Automated vulnerability management is a cybersecurity process that systematically identifies, assesses, prioritizes, and remediates security weaknesses across an organization's entire digital infrastructure. Central to modern security automation and DevSecOps methodologies, this approach embeds continuous vulnerability detection directly into development pipelines and operational workflows. Specialized tools automatically scan networks, cloud environments, container images, and source code for known flaws, misconfigurations, and compliance deviations, then contextualize findings to assign risk scores based on exploitability and potential impact.

The automation extends beyond detection to initiate response actions, including deploying patches, implementing configuration changes, or escalating critical issues to security teams. By streamlining these traditionally labor-intensive tasks, automated vulnerability management significantly reduces the mean time to detect and fix vulnerabilities, minimizing an organization's attack surface and exposure window. This continuous, proactive strategy enhances efficiency and scalability while freeing security personnel to focus on advanced threat intelligence and strategic defense initiatives.