No-Code EPSS-Powered Vulnerability Management in Budibase: A revWhiteShadow Implementation #

In the dynamic landscape of cybersecurity, effective vulnerability management is paramount. The sheer volume of identified vulnerabilities, coupled with limited resources, necessitates a prioritized approach to remediation. This is where the Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS) emerges as a critical tool. EPSS provides a forward-looking metric, estimating the likelihood of a vulnerability being exploited in the wild. However, integrating such advanced metrics into existing workflows can be a significant challenge, often requiring extensive development effort or expensive, specialized platforms.

At revWhiteShadow, our personal blog site dedicated to exploring practical and innovative technological solutions, we recognized this challenge. We sought a method to leverage EPSS data for enhanced vulnerability prioritization without the need for complex coding or prohibitive licensing costs. Our exploration led us to Budibase, a leading low-code platform, and a profound realization: no-code vulnerability management powered by EPSS is not just a possibility, it’s a powerful reality.

This article details our journey in implementing EPSS support directly within Budibase. We will walk you through our strategy, the technical integrations, and crucially, how we integrated this predictive threat intelligence into our filtering and analysis processes to significantly enhance vulnerability remediation efforts. Our goal is to demonstrate a streamlined, data-driven approach that empowers security teams, regardless of their coding proficiency, to make more informed decisions about where to focus their valuable time and resources. We believe that by sharing our detailed implementation, others can replicate and adapt these methods, leading to a more proactive and efficient security posture.

Understanding the Power of EPSS for Prioritization #

Before delving into the Budibase implementation, it’s essential to understand why EPSS is a game-changer for vulnerability management. Traditional vulnerability scoring systems, like CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System), primarily focus on the technical characteristics of a vulnerability. While important, CVSS scores do not inherently reflect the likelihood of a vulnerability being actively exploited by malicious actors. This often leads to a situation where high CVSS-scored vulnerabilities might not be the immediate priority, while lower-scored but actively exploited vulnerabilities slip through the cracks.

EPSS addresses this critical gap by providing a real-time probability score. This score is generated by analyzing various data sources, including threat intelligence feeds, exploit databases, and dark web chatter, to predict the likelihood that a vulnerability will be exploited in the next 30 days. By incorporating EPSS into our vulnerability management strategy, we gain a predictive edge, allowing us to shift from a reactive to a proactive stance.

The benefits of this predictive approach are manifold:

• Optimized Resource Allocation: Security teams are often overwhelmed by the sheer number of vulnerabilities. EPSS helps to focus limited resources on the vulnerabilities most likely to cause harm, ensuring that critical risks are addressed promptly.
• Reduced Attack Surface: By prioritizing the exploitation of known and emerging threats, organizations can significantly reduce their attack surface, making them a less attractive target for cybercriminals.
• Improved Compliance and Risk Management: Demonstrating a commitment to proactive threat mitigation and informed risk assessment is crucial for compliance and overall business resilience. EPSS-powered prioritization provides tangible evidence of this commitment.
• Enhanced Threat Intelligence Integration: EPSS seamlessly integrates threat intelligence into the day-to-day operations of vulnerability management, transforming raw data into actionable insights.

Our goal at revWhiteShadow was to create a customizable and accessible solution that could ingest and utilize EPSS data effectively. We envisioned a system where our vulnerability data could be enriched with EPSS scores, enabling us to build intelligent filters and dashboards for data-driven decision-making.

Why Budibase for No-Code Vulnerability Management? #

The choice of Budibase as our platform for this initiative was deliberate and strategic. As a robust low-code development platform, Budibase offers a unique combination of features that are perfectly suited for building custom, data-driven applications without extensive coding. For a personal blog site like revWhiteShadow, where agility and cost-effectiveness are key, Budibase presented an ideal solution.

