CVSS gives you the number, but context gives you the danger: It’s how vulnerabilities spread through trusted systems that really matters.

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CVSS scores provide a baseline for vulnerability severity but fail to capture the full risk picture. The unified linkage model (ULM) offers a complementary approach by examining how vulnerabilities propagate through system relationships—adjacency, inheritance, and trust. Real-world incidents like Log4Shell demonstrate that a vulnerability's danger stems not just from its technical severity, but from its position in interconnected systems. Organizations should map system dependencies and prioritize vulnerabilities based on their potential to spread through trusted pipelines, shared components, and downstream systems rather than relying solely on CVSS numbers.

Vulnerability prioritization beyond the CVSS number