A new cornerstone for European cyber resilience: Inside ENISA's EUVD

In a significant move to bolster the European Union's digital defenses, the EU Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) officially launched the European Vulnerability Database (EUVD) some time ago. This new platform promises to go well beyond being just another list of vulnerabilities. Instead, it has the potential to become a strategic pillar of the EU's comprehensive cybersecurity strategy, designed to enhance transparency, counter measures, coordination, and resilience across all 27 member states.

In today blog, we unravel EUVD and the benefits it offers especially for critical sectors. We also take a peek at its crucial alignment with NIS2, MITRE, and how it can address the growing challenge of Operational Technology (OT) security.

Before we dive in, do not forget to read our previous blog on how Extended recovery times are driving up the overall cost of cyberattacks.

What is the European Vulnerability Database (EUVD)?

To put in simple terms, the EUVD is a centralized, reliable, and actionable database of publicly known cybersecurity vulnerabilities that are affecting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products and services used within the EU. By extension, this database can be used by any ICT user anywhere.

Launched in May 2025, the EUVD is maintained by ENISA and serves as a trusted source of information on vulnerabilities. It goes beyond just listing a vulnerability as an isolated line item by providing the much-needed context and background, including:

• Impacted products and services

• Severity of the vulnerability

• Available mitigation measures and patches

• Known state of exploitation (is this being actively used by attackers?)

The database combines information from a wide range of sources, including vendors, national CSIRTs (Computer Security Incident Response Teams), and other existing databases, to provide a single, enriched view relevant to the European market.

In order to ensure holistic resilience for ICT users and the wider ecosystem, the EUVD offers better analysis while facilitating the correlation of vulnerabilities through the open-source software Vulnerability-Lookup. This enables informed and enhanced cybersecurity risk management. (You can access the Vulnerability Look up here)

Using the EUVD

The aggregated information contained in the database is presented through various dashboards. The EUVD essentially offers three types of dashboard views viz., for critical vulnerabilities, for exploited ones, and the last one is for EU coordinated ones. The EU Coordinated Vulnerabilities database lists out the vulnerabilities that are coordinated by European CSIRTs and includes the members of the EU CSIRTs network.

The vulnerability information that is collected and referenced is derived from open-source databases. Supporting/additional information is appended through advisories, contributions and alerts issued by the national CSIRTs, remediation and patching advisories published by vendors, along with exploited vulnerability markings.  

Key benefits: Why the EUVD is a game-changer

The EUVD has come at the right time. As a fundamental resilience enabler, it bears the potential to turn into a practical tool with tangible benefits for organizations, researchers, governments, and the entire cybersecurity ecosystem.

Few things I could think of as benefits:

• Enhanced situational awareness: By centralizing and vetting vulnerability information, the EUVD provides a clear, single-pane-of-glass view of the threats that matter most to European entities.

• Faster, smarter Risk Management: Organizations can use the EUVD's reliable data to prioritize patching and mitigation efforts. Knowing that a vulnerability is being actively exploited (a key data point in the EUVD) rockets it to the top of any "to-do" list.

• Support for compliance: The EUVD is a powerful enabler for meeting the stringent requirements of new EU legislation. This brings us to its most important alignment.

• Strengthened EU digital sovereignty and self reliance: It reduces the EU's reliance on vulnerability databases maintained by other nations, thereby providing a resource that is directly aligned with European policy and priorities.

Alignment with NIS2, MITRE, and the Cyber Resilience Act

The EUVD doesn't exist in a vacuum. It's a critical component designed to work seamlessly with the EU's landmark cybersecurity legislation and existing global standards.

The NIS2 Directive

The EUVD is a direct product of the NIS2 Directive. The directive mandates that essential and important entities across 18 critical sectors (like energy, transport, health, and digital infrastructure) take appropriate measures to manage cybersecurity risks, including vulnerability handling and disclosure.

The EUVD is the official tool ENISA has provided to help these entities fulfill that legal obligation. It gives them a trusted, authoritative source to identify the vulnerabilities they must address to comply with NIS2.

The Cyber Resilience Act (CRA)

The EUVD will also be a key resource for implementing the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). The CRA focuses on "security-by-design" for products with digital elements (from smart TVs to industrial controllers). When a vulnerability is found, manufacturers will have a legal duty to report it. The EUVD will serve as a central registry for this information, ensuring transparency across the entire EU market.

MITRE's CVE Program

The EUVD is not a replacement for MITRE's CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) system. Instead, it is a partner, enabler and an accelerator. This is a crucial point to understand.

• It's Complementary: The EUVD aggregates data from many sources, including the global CVE list.

• ENISA is a CNA: ENISA itself has been designated as a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA). This means it can officially assign CVE IDs to new vulnerabilities discovered in Europe, feeding them into the global system.

• Enriched Data: The EUVD adds its own EUVD-ID to vulnerabilities, which allows it to provide additional, EU-specific context (like NIS2 applicability) and cross-reference it with the corresponding CVE-ID.

The "OT Flavor": Why the EUVD Matters for Critical Infrastructure operators

Here's where it gets particularly interesting for the industrial world. The EUVD's mandate explicitly includes vulnerabilities in IT, IoT, and Operational Technology (OT) products.

This is a massive step forward. For years, vulnerabilities in industrial control systems (ICS), programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and other OT-specific hardware and software were under-reported or difficult to track.

By officially including OT in its scope, the EUVD provides a massive benefit to the exact sectors NIS2 is designed to protect (energy, water, transport, manufacturing).

For instance: An energy provider can now query a single, trusted, updated and available, EU-backed database to see if a vulnerability has been disclosed for their specific brand of industrial switch or SCADA software. They can see its exploitation status and find mitigation guidance, all within the same framework they use to manage their IT vulnerabilities.

This bridges the infamous IT/OT gap at a policy level and gives industrial security teams the authoritative data they need to defend their critical processes.

The EUVD is a clear and necessary step in maturing Europe's collective defense by addressing some crucial gaps. It is also a practical tool, a legal enabler, and a strategic asset that will shape cybersecurity management in the EU for years to come.

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