Pierluigi Paganini April 16, 2025

MITRE’s U.S.-funded CVE program, a core cybersecurity tool for tracking vulnerabilities, faces funding expiry Wednesday, risking disruption to global security.

U.S. government funding for MITRE ’s CVE program, a key global cybersecurity resource for cataloging vulnerabilities, is set to expire Wednesday, risking disruption. The 25-year-old program has assigned over 274,000 CVE IDs for public security vulnerabilities.

The CVE program is supported by a network of CVE Numbering Authorities (CNAs), which include major technology companies, research organizations, and government agencies. These CNAs are authorized to assign CVE IDs to vulnerabilities discovered in their respective domains, ensuring timely and accurate documentation of security issues.

Yosryy Barsoum, MITRE’s vice president and director of the Center for Securing the Homeland (CSH), announced that MITRE’s funding to run and improve the CVE and CWE programs is set to expire. Barsoum warned that a service disruption could impact vulnerability databases, tools, incident response, and critical infrastructure.

Below is the letter sent by Barsoum to the CVE Board Members:

Dear CVE Board Member,

We want to make you aware of an important potential issue with MITRE’s enduring support to CVE.

On Wednesday, April 16, 2025, the current contracting pathway for MITRE to develop, operate, and modernize CVE and several other related programs, such as CWE, will expire. The government continues to make considerable efforts to continue MITRE’s role in support of the program.

If a break in service were to occur, we anticipate multiple impacts to CVE, including deterioration of national vulnerability databases and advisories, tool vendors, incident response operations, and all manner of critical infrastructure.

MITRE continues to be committed to CVE as a global resource. We thank you as a member of the CVE Board for your continued partnership.

Barsoum said the government is working to support MITRE, and MITRE remains committed to keeping CVE a vital global cybersecurity resource.

Halting the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) project would affect secure coding practices and risk assessments.

However the happy ending, CISA extended MITRE’s CVE program contract just before its expiration, ensuring uninterrupted vulnerability tracking for at least another 11 months.

“The CVE Program is invaluable to cyber community and a priority of CISA,” the U.S. cybersecurity agency told media [1, 2]. “Last night, CISA executed the option period on the contract to ensure there will be no lapse in critical CVE services. We appreciate our partners’ and stakeholders’ patience.”

The CVE Foundation was also launched to promote the program’s independence.

“The formation of the CVE Foundation marks a major step toward eliminating a single point of failure in the vulnerability management ecosystem and ensuring the CVE Program remains a globally trusted, community-driven initiative,” said the CVE Foundation.

“For the international cybersecurity community, this move represents an opportunity to establish governance that reflects the global nature of today’s threat landscape.”

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, MITRE)