Risk Mapping & Prioritization

Finding 500 vulnerabilities in a single scan is common, but fixing them all at once is impossible. SCA maturity involves moving from "finding everything" to "fixing what matters."

Reachability Analysis

The most advanced SCA tools perform Reachability Analysis. They look at your source code to see if the vulnerable function in a library is actually being called.
* Reachable: The vulnerable code path is active. This is a high-priority "Fix Now."
* Unreachable: The library is present, but the vulnerable code is never executed. This can be scheduled for a lower-priority update.

Modern Scoring: EPSS

Standard CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) scores reflect the severity of a flaw but not the probability of it being used in the wild. The EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) uses real-world data to estimate the likelihood that a specific CVE will be exploited in the next 30 days. Combining CVSS (Severity) with EPSS (Probability) allows teams to focus on the highest-risk items first.

Dependency Updates

Finally, SCA is about keeping software fresh. Old libraries accumulate "Technical Debt." A regular cadence of minor updates is significantly safer than waiting three years and trying to perform a massive, breaking major-version upgrade.