Exception Management in Application Vulnerability Response

When your organization can't comply with a published vulnerability management or security policy, standard, or guideline, you can request an exception. Exception management entails requesting, reviewing, approving, or rejecting exceptions to an application vulnerable item (AVI) that cannot be remediated according to the policy.

Some vulnerabilities might not have an existing patch, fix, or solution. When an exception is approved, it also means that you're accepting a risk because you're acknowledging and agreeing to the consequences of not remediating the vulnerability.

Note:

Starting from v21.0 of Application Vulnerability Response, you can configure the time frames for approving false positives and exceptions, along with email notifications for both the approver and requester after a set number of days. When a request is raised, the application vulnerable item changes to In-Review status and a state change record is created. If the approver doesn't respond within the configured time frame, the application vulnerable item or remediation task reverts to Open status. The previous state is stored in the backup_state field. For more information, see Configure approval rules for Exception Management.

Life cycle of an exception

Definition of an exception

An exception is a request to defer the remediation of an AVI for a specified period. For example, as a developer, you can request an exception if a patch is not available for a machine.

Requesting an exception

As the developer, you can ask for an exemption for an AVI using the exception management process. After the application security analyst approves this request, the AVI moves to Deferred state.

Exception rules

Starting with v20, you can create exception rules to automatically defer existing and new application vulnerable items (AVI)s for a specific period if they match the conditions of the rule. Using exception rules to automatically defer AVIs minimizes the risk of missing service level agreements. The rules can help you manage multiple items, because you are eliminating manual intervention. See Create an Exception rule.

Requesting an extension for an exception rule

Starting with v20, you can submit a request for an extension to the Deferred until date of an exception rule. You might request an extension to a rule if you find that a large number of records created by the rule are not being resolved by its Deferred until date, the date when the remediation task stops accepting new AVIs. The extension updates the exception rule so it automatically extends the deferral date on your existing rule. You can enter dates up to one year from the current date, and you must include a reason for the extension. An extension request requires two-level approval from separate approval groups.

Approving an exception request

AVIs that can't be remediated immediately are reviewed by application security analysts, assessed for risk, and approved for deferral until they can be remediated. Approving an exception request can be a two-level flow. If only the first-level approver is present, the exception can be requested and approved. However, if there's no first-level approver, an exception can't be requested. See Add an exception approver for Application Vulnerability Response for more information.

Note:

After an exception request for an AVI is approved, you can perform the following actions:

• Reopen
• Get more details

Tracking an exception request

After raising the exception, you can track its status by using the State Change Approvals tab of the AVI.

Expiry of an exception request and requesting an extension to an exception rule

When an exception request for a particular AVI expires, the impacted AVI reverts to its Open state.

However, starting with v20, you can submit a request to extend the Deferred until date on the exception rule.

• Configure Exception Management for Application Vulnerability Response
  Limit the duration of an exception requested and add a questionnaire to the exception or false positive request using the module. By default, an exception is requested using the ServiceNow® Application Vulnerability Response module. You can also request an exception using the GRC: Policy and Compliance Management integration.
• Configure approval rules for Exception Management
  Starting with Application Vulnerability Response v15.0, use the flow designer to approve exception requests for exception management, exception rules, and false positive management. If you are deploying Application Vulnerability Response (AVR) for the first time, the flow designer is enabled by default.
• Deferring remediation in Application Vulnerability Response
  Starting with v20.0, you can defer remediation with the Awaiting Implementation state that is available for application vulnerable items (AVI)s and remediation tasks as they move through their life cycles. You can only transition records to this state manually by selecting Awaiting Implementation from AVI and remediation task records in the Under Investigation state.
• Add an exception approver for Application Vulnerability Response
  Add users to the approver groups so that you can request an exception.
• Requesting and approving an exception in Application Vulnerability Response
  You can request to defer the remediation of an application vulnerable item and a remediation task for a specified period.
• Create, delete, and cancel an exception rule for Application Vulnerability Response
  Create a rule to request an exception automatically for application vulnerable items (AVI)s that meet specific conditions.