Remediation
Remediation is the process of resolving a security vulnerability by eliminating its root cause — for example upgrading a vulnerable dependency, patching flawed code, or fixing a misconfiguration — so the weakness can no longer be exploited.
Remediation is the corrective action taken once a vulnerability has been identified and prioritized. Unlike mitigation, which reduces risk without removing the underlying flaw (for example adding a WAF rule or restricting access), remediation actually fixes the root cause — upgrading to a patched library version, rewriting insecure code, rotating a leaked secret, or correcting an insecure configuration.
In a typical workflow, remediation follows detection and triage: a scanner reports findings, the team prioritizes them by real-world risk, and then the highest-priority issues are fixed. Effective remediation guidance tells the developer exactly what to change — such as the specific fixed version to upgrade to, or the exact line and safe coding pattern to apply — which shortens the time from discovery to resolution.
Remediation matters because detecting vulnerabilities has no value unless they get fixed. Teams often track metrics like mean time to remediate (MTTR) and remediation rate to measure how quickly and completely they close security gaps, and they focus effort on vulnerabilities that are severe, exploitable, and reachable rather than trying to fix everything at once.