Here’s why Budibase stood out for our no-code EPSS vulnerability management implementation:

• Intuitive User Interface: Budibase provides a drag-and-drop interface for building applications, making it accessible even for those with limited programming experience. This allowed us to quickly prototype and deploy our vulnerability management dashboard.
• Data Source Connectivity: Budibase excels at connecting to various data sources, including databases, APIs, and CSV files. This was crucial for ingesting our existing vulnerability scan data and for integrating with EPSS data feeds.
• Built-in Automation and Workflows: The platform allows for the creation of custom workflows and automations, enabling us to automate tasks such as data enrichment, filtering, and notification.
• Customizable Dashboards and Reporting: Budibase’s ability to build dynamic and interactive dashboards meant we could visualize our vulnerability data, filtered by EPSS scores, in a clear and actionable manner.
• Cost-Effectiveness: For a personal project and a site like revWhiteShadow, the open-source nature and flexible pricing of Budibase made it a highly attractive option compared to enterprise-grade vulnerability management solutions.
• Extensibility: While our primary focus was on no-code solutions, Budibase also offers extensibility through custom JavaScript blocks, providing a pathway for more complex integrations if needed in the future.

We were particularly impressed by Budibase’s ability to act as a centralized hub for our security data. By bringing together vulnerability scan results and external threat intelligence like EPSS, we could create a single source of truth for our remediation efforts. This unification is a cornerstone of effective cybersecurity operations.

Integrating EPSS Data into Budibase: Our Approach #

The core of our implementation involved seamlessly integrating EPSS data with our existing vulnerability scan results within the Budibase environment. This process required careful planning and a methodical approach. We aimed for a solution that was both automated and maintainable, ensuring that our EPSS-enhanced vulnerability data remained current.

Our integration strategy consisted of several key phases:

#### Phase 1: Data Acquisition and Preparation #

The first step was to establish a reliable method for acquiring EPSS data. The EPSS project makes data available through various channels, including APIs and downloadable CSV files. For our implementation, we opted for a combination of methods to ensure data availability and to facilitate integration.

1. EPSS API Integration: We explored using the official EPSS API to fetch real-time EPSS scores for specific CVEs. Budibase’s ability to connect to external APIs via its “REST API” data source connector was instrumental here. This allowed us to dynamically query for EPSS scores when needed.
2. Scheduled Data Downloads: For bulk processing and offline analysis, we also set up a mechanism to download the latest EPSS data files (typically CSV or JSON) on a regular basis. This data was then prepared for ingestion into our Budibase application.

Our vulnerability scan data, usually in CSV format from tools like Nessus or OpenVAS, was also prepared. This involved standardizing the format to ensure compatibility with Budibase’s data connectors, focusing on critical fields such as CVE ID, CVSS score, asset affected, and vulnerability status.

#### Phase 2: Data Ingestion and Storage in Budibase #

Once the data was prepared, we needed to ingest it into Budibase. Budibase offers several robust data source options:

1. BudibaseDB (Built-in Database): For managing our processed vulnerability data, including the enriched EPSS scores, we leveraged Budibase’s built-in database. This provided a performant and integrated solution for storing our curated dataset.
2. External Databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL): Depending on the scale and existing infrastructure of revWhiteShadow, connecting to an external database might also be a viable option. Budibase supports numerous external databases, offering flexibility in data storage.

The ingestion process involved:

• Creating Tables: We designed tables within BudibaseDB (or our chosen external database) to store our vulnerability data, including dedicated fields for the EPSS score and its associated metadata (e.g., the date the score was retrieved).
• Data Mapping and Transformation: Using Budibase’s data transformation capabilities and potentially some custom JavaScript functions within the app builder, we mapped the incoming EPSS data to our vulnerability records. This crucial step involved matching CVE IDs from the EPSS data with the CVE IDs in our vulnerability scan results.

#### Phase 3: Automating EPSS Score Enrichment #

The real power of our implementation lies in the automation of EPSS score enrichment. We wanted our vulnerability data to be continuously updated with the latest EPSS insights.

1. Scheduled Jobs/Automations: Budibase’s automation features allowed us to create scheduled jobs. These jobs would:

   • Fetch the latest EPSS data either from the API or a recently downloaded file.
   • Iterate through our existing vulnerability records.
   • Lookup and associate the corresponding EPSS score based on the CVE ID.
   • Update the vulnerability records in our Budibase database with the newly acquired EPSS scores.
   • Handle vulnerabilities without EPSS scores by marking them appropriately or setting a default value.

