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The Math That Killed "Fix All Criticals"

Your vulnerability backlog is growing faster than your team can fix it. The math doesn't lie—and neither does this analysis of why 66% of organizations now have 100,000+ open vulnerabilities.

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Data-driven strategies from teams who've reduced backlogs by 74% in 90 days

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252 days
Average remediation time
— Veracode State of Software Security
48%
AI-generated code containing vulnerabilities
— OX Security Analysis
88%
Security incidents from skills gaps
— 2025 ISC2 Workforce Study

The Backlog Math Doesn't Work

Vulnerabilities are created faster than they're fixed. Here's why your backlog keeps growing—even with more resources.

The Inflow

  • 115 new CVEs published daily (up from 50 in 2020)
  • AI acceleration adds 25-70% more code—with vulnerabilities
  • Scanner updates surface previously hidden issues
  • New dependencies expand the attack surface constantly

The Outflow

  • 252 days average remediation time
  • 50-80% triage time wasted on false positives
  • <20% acceptance of automated fix suggestions
  • 6 hours per vulnerability for manual remediation

The Result

66%

of organizations now have 100,000+ vulnerabilities in their backlog—and the gap widens every quarter.

The Hiring Myth: Why Headcount Won't Save You

"We just need more people." It's the most common response to growing backlogs—and it's mathematically impossible. Here's why.

88%

Security Incidents from Skills Gaps

The 2025 ISC2 Workforce Study found that 88% of organizations experienced security incidents not due to staffing shortages—but skills gaps. Hiring more people doesn't fix capability problems.

4.8M

Global Security Talent Gap

There aren't enough qualified candidates to hire. The global cybersecurity workforce gap continues to grow, making "hire your way out" impossible at scale.

12-18 mo

Training to Productivity

Even when you find candidates, it takes 12-18 months to train a security engineer to full productivity. Your backlog grows 40% in that time.

25%

Annual Turnover Rate

Security roles have 25% annual turnover. For every 4 people you train, one leaves each year—taking institutional knowledge with them.

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The AI Accelerant: Code Faster, Vulnerabilities Faster

AI coding assistants promised to accelerate development. They delivered—along with a proportional acceleration in vulnerability creation.

34% of organizations now report that 60%+ of their code is AI-generated. And according to OX Security's analysis of 300+ repositories:

  • 48% of AI-generated code contains security vulnerabilities
  • 86% of organizations have experienced AI-related security incidents
  • Vulnerability velocity has increased 2.1x in AI-heavy codebases

The same tools making developers more productive are making your backlog grow faster.

60%+ AI-Generated Code
48% Contains Vulnerabilities

Source: OX Security analysis of 300+ repositories

What You'll Learn in the Playbook

Actionable strategies backed by research and production metrics from Fortune 500 implementations.

1

Why "Fix All Criticals" Failed

The mathematical proof that traditional prioritization strategies can't keep pace with modern vulnerability creation rates.

2

The AI Vulnerability Acceleration

How AI coding assistants are creating vulnerabilities 2.1x faster—and what to do about it before your backlog doubles.

3

The 74% Reduction Pattern

Production patterns from teams who've reduced backlogs by 74% in 90 days—including phased implementation timelines.

4

The False Positive Tax

How 60-88% false positive rates destroy capacity calculations—and the triage automation that recovers 91% of wasted time.

5

Board & CFO Metrics

The exact metrics and talking points that have secured budget approval—including ROI calculations your CFO will understand.

6

Phased Implementation

Start with low-risk vulnerability classes, prove value, then expand. The low-risk path to automated remediation at scale.

Research Foundation

Stop fighting impossible math

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From Theory to Production Results

Real outcomes from teams who've implemented the Burndown to Zero methodology.

74%

Backlog Reduction in 90 Days

A Fortune 500 financial services company reduced their 100,000+ vulnerability backlog by 74% in the first quarter using automated triage and remediation.

91%

Triage Time Eliminated

Security teams redirected 91% of triage time to actual security work after implementing exploitability analysis that eliminated false positive burden.

76%

Fix Acceptance Rate

Automated fixes achieving 76% developer acceptance—compared to <20% for traditional tools—proving that context-aware remediation works.

252→30

Days to Remediate

MTTR dropped from the industry average of 252 days to under 30 days—meeting regulatory requirements and reducing breach exposure windows.

The math killed "Fix All Criticals."
Here's what replaces it.

Get the complete Burndown to Zero Playbook—including the exact strategies, metrics, and implementation patterns used by teams achieving 74% backlog reduction.

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The Math That Killed "Fix All Criticals"

Your vulnerability backlog grows faster than your team can fix it. Here's why—and what actually works.

Get the Analysis
252 days

Average remediation time

48%

of AI-generated code contains vulnerabilities

88%

of security incidents stem from skills gaps, not headcount

66% of organizations have 100,000+ vulnerability backlogs. Average remediation time: 252 days. New CVEs: 115 per day. The math doesn't work—and hiring won't fix it.

The Backlog Math

Your vulnerability backlog isn't a discipline problem. It's a numbers problem.

The Inflow
115 new CVEs published daily (48,185 in 2024)

Every scanner update adds findings

AI-assisted development accelerating code velocity 25-70%
The Outflow
252-day average time to fix critical vulnerabilities

Manual triage consuming 50-80% of security engineer time

Developer acceptance rate: <20%
The Result
66% of organizations have 100,000+ backlogs

Backlogs growing at 17 new findings for every 6 remediated

Gap widens every quarter

The Hiring Myth

The 2025 ISC2 Workforce Study found that 88% of organizations experienced security incidents directly attributable to skills gaps—not headcount shortages.

Hiring more people doesn't work when:

  • There aren't enough qualified candidates (4.8M unfilled positions globally)
  • Training takes 12-18 months to reach productivity
  • Turnover averages 25% annually in security roles
  • Manual work scales linearly while vulnerabilities scale exponentially

The organizations shrinking their backlogs aren't hiring their way out. They're changing how work gets done.

88%
of incidents from skills gaps, not headcount
48%
of AI-generated code contains vulnerabilities

The AI Accelerant

And now there's a new variable: AI-generated code.

‍34% of organizations report over 60% of their code is now AI-generated. That code ships faster than humans can review it. And 48% of it contains vulnerabilities.

OX Security's analysis of 300+ repositories found AI-generated code has similar vulnerability density to human code—but deploys far faster.

86% of organizations are already experiencing AI-related security incidents. The backlog math that was already impossible just got worse.

What You'll Learn

What separates organizations with shrinking backlogs from everyone else.

Inside the 30-page analysis:

Why "fix all criticals" failed
The economics that make manual remediation hit a ceiling—regardless of team size or budget.
The AI code problem
Why AI-generated code is accelerating vulnerability creation—and what it means for your remediation strategy.
What organizations with shrinking backlogs do differently
Patterns from teams that reduced vulnerability backlogs by 74% in 90 days. Not theory—observed production metrics.
Why your team is 3-5x more underwater than you think
The false positive tax most organizations miss when calculating remediation capacity.
How to build the board case that gets budget approved
The specific metrics that matter, how to calculate them for your environment, and what CFOs actually respond to.
The phased approach that lets you prove value
Start with low-risk vulnerability classes, build confidence with measurable wins, then expand.
Research Foundation
This analysis draws from:
Industry Data
Veracode
ISC2
SANS
Synopsys
Production Metrics
Fortune 500 implementations
74% automated remediation rates
Practitioner Input
Enterprise technology
Financial services
Healthcare

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