How Threat Intelligence Enhances Vulnerability Management: Use Cases and Benefits
June 30, 2025
Every day, an average of 133 new vulnerabilities are discovered, according to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD). Alarmingly, over 60% of breaches exploit known vulnerabilities that were left unpatched. This proves that relying solely on periodic scans or CVSS scores is not enough to stay secure. To build a truly resilient vulnerability management program, you need real-time visibility into the evolving threat landscape.
That is where threat intelligence comes in. By integrating threat intelligence into your vulnerability management workflows, you gain early awareness of emerging vulnerabilities, better context around real-world exploits, and improved detection and response capabilities.
What is Threat Intelligence in the Context of Vulnerability Management?
At its core, threat intelligence is curated, real-time information about known and emerging cyber threats. This includes:
- Indicators of compromise (IOCs)– IOCs are the forensic breadcrumbs that indicate a system, or network may have been compromised. These are concrete pieces of data that can help detect malicious activity early.
- Tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs)- TTPs describe how threat actors operate. This includes their overarching tactics (objectives), the techniques they use to achieve those goals, and the specific procedures they follow in real attacks.
- Actively Exploited Vulnerabilities– These are known vulnerabilities that are currently being used in real-world attacks by threat actors. Unlike theoretical flaws, they pose immediate risk and must be prioritized for remediation to prevent active compromise.
- Threat actor behaviour patterns– Threat actors whether cybercriminals, hacktivists, or state-sponsored groups often leave behind behavioural footprints.
When combined with vulnerability data, threat intelligence helps security teams understand:
- Which assets are most at risk– Threat intelligence helps map vulnerabilities to specific business-critical assets, especially those that are internet-facing, misconfigured, or part of legacy systems.
- What threat actors are targeting your specific industry or tech stack– Threat intelligence provides visibility into adversary tactics tailored to your sector, such as ransomware groups targeting healthcare or financial institutions, or nation-state actors exploiting vulnerabilities in specific technologies (e.g., VPNs, APIs, or cloud platforms).
Use Cases: How Threat Intelligence Powers Vulnerability Management
1. Early Alerts on New Vulnerabilities
Threat intelligence provides early visibility into newly disclosed vulnerabilities often before they are widely reported or patched. These alerts may stem from dark web monitoring, zero-day trackers, and exploit marketplaces, helping teams act before attacker’s strike. This allows for proactive patch planning, temporary mitigations, or virtual patching on WAAP.
For example, when CVE-2024-4577, a critical RCE vulnerability in PHP-CGI on Windows, was disclosed in June 2024, threat intelligence feeds quickly identified active exploitation in the wild. Organizations that received early alerts were able to implement virtual patching and other mitigations promptly, reducing their exposure before the exploit became widespread.
2. Detection of Exploits in the Wild
A key use case of integrating threat intelligence into vulnerability management is the ability to detect when vulnerabilities (old or new) are actively exploited in the wild. Threat intel feeds provide real-time insights into vulnerabilities leveraged in malware campaigns, exploit kits, or dark web discussions, often before they appear in public databases.
For example, CVE-2017-12637, a directory traversal vulnerability in SAP NetWeaver originally disclosed and patched in 2017, has seen a resurgence in exploitation attempts in 2025. Attackers are targeting unpatched or misconfigured systems, proving that even years-old vulnerabilities can re-emerge as active threats.
Organizations using threat intelligence can identify such renewed exploitation patterns early and prioritize patching or mitigation efforts, preventing attackers from taking advantage of forgotten or neglected vulnerabilities.
Learn more about how AppTrana provides threat coverage for CVE-2017-12637
3. Mapping Vulnerabilities to Exploitation Campaigns
Beyond identifying exploits, threat intelligence associates vulnerabilities with specific attacker campaigns, highlighting patterns, payloads, and objectives. This alignment supports strategic defence planning.
For example, SAP’s CVE-20253-1324 in NetWeaver Visual Composer was confirmed exploited by Chinese APT groups, commonly deploying web shells via file upload. Mapping the CVE to these campaigns enabled faster detection and targeted countermeasures.
4. Faster Response to Zero-Day and High-Impact Flaws
Zero-day vulnerabilitiesare especially dangerous because they are exploited before a fix is available. Integrating threat intelligence into vulnerability management helps security teams detect early indicators of zero-day exploitation, prioritize response efforts, and coordinate mitigation strategies even before official fixes are released.
For instance, a recent remote code execution (RCE) zero-day vulnerability discovered in CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System) exposed numerous Linux systems to potential compromise. Attackers began exploiting this flaw in the wild to execute arbitrary code and gain control of vulnerable servers. Organizations with access to timely threat intelligence feeds were able to spot active exploitation attempts, implement instant workarounds, and reduce exposure while waiting for vendor patches.
In many cases, virtual patching by applying security rules at the web application firewall (WAF) or security gateway level can serve as an immediate defense mechanism for zero-days.
5. Integrating with Vulnerability Scanners for Enhanced Coverage
When intelligence feeds are integrated into scanners like Indusface WAS, vulnerability detection becomes smarter-surfacing threats based on real-time exploit data and known risk patterns while deprioritizing theoretical risks.
Benefit
You do not need to wait for the next full scan cycle. Your scanner can alert you when new, relevant CVEs appear, especially those affecting technologies or software stacks you use.
6. Supporting Threat Hunting and Forensics
Threat intelligence can aid in retrospective investigations by identifying when a newly disclosed vulnerability was present in your environment and whether any exploitation attempts occurred.
For example, after a major zero-day disclosure, your team can use IOCs and TTPs from threat intel reports to search historical logs and check for compromise indicators.
Benefits of Integrating Threat Intelligence with Vulnerability Management
| Benefit | How it Helps |
|---|---|
| Stay Ahead of New Vulnerabilities | Threat intelligence enables organizations to detect and assess newly disclosed vulnerabilities before they are widely known or weaponized. By surfacing timely, contextual information such as severity, affected assets, and exposure, security teams can prioritize and contain high-impact issues before attackers exploit them. |
| Faster Remediation | With timely insights into vulnerabilities being actively exploited, teams can act faster, reduce dwell time, and close security gaps, ensuring that critical threats are addressed before they escalate into incidents. |
| Better Visibility into Attack Trends | Continuous updates on attacker TTPs and campaign patterns help organizations understand which threats are most relevant to their sector. This context empowers teams to align defenses with actual risk, addressing the most pressing threats instead of reacting blindly. |
| Improved Detection | Integrating IOCs and threat behavior data across detection tools helps organizations catch high-impact threats that might otherwise bypass traditional scanning. This enhances the organization’s ability to detect attacks earlier, minimizing damage and improving containment. |
| Informed Threat Response | During active incidents, threat intelligence provides real-time clarity on attacker motives, tools, and entry points. This ensures that response efforts are focused, effective, and timely, allowing security teams to neutralize threats with precision and prevent recurrence. |
Threat Intelligence-Driven Vulnerability Management with AppTrana WAAP
Indusface enhances your vulnerability management strategy by integrating real-time threat intelligence into both detection and protection workflows. With continuous scanning through the inbuilt DAST scanner and comprehensive mitigation via AppTrana’s core and custom WAF rules, organizations are equipped to identify and block emerging threats, including zero-day vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. AppTrana provides complete coverage by detecting attack attempts in real time and virtually patching vulnerabilities even before official fixes are available.
To help you stay ahead of these threats, Indusface also offers a dedicated
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