2. Trigger-Based Updates (Optional): For more advanced scenarios, we could also explore trigger-based updates. For instance, when a new vulnerability scan is imported, an automation could be triggered to fetch and apply EPSS scores specifically for the newly identified vulnerabilities.

This automated enrichment process ensured that our vulnerability data was always current and enriched with predictive threat intelligence, forming the foundation for our advanced filtering and analysis.

Leveraging EPSS in Filtering and Analysis with Budibase #

With EPSS data successfully integrated and automated within Budibase, the next crucial step was to translate this enriched data into actionable insights for vulnerability remediation. This involved building sophisticated filtering and analytical capabilities directly within our Budibase application.

#### Prioritization Matrices and Custom Filters #

Budibase’s powerful filtering capabilities allowed us to create dynamic views of our vulnerability data based on multiple criteria, including EPSS scores.

1. EPSS Score Thresholds: We implemented filters that allowed us to view vulnerabilities with EPSS scores above certain thresholds (e.g., EPSS > 0.7, EPSS > 0.9). This immediately highlighted the vulnerabilities with the highest predicted probability of exploitation.
2. Combined Prioritization Logic: The true power emerged when we combined EPSS scores with traditional CVSS scores. We created views that prioritized vulnerabilities based on:
   • High CVSS AND High EPSS: These represent the most critical vulnerabilities that are both technically severe and likely to be exploited.
   • Medium CVSS AND Very High EPSS: Vulnerabilities that might have moderate technical severity but are showing strong indicators of imminent exploitation.
   • Low CVSS AND High EPSS: Even seemingly minor vulnerabilities can become critical if they are actively being exploited.

These custom filters were presented through interactive tables and lists within our Budibase dashboard. Users could easily select different filter combinations to dynamically reorder and view their vulnerability backlog.

#### Vulnerability Remediation Dashboards #

To provide a clear overview and facilitate decision-making, we developed comprehensive dashboards in Budibase. These dashboards provided visual representations of our vulnerability posture, heavily influenced by EPSS data.

1. Executive Summary: An overview dashboard showing the total number of vulnerabilities, the number of vulnerabilities with high EPSS scores, and trends over time.
2. Prioritized Remediation Queue: A detailed view listing vulnerabilities sorted by our custom prioritization logic (e.g., EPSS score descending, then CVSS descending). This queue is the primary focus for remediation teams.
3. Vulnerability Breakdown by Risk Category: Visualizations (charts and graphs) showing the distribution of vulnerabilities across different risk categories, defined by combinations of CVSS and EPSS scores. This helps in understanding the overall risk profile.
4. Asset-Specific Risk Analysis: The ability to drill down into specific assets or systems and view their associated vulnerabilities, prioritized by EPSS, providing asset-centric remediation guidance.
5. Trend Analysis: Visualizations showing how EPSS scores for critical vulnerabilities are changing over time, helping to identify emerging threats or shifts in exploitability.

These dashboards were built using Budibase’s charting components, allowing us to create visually appealing and informative reports directly from our enriched data. The interactive nature of these dashboards meant that users could explore the data, click on specific vulnerabilities for more details, and gain a deeper understanding of the risk landscape.

#### Workflow Automation for Remediation #

Beyond filtering and analysis, we also explored automating aspects of the remediation workflow within Budibase.

1. Automated Notifications: Based on high EPSS scores or critical combinations of CVSS and EPSS, we configured Budibase automations to send email notifications to the relevant IT or security teams. This ensures that critical vulnerabilities are brought to the attention of the responsible parties without manual intervention.
2. Task Assignment and Tracking: While not a full-fledged ticketing system, Budibase could be used to assign remediation tasks to individuals or teams and track their status, further streamlining the remediation process.

By embedding EPSS into these filtering, analysis, and workflow elements, we transformed our vulnerability management process from a reactive identification of issues to a proactive and predictive approach to security.

Enhancing Vulnerability Remediation Efforts: The revWhiteShadow Impact #

The implementation of no-code EPSS-powered vulnerability management in Budibase has had a profound and tangible impact on our remediation efforts at revWhiteShadow. By integrating this forward-looking metric, we have moved beyond simply reacting to known vulnerabilities to anticipating and mitigating potential threats before they can be exploited.

