Vulnerability mapping is the process of identifying and analyzing the critical security flaws in a target environment. This terminology is sometimes known as vulnerability assessment. It is one of the key areas of a vulnerability management program through which the security controls of an IT infrastructure can be analyzed against known vulnerabilities. Once the operations of information gathering, discovery, and enumeration are complete, it is time to investigate the vulnerabilities that might exist in the target infrastructure, which could lead to compromising the target and violating the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of a business system.

In this chapter, we will discuss two common types of vulnerabilities, present various standards for the classification of vulnerabilities, and explain some of the well-known vulnerability assessment tools provided by the Kali Linux operating system. This chapter constitutes the following topics: