While the total number of recorded Microsoft vulnerabilities was higher in 2022 than ever before, the number of critical vulnerabilities declined to its lowest point, according to the latest Microsoft Vulnerability Report by BeyondTrust, released Tuesday.
In 2022, only 6.9% of Microsoft’s vulnerabilities were rated as critical — less than half the number of critical vulnerabilities recorded in 2020. In 2013, 44% of all Microsoft vulnerabilities were classified as critical.
Vulnerabilities categorized as critical are those with characteristics that make their exploitation a potentially high-impact security event.
“This trend indicates that, while overall vulnerabilities have increased in number, the risks and worst-case scenarios associated with these individual vulnerabilities have decreased from previous years,” BeyondTrust said.