The glossary is a constant work-in-progress. If you have words you’d like to have defined let me know. Or if you have definitions that are messing, let me know that too.
virtual machine -
a system that enables you to encapsulate all the parts of a computer without reliance on hardware. It's a machine, but isn't installed directly on the hard drive at boot time. This allows you to run different operating systems, versions, etc., at the same time without rebooting.
- Synonyms: vm
- Synonyms: vm
vulnerability -
This is a tricky word, especially in application security or cybersecurity. The simple definition in a software context is that the code has some problem that could be exploited by someone at some point. Some think of it as a piece of code with a proven exploit, IE a static analysis violation with a stack trace and values used. This is a very narrow definition that probably doesn't help improve the state of the art. I prefer the idea that it's code that is exploitable based on the body of knowledge (as encapsulated in software coding standards).