CRA Vulnerability Handling Process

24 Hours to Report

The CRA mandates that manufacturers report actively exploited vulnerabilities to ENISA within 24 hours. This isn’t a suggestion — it’s a legal requirement starting September 2026.

The CRA Reporting Timeline

Hour 0: Vulnerability discovered/reported
  ↓
Hour 24: Early warning notification to ENISA
  ↓
Hour 72: Vulnerability notification with assessment
  ↓
Day 14: Detailed vulnerability report
  ↓
Day 30: Final report (if not resolved earlier)

Building Your Vulnerability Handling Process

1. Intake: Accept Reports from Multiple Channels

# security.txt (RFC 9116) - Place at /.well-known/security.txt
Contact: mailto:security@yourcompany.com
Contact: https://yourcompany.com/security/report
Encryption: https://yourcompany.com/.well-known/pgp-key.txt
Acknowledgments: https://yourcompany.com/security/acknowledgments
Policy: https://yourcompany.com/security/policy
Preferred-Languages: en
Canonical: https://yourcompany.com/.well-known/security.txt
Expires: 2027-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

2. Triage: Assess Severity and Impact

class VulnerabilityTriager:
    def assess(self, report):
        severity = self.calculate_cvss(report)
        
        assessment = {
            "cvss_score": severity.score,
            "cvss_vector": severity.vector,
            "affected_products": self.find_affected_products(report),
            "actively_exploited": report.exploitation_evidence,
            "cra_reporting_required": severity.score >= 7.0 or report.exploitation_evidence,
            "deadline": self.calculate_deadline(report),
        }
        
        if assessment["cra_reporting_required"]:
            # Start 24-hour clock
            self.start_enisa_timer(assessment)
        
        return assessment

3. ENISA Reporting

class ENISAReporter:
    ENISA_ENDPOINT = "https://reporting.enisa.europa.eu/api/v1"
    
    async def early_warning(self, vulnerability):
        # Must be sent within 24 hours
        payload = {
            "type": "early_warning",
            "product": vulnerability.product_name,
            "severity": vulnerability.cvss_score,
            "actively_exploited": vulnerability.is_exploited,
            "description": vulnerability.brief_description,
            "estimated_impact": vulnerability.estimated_users_affected,
        }
        
        response = await self.submit(payload)
        return response
    
    async def full_notification(self, vulnerability):
        # Must be sent within 72 hours
        payload = {
            "type": "vulnerability_notification",
            "cve_id": vulnerability.cve_id,
            "technical_details": vulnerability.technical_analysis,
            "affected_versions": vulnerability.affected_versions,
            "mitigation": vulnerability.temporary_mitigation,
            "patch_timeline": vulnerability.expected_patch_date,
        }
        
        response = await self.submit(payload)
        return response

4. Patch and Notify Users

# Automated security advisory pipeline
security-advisory:
  stage: notify
  when: manual  # Security team triggers
  script:
    - python generate_advisory.py --cve $CVE_ID --severity $SEVERITY
    - python notify_users.py --product $PRODUCT --advisory advisory.json
    - python update_sbom.py --product $PRODUCT --version $PATCHED_VERSION

Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure Policy

Your public vulnerability disclosure policy must include:

1. How to report — email, web form, encrypted channels
2. Response timeline — acknowledge within 48 hours
3. Coordination — work with reporter before public disclosure
4. Safe harbor — security researchers won’t face legal action
5. Credit — acknowledge reporters (with permission)
6. Disclosure timeline — typically 90 days, shorter for active exploitation

Tooling Recommendations

• Vulnerability intake: MITRE Vulnogram, GitHub Security Advisories
• Tracking: JIRA with security workflow, or dedicated tools like DefectDojo
• SBOM scanning: Grype, Trivy, or Snyk for continuous monitoring
• Reporting: Automated ENISA reporting integration
• Communication: Pre-written advisory templates, distribution lists

Key Takeaways

1. Build the process NOW — September 2026 is the first enforcement date
2. security.txt is a quick win — takes 5 minutes, signals maturity
3. Automate what you can — SBOM scanning, severity assessment, notification
4. Practice the process — tabletop exercises with your security team
5. Document everything — regulators will ask for evidence

Need help building CRA-compliant vulnerability handling? I help organizations design security response processes. Get in touch.