Source: Help Net Security
Author: Mirko Zorz
URL: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/03/02/ciso-security-debt-report/
ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY:
Veracode’s 2026 report shows growing, aging application security backlogs, urging board-level governance, risk-based prioritization, and automation to reduce exploitable exposure.
MAIN POINTS:
- Study analyzed 1.6 million applications using SAST, DAST, SCA, and pen testing.
- Security debt means known vulnerabilities unresolved for more than one year.
- Organizations with security debt rose to 82% in 2026 from 74%.
- Critical security debt increased to 60% of organizations from 50%.
- Legacy and business-critical systems slow fixes due to change risk and dependency.
- Wysopal advocates board-level KPIs, quarterly targets, and governed risk acceptance.
- Suggested policy: fix high-risk vulnerabilities before release, especially crown-jewel applications.
- Overall flaw prevalence remained high at 78% of applications in 2026.
- Highly severe and exploitable vulnerabilities grew to 11.3% from 8.3%.
- Remediation half-life improved slightly to 243 days; third-party critical debt stayed high at 66%.
TAKEAWAYS:
- Treat security debt like financial debt with executive oversight and measurable reduction goals.
- Prioritize exploitable, high-impact vulnerabilities over raw vulnerability counts.
- Focus remediation on crown-jewel applications using fast lanes and strict release gates.
- Embed automation and AI-assisted fixes into developer workflows to maintain velocity.
- Strengthen supply-chain governance via dependency visibility, update cadences, and ownership clarity.