# Exploitability

## Exploitability

Given we found an issue with a CVE, we should first know if it is reachable (as seen above). But even when reachable, **what is the likelihood to be exploited?**

We’re continuously drowning in CVEs — including many high-severity CVEs — but **the majority aren’t actually exploitable**. This, of course, can make it difficult to prioritize vulnerabilities as well as to estimate remediation efforts.

CVEs provide a “metric” for such exploitability (based on CVSS). **CVSS** scores vulnerabilities based on their characteristics and potential impacts but **don't consider real-world threat data**. Conversely, **EPSS** forecasts rely on up-to-the-minute **risk intelligence** from the CVE repository and **empirical data** about **real-world system attacks**. 

While CVSS measures the inherent (theoretical) severity of vulnerabilities, EPSS predicts the likelihood of exploitation based on empirical data. <br>

<figure><img src="/files/39I6vBrquHgnIRBxIT5Z" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

In this context, although Xygeni scores the severity of a CVE issue based on CVSS, the **Exploitability criteria adds a more reliable criteria to the funnel**, thus filtering out those issues with low exploitability likelihood.

{% hint style="info" %}
***Exploitability*** should be considered as a main criteria for **vulnerability prioritization** (see [Prioritization Funnels](/introduction-to-xygeni/prioritization-funnels.md))
{% endhint %}

You can view the EPSS Score associated with a vulnerability in the Vulnerability Details section.

<figure><img src="/files/8beuBHrfVEhvBuGYbDTX" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>


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