The New NIST LEV Metric: What You Need To Know
Barracuda Networks, June 25,2025
Rising vulnerability reports and an increasing backlog of critical vulnerabilities and exposures (CVE) conspire to put companies at risk. The new NIST Likely Exploited Vulnerabilities (LEV) metric can help. Here's how.
NIST's CVE program tracks both historic and emerging vulnerabilities to help businesses reduce their cybersecurity risk. According to a recent NIST update, however, the agency is falling behind in processing and classifying new CVEs. In part, this backlog stems from increased reporting volumes. In 2024, CVE submissions rose 32%, and NIST says that "the rate of submissions will continue to increase in 2025."