Software vulnerabilities overview: A descriptive study

Abstract

Computer security is a matter of great interest. In the last decade there have been numerous cases of cybercrime based on the exploitation of software vulnerabilities. This fact has generated a great social concern and a greater importance of computer security as a discipline. In this work, the most important vulnerabilities of recent years are identified, classified, and categorized individually. A measure of the impact of each vulnerability is used to carry out this classification, considering the number of products affected by each vulnerability, as well as its severity. In addition, the categories of vulnerabilities that have the greatest presence are identified. Based on the results obtained in this study, we can understand the consequences of the most common vulnerabilities, which software products are affected, how to counteract these vulnerabilities, and what their current trend is.