The most significant improvements we’ve observed include:

• Accelerated Remediation Cycles: With a clear, EPSS-driven prioritization, our teams can now focus their efforts on the highest-impact vulnerabilities. This drastically reduces the time spent on triaging and addressing less critical issues, leading to faster remediation cycles for the most pressing risks.
• Improved Risk Reduction: By prioritizing vulnerabilities that have a higher probability of being exploited, we are proactively reducing our attack surface in the areas most likely to be targeted by threat actors. This translates directly to a stronger security posture and a lower likelihood of a successful breach.
• Data-Driven Confidence: The ability to back our remediation decisions with predictive threat intelligence (EPSS) provides a level of confidence that was previously unattainable. We can confidently communicate our prioritization strategy to stakeholders, demonstrating a commitment to intelligent risk management.
• Optimized Resource Utilization: Our limited security resources, both human and financial, are now being utilized far more efficiently. Instead of spreading efforts thinly across a vast number of vulnerabilities, we can concentrate our resources where they will have the greatest effect.
• Empowerment through Accessibility: The no-code nature of the Budibase implementation means that this sophisticated vulnerability management capability is accessible to a wider range of users, not just those with deep technical security backgrounds. This democratization of advanced security tools is a key benefit for any organization.
• Greater Visibility and Control: The custom dashboards and filtered views provide unparalleled visibility into our vulnerability landscape. We can easily identify trends, understand the risk profile of different assets, and maintain a clear overview of our security posture.

This approach empowers us to move from a reactive, “patch everything” mentality to a strategic, risk-informed remediation strategy. We can now confidently answer the question: “Which vulnerabilities should we fix now?” with a data-backed, EPSS-informed answer.

#### Future Enhancements and Scalability #

While our current implementation has delivered significant value, we are continually exploring future enhancements and ensuring the scalability of our Budibase solution. Some of these potential improvements include:

• Integration with Ticketing Systems: Further automating the remediation workflow by integrating Budibase with existing ticketing systems (e.g., Jira, ServiceNow) to automatically create, update, and close tickets based on vulnerability status and EPSS prioritization.
• Advanced Analytics and Machine Learning: Exploring the integration of more advanced analytics, potentially leveraging machine learning models that can incorporate EPSS data along with other contextual information for even more refined prioritization.
• Real-time Threat Intelligence Feeds: Investigating the feasibility of integrating even more granular and real-time threat intelligence feeds directly into Budibase, further enriching our data and predictive capabilities.
• User Role Management and Access Control: Implementing more sophisticated user role management within Budibase to ensure that different teams have access to the specific data and functionalities they need, adhering to the principle of least privilege.
• Performance Optimization: As our dataset grows, we will continuously monitor and optimize the performance of our Budibase applications to ensure responsiveness and efficiency.

The flexibility of Budibase as a low-code platform provides a solid foundation for these future developments, allowing us to adapt and evolve our vulnerability management capabilities as our needs and the threat landscape change.

Conclusion: A New Paradigm in Vulnerability Management #

Our implementation of no-code EPSS-powered vulnerability management within Budibase represents a significant leap forward in how we approach cybersecurity at revWhiteShadow. By embracing the predictive power of EPSS and the accessibility of a low-code platform, we have crafted a streamlined, efficient, and highly effective system for prioritizing and remediating vulnerabilities.

This approach moves beyond traditional, often overwhelming, vulnerability management practices by offering a data-driven, intelligence-led strategy. The ability to ingest, enrich, and analyze vulnerability data with EPSS scores directly within a user-friendly interface empowers security teams to make smarter, faster, and more impactful decisions.

We believe that this model provides a compelling blueprint for other organizations seeking to elevate their vulnerability management maturity. The days of struggling with complex coding requirements or costly specialized tools for advanced threat intelligence integration are rapidly diminishing. With platforms like Budibase, the power to implement sophisticated, predictive security measures is now within reach for a much broader audience.

Our journey with EPSS and Budibase has been one of innovation and practical application. We are confident that this detailed walkthrough will inspire and enable others to adopt similar strategies, leading to a more secure digital environment for all. By focusing on actionable insights and leveraging the right tools, even a personal blog site like revWhiteShadow can implement enterprise-grade security practices. The future of proactive vulnerability management is here, and it’s more accessible than ever before.