We Speak CVE

In this episode of the “We Speak CVE” podcast, MITRE’s CVE and CWE Project Lead Alec Summers chats with Yves Younan of Cisco, Alex Kreilein of Qualys, Pedro Sampaio of Red Hat, and Anthony Singleton of the MITRE Top-Level Root, about the CVE Record dispute process.
Topics include how the dispute policy came to exist and the two types of CVE Record disputes; a walk-through of the process for disputing a CVE Record, including what steps to take and what to expect; why some disputes persist indefinitely; whether all CVE Record disputes need to be resolved; why some disputes remaining visible to the downstream consumer is healthy; an overview of how the CVE Record Dispute Policy was created and how it continues to updated over time; how the CVE Program continuously seeks community input on the dispute process; and more.
Resources mentioned in the podcast include:
CVE Record Disputes Explained blog
CVE Program Dispute Policy (PDF)
Dispute Policy Feedback survey form
CVE Record Disputes panel discussion at VulnCon 2026

“We Speak CVE” podcast host Shannon Sabens chats with CVE Consumer Working Group (CWG) co-chairs, Jay Jacobs and Bob Lord, and CVE™ Project Lead Alec Summers, about how the CWG was created to address the needs and perspectives of those who use CVE data — ranging from enterprise security teams to tool developers and managed security service providers — recognizing that their requirements and pain points often differ from those of upstream data providers.

Topics include the CWG’s goals to systematically capture and organize consumer feedback, identify common and unique challenges across different user types, and inform improvements in the CVE Program; the diversity and international participation among sign-ups, including organizations outside the usual sphere, such as medical companies; and the concept of “patch smarter, not harder,” stressing the importance of prioritization and high-quality data to help defenders manage the overwhelming volume of vulnerabilities. In addition, listeners are encouraged to join the CWG for meetings scheduled to accommodate global involvement and help participate in shaping the future of CVE.

“We Speak CVE” podcast host Shannon Sabens chats with CVE™/CWE™ Project Lead Alec Summers and CWE Top 25 task lead/CWE Root Causes Mapping Working Group lead Connor Mullaly about the importance of mapping CVE Records (vulnerabilities) to their technical root causes using Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE). 
Additional topics include the benefits of RCM for CVE Numbering Authorities (CNAs) and consumers of CVE data, Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) and other vulnerability metadata and their differences with CWE, the CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses list, and the tools and guidance available to improve the RCM process (e.g., examples of mappings and best practices on the CWE website, mapping usage labels on CWE entry pages on the website, the RCM WG, and an LLM tool), and more.

Host Shannon Sabens speaks with fellow CVE Board members Kent Landfield and Madison Oliver and CVE Program Lead Alec Summers about the 25th anniversary of the CVE Program. Topics include the history of the program, the program today, and what’s next.

Shannon Sabens of CrowdStrike chats with Dave Morse, program coordination lead for the CVE Program, about the myths and facts of the CVE Numbering Authority (CNA) partner onboarding process.

Truth and facts about the following topics are discussed: duration and complexity of the onboarding process; the fact that there is no fee to participate; ease of incorporating assigning CVE Identifiers (CVE IDs) and publishing CVE Records into an organization’s existing coordinated vulnerability disclosure (CVD) processes; availability of automated tools for CNAs; the CVE JSON Record format and available guidance; role of Roots and Top-Level Roots and how they help CNAs; importance of CNAs determining their own scopes; disclosure policies; the community aspect of being a CNA and the availability of peer support; the value of CNAs participating in one or more CVE Working Groups, especially the CNA Organization of Peers (COOP); and much more!