vulnerability (security) A bug or feature of a system that exposes it to possible attack, a flaw in the system's security.
A common example of a vulnerability due to a bug is buffer overrun, where carefully constructed input can allow an attacker to insert arbitrary code into a running program and have it executed. The most serious vulnerabilities are those in network software, especially if they exploit traffic that is allowed through the firewall like HTTP, for example exploiting a bug in a web browser. The Open Source Vulnerability Database lists many vulnerabilities. Last updated: 2007-12-02
