severe a software security vulnerability is.

The **Common Vulnerability[↗](/vulnerability) Scoring System (CVSS)** is an open, industry-standard framework for rating the severity of a software vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10, with 10 being the most critical. The score is calculated from factors like how easy the flaw is to exploit[↗](/exploit), whether an attacker needs special access, and what impact a successful exploit would have on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Security teams rely on CVSS scores to prioritize which vulnerabilities to patch[↗](/patch) first, since organizations rarely have time to fix everything at once. A CVSS score above 9, for example, typically signals a flaw that can be exploited remotely with little effort and deserves urgent attention.