CVE® International in scope and free for public use, CVE is a dictionary of publicly known information security vulnerabilities and exposures.

CVE's common identifiers enable data exchange between security products and provide a baseline index point for evaluating coverage of tools and services.

CVE Identifiers (also called "CVE-IDs," "CVE names," "CVE numbers," and "CVEs") are unique, common identifiers for publicly known information security vulnerabilities.

Each CVE Identifier on the CVE List includes a CVE identifier number (i.e., "CVE-1999-0067"); indication of "entry" or "candidate" status; a brief description of the security vulnerability or exposure; and any pertinent references (i.e., vulnerability reports and advisories or OVAL-ID).

CVE Identifiers are used by information security product/service vendors and researchers as a standard method for identifying vulnerabilities and for cross-linking with other repositories that also use CVE Identifiers.