The terms Potential Vulnerabilities and Confirmed Vulnerabilities refer to how certain the scanner is that a vulnerability exists on a given host, based on the type of checks performed.
✅ Confirmed Vulnerabilities
Definition: | Vulnerabilities that Qualys has verified with direct evidence. |
How Detected: | The scanner was able to actively probe the system, get a response, and match it to a known vulnerability signature. |
Example: | If a scanner logs into a host and sees an unpatched version of OpenSSL with a known CVE, it flags that as confirmed. |
Confidence Level: | High — you can trust these are real vulnerabilities. |
Remediation Priority: | Should be remediated quickly, especially if severity is high. |
⚠️ Potential Vulnerabilities
Definition: | Vulnerabilities that may exist but haven’t been confirmed definitively. |
How Detected: | The scanner identified clues (like a version number or banner) suggesting a vulnerability might be present but couldn’t verify it fully. |
Example: | If a web server shows its running Apache 2.4.49 (which has a known vulnerability), but the scanner can't probe deeply enough to confirm the flaw is exploitable (due to lack of auth or restricted probing), it flags it as potential. |
Confidence Level: | Medium or low — these may be false positives. |
Remediation Priority: | Requires manual verification; patching is still recommended if feasible. |
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