Life After CVE: Is Cybersecurity Ready?

On April 16, 2025, the cybersecurity world held its breath as news spread of a critical flaw in widely used security software, only to find no official CVE identifier available to manage the crisis. The unthinkable was about to happen. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) program, the crucial backbone for tracking computer vulnerabilities, was mere hours from shutdown. MITRE, the organization behind CVE, revealed a grim truth: U.S. government funding was expiring without renewal. Instantly, defenders around the globe felt chills run down their spines. What if the main system we rely on to identify security threats suddenly went silent?

CVE: Cybersecurity’s Universal Translator

CVE is like the universal translator of cybersecurity, a standardized catalog that gives each publicly disclosed vulnerability a unique identifier. Former CISA Director Jen Easterly likened CVE to “the Dewey Decimal System for cybersecurity,” creating clarity and order in a once chaotic landscape (Easterly, 2025). Before CVE’s creation in 1999, security announcements were fragmented, inconsistent, and confusing.

Today, CVE is vital. Just last year, it cataloged over 40,000 new vulnerabilities, becoming an essential lifeline for global cybersecurity (Moussouris, 2025). Losing it would thrust the industry back into confusion, severely disrupting incident response, patch management, and risk mitigation.

The Day Cybersecurity Almost Stopped Breathing

April 2025 marked a pivotal crisis due to a lapse in government funding. Historically, CVE was financially supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Amidst bureaucratic delays and federal cost-cutting, MITRE announced CVE’s imminent closure, stating bluntly that “funding to develop, operate, and modernize CVE will expire” (Barsoum, 2025).

Panic spread rapidly. MITRE’s Yosry Barsoum warned the community that the fallout would be widespread: security databases would degrade, advisories would halt, and critical infrastructures would face increased risk.

Panic in the Cyberverse: Community Reactions

The cybersecurity community erupted with alarm. Researcher John Hammond compared losing CVE to “losing the language we use to address cybersecurity problems” (Hammond, 2025). The idea of a world without CVE brought widespread dread, with security leaders fearing chaos and increased vulnerability exploitation (Wilmot, 2025).

Quickly, the industry sprang into action, with some companies immediately reserving thousands of CVE identifiers to ensure continuity in reporting new vulnerabilities. Temporary solutions emerged, such as organizations preemptively reserving CVE identifiers. However, this emergency highlighted a troubling truth: cybersecurity was dangerously reliant on a single, fragile system.

Hope on the Horizon: The CVE Foundation and Decentralization

Recognizing the urgent need for stability, the CVE Foundation will operate with diversified funding sources and an international governance structure, while GCVE aims to decentralize authority, significantly reducing the risk of similar future crises. stakeholders swiftly created the CVE Foundation. Its mission? To establish a stable, community-driven funding model independent from single government control (Landfield, 2025). Alongside this, new decentralized initiatives like the Global CVE Allocation System (GCVE), proposed by Luxembourg’s CIRCL, aim to ensure continuity even without central authority.

Imagining the Chaos: If CVE Really Failed

If CVE had truly vanished, the immediate consequences would have been severe. Security teams would lose their key reference system, slowing response dramatically. Cybersecurity tools and automated systems would fragment, causing vulnerability management to falter. Cyber threats would exploit the confusion, leading to increased breaches and widespread risk.

Charting a Resilient Future: A Call to Action

The near-collapse of CVE serves as a powerful wake-up call. It demonstrates the critical need for resilience through diversified funding, international collaboration, and decentralized management.

The cybersecurity community must unite to ensure the robustness of vulnerability management infrastructure. The emergence of the CVE Foundation and decentralized alternatives like GCVE are promising. However, broader participation from governments, industry leaders, and cybersecurity experts is essential.

The Time for Action is Now

The CVE crisis wasn’t just a wake-up call; it was the sounding of an urgent alarm in the heart of cybersecurity. Imagine a future without coordinated vulnerability management,a digital world plunged into darkness, uncertainty, and constant threat. We have the power to shape a different future. Let’s join forces now, strengthening our defenses through collaboration, innovation, and commitment. Together, we can ensure that our cybersecurity foundations remain robust, resilient, and ready for whatever challenges lie ahead.

References

• Barsoum, Y. (2025). MITRE Internal Communication. MITRE.
• Easterly, J. (2025). Statement on CVE Funding Crisis. Former Director, CISA.
• Hammond, J. (2025). Public commentary. Huntress Labs.
• Landfield, K. (2025). Launch of the CVE Foundation. CVE Foundation Press Release.
• Moussouris, K. (2025). Interview with The Register. Cybersecurity Expert.
• Wilmot, F. (2025). Industry statement on CVE shutdown. Security Industry Response.