Change management for Vulnerability Response
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Summary of Change management for Vulnerability Response
The Vulnerability Response application in ServiceNow enables IT remediation owners to create and manage change requests (CHG) directly from remediation tasks (RT). This integration facilitates the initiation and tracking of change activities necessary to remediate vulnerabilities in configuration items (CIs) managed within the CMDB. Change management is a critical component of the remediation process, supporting controlled and documented modifications to assets to reduce risks effectively.
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When to Use Change Requests in Vulnerability Response
Change requests should be used when a manual and controlled process is required to modify or remove vulnerable configuration items. Examples include applying software patches, reassigning vulnerable items for further investigation, splitting remediation tasks for better management, or associating remediation tasks with existing change requests to avoid duplication. Using change requests directly from remediation tasks streamlines investigation and resolution, allowing verification during subsequent vulnerability scans.
Types of Change Requests and Their Use
The application supports three change request types aligned with ITSM Change Management on the ServiceNow AI Platform: standard, emergency, and normal. Each type follows a specific state model and process. Key details such as reason, priority, risk, change type, and category are recorded within each change request.
As an IT remediation owner, you can:
- Create change requests pre-populated with remediation task information, saving time and ensuring accuracy.
- Associate remediation tasks to existing change requests to prevent duplication.
- Filter and split vulnerable items within remediation tasks based on customizable criteria, automatically moving selected items to new remediation tasks for targeted change management.
Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers
This capability allows customers to integrate vulnerability remediation tightly with formal change management processes, ensuring controlled, auditable, and efficient resolution of vulnerabilities. It supports compliance, risk reduction, and improved coordination across IT teams. Automated synchronization between change requests and remediation tasks maintains consistent state tracking throughout the remediation lifecycle.
As an IT remediation owner, you can create and manage change requests (CHG) directly from remediation tasks (RT) in the Vulnerability Response application. Change requests help you initiate and track change activities on your assets so that you can remediate your remediation tasks and their corresponding vulnerable items.
Change requests and the vulnerability workflow
If you are not familiar with the Vulnerability Response application, for more information see Exploring the Vulnerability Response application.
The following image illustrates the flow of information for Vulnerability Response, from integration (scanner) set up through automated triage and into investigation.
Change requests and change management are part of the remediation process (Assess/Fix state) in the Vulnerability Response workflow shown in the following figure. During this phase, you might use change requests to initiate and track the remediation of vulnerabilities. You can create and manage change requests directly from the remediation task and list investigation and remediation tasks that include solutions for impacted assets for the configuration items (CI) in your CMDB.
When to use change requests in vulnerability response
As an IT remediation owner, you might create change requests from a remediation task if a manual and controlled process of any kind is required for modification or removal of supported configuration items (CIs) in your CMDB. Creating and managing change requests directly from a remediation task record helps you investigate and resolve vulnerabilities quickly. The VIs of a resolved remediation tasks can be scanned and verified during the next scheduled scan in your ServiceNow AI Platform and returned to the automated triage of the Vulnerability Response workflow. Manual interventions that might require change requests include the following examples:
- A software patch, fix, or other task by IT that is required on vulnerable items prior to RT resolution.
- You determine a subset of the vulnerable items in a remediation task requires further investigation or reassignment to another department.
- You determine that a subset of vulnerable items in a RT with a large set of vulnerable items can be moved into a new remediation task.
- You might associate a remediation task to an existing change request to avoid duplication of remediation tasks.
Types of change requests for an RT
The Vulnerability Response application utilizes the three types of service changes supported by the ITSM Change Management product on your ServiceNow AI Platform® instance — standard, emergency, and normal. The type of change you select determines which state model is invoked and the change process that must be followed. Change requests record the detailed information about the change, such as the reason of the change, the priority, the risk, the type of change, and the change category. See Change types.
- You can create change requests that contain pre-populated information from the remediation task to streamline the process and save time.
- You can associate a remediation task to an existing change request to avoid creating duplicate change requests that share similar information and vulnerable items.
- Using a set of conditions, you can filter out a subset of vulnerable items and split a remediation task. The items that you select are automatically moved to a new RT.
You can filter vulnerable items using values from any fields from a remediation task and apply the change request to only those items that match your filter criteria.