vulnerability
n 1: the state of being vulnerable or exposed; "his
vulnerability to litigation"; "his exposure to ridicule"
[syn: {vulnerability}, {exposure}]
2: susceptibility to injury or attack [ant: {invulnerability}]
Vulnerability \Vul`ner*a*bil"i*ty\, n.
The quality or state of being vulnerable; vulnerableness.
[1913 Webster]
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.
(2007-12-02)
53 Moby Thesaurus words for "vulnerability": ad lib, assailability, breakability, breakableness, brittleness, chink, crackability, crackableness, crispness, crumbliness, crushability, crushableness, delicacy, disqualification, exposure, extemporaneousness, fissility, flimsiness, fracturableness, fragility, frailty, frangibility, friability, heel of Achilles, improvisation, incapability, incompetence, lacerability, lack of preparation, liability, nonpreparation, nonpreparedness, openness, penetrability, planlessness, pregnability, soft spot, susceptibility, susceptivity, unfitness, unfittedness, unpreparedness, unqualification, unqualifiedness, unreadiness, unsuitability, unsuitableness, unsuitedness, vincibility, vulnerable point, weak link, weak point, weakness