Veracode finds that mounting vulnerability queues and limited remediation capacity are delaying fixes for critical flaws, increasing cyber risk across enterprise software portfolios.
Veracode, a global leader in application risk management solutions, has unveiled its highly anticipated State of Software Security 2026 report, shedding light on a widening and increasingly dangerous gap between the speed of modern software development and organizations’ ability to secure the code they produce. Now in its 16th annual edition, the flagship report provides one of the most comprehensive analyses of application security trends worldwide and delivers a clear message: while innovation and AI are accelerating development cycles to unprecedented levels, security remediation capabilities are struggling to keep pace.
A Growing Security Divide in the AI Era
The 2026 report reveals that 82 percent of organizations currently have security gaps, representing an 11 percent year-over-year increase. Even more concerning, 60 percent of those gaps are classified as critical, meaning they stem from accumulated vulnerabilities that, if exploited, could result in catastrophic operational, financial, or reputational damage.
These critical vulnerabilities are not merely isolated technical flaws. Instead, they represent a systemic backlog of unresolved weaknesses that compound over time. As development velocity increases—fueled in large part by AI-driven coding tools—security teams face mounting pressure to identify, prioritize, and remediate risks before adversaries exploit them.
Chris Wysopal, Chief Security Evangelist at Veracode, emphasized the urgency of the situation. He noted that the speed of software development has increased dramatically, and vulnerabilities are now emerging faster than organizations can remediate them. Despite modest improvements in remediation rates, the overall vulnerability burden continues to grow, creating what he described as a “turning point” for modern security strategies.
The Scope of the 2026 Study
The State of Software Security 2026 report is based on one of the largest datasets in the industry. Veracode analyzed:
- 1.6 million unique applications
- 141.3 million raw security findings
- 115.6 million from static analysis
- 22.1 million from software composition analysis
- 3.6 million from dynamic analysis
The dataset spans enterprises, commercial software vendors, software outsourcers, and open-source projects around the globe. Applications were tested using static analysis, dynamic analysis, software composition analysis, and manual penetration testing via Veracode’s cloud-based platform.
This breadth of analysis allows the report to provide unparalleled insight into trends shaping software security maturity across industries and regions.
Critical Vulnerabilities on the Rise
One of the most alarming findings is the 20 percent increase in critical security vulnerabilities compared to the previous year. These critical vulnerabilities are defined as high-impact flaws that remain unresolved for extended periods—often more than one year.
This trend signals that remediation capacity is being outpaced by vulnerability discovery and code production. Security teams are simply unable to eliminate backlogs fast enough to keep up with continuous deployment pipelines and AI-assisted coding practices.
Critical vulnerabilities represent accumulated risk. The longer they persist, the greater the likelihood they will be discovered and exploited by malicious actors. For organizations managing large digital ecosystems, this backlog can become a significant threat to business continuity.
High-Risk Vulnerabilities Demand Smarter Prioritization
Beyond the overall growth in critical issues, the report identifies a 36 percent increase in vulnerabilities classified as both severe and highly exploitable. These vulnerabilities pose immediate and tangible risk because they combine technical severity with a high probability of real-world exploitation.
Traditional vulnerability management strategies often rely on generalized severity ratings. However, Veracode’s research suggests that this approach is no longer sufficient. A vulnerability may be severe in theory but unlikely to be exploited in practice. Conversely, moderately rated issues can present significant danger if they are easily exploitable and exposed in high-value systems.
The report urges organizations to shift toward context-aware prioritization, focusing on actual attack potential rather than relying solely on severity scores. According to the findings, only about 11.3 percent of vulnerabilities pose a true, immediate threat, indicating that smarter prioritization can significantly reduce workload while maximizing risk reduction.
Detection Is Improving — But Remediation Lags Behind
Interestingly, Veracode’s analysis indicates that detection capabilities are gradually improving. Organizations are identifying vulnerabilities more efficiently and, in some cases, generating fewer new flaws in code.
However, detection alone is not enough. The report makes clear that remediation timelines remain insufficient, resulting in an expanding window of risk exposure. Vulnerabilities are discovered faster than they are resolved, leading to growing backlogs and persistent weaknesses in production environments.
This imbalance underscores the need for automation, AI-driven remediation assistance, and improved integration between development and security workflows. Without fundamental process improvements, organizations risk remaining trapped on what Wysopal describes as the “vulnerability management treadmill.”
Open-Source and Third-Party Risk Remains Significant
The 2026 report also highlights the disproportionate risk posed by third-party libraries and open-source components. According to the findings, 66 percent of the most dangerous and persistent vulnerabilities originate from open-source dependencies.
While open-source software accelerates innovation and reduces development time, it also expands the attack surface. Many organizations rely heavily on third-party packages without maintaining rigorous dependency hygiene or update practices.
Although there are signs of improvement in how organizations manage open-source risk, the data shows that third-party vulnerabilities remain a major contributor to long-lived security gaps. Strengthening supply chain security, enforcing stricter dependency management policies, and improving visibility into software composition are critical steps toward mitigating this risk.
The Dual Impact of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence plays a complex and transformative role in the 2026 security landscape.
On one hand, AI-powered coding tools have dramatically increased development speed. Developers can now generate large volumes of code in significantly less time. However, this acceleration often introduces new patterns of high-risk vulnerabilities at scale.
On the other hand, AI-supported remediation technologies offer a promising path forward. AI-driven analysis engines can help identify root causes, suggest secure coding fixes, and automate portions of the remediation process.
Veracode emphasizes that AI itself is not inherently the problem or the solution. Rather, it amplifies existing trends. Organizations that fail to integrate AI responsibly into their development lifecycle may see vulnerabilities multiply. Conversely, those who adopt AI-powered remediation and intelligent prioritization strategies can close the gap between development velocity and security capacity.
A Strategic Shift: Protect, Prioritize, and Prove
To address these challenges, Veracode advocates for a new strategic framework built around three pillars:
1. Protect
Organizations must focus on safeguarding their “crown jewels”—the most valuable systems, sensitive data repositories, and mission-critical applications. Rather than attempting to fix every vulnerability indiscriminately, teams should identify assets that pose the greatest business impact if compromised and allocate resources accordingly.
Automation plays a vital role here, particularly automated remediation and AI-powered patch recommendations that accelerate fix cycles for high-impact vulnerabilities.
2. Prioritize
Given that only a small percentage of vulnerabilities represent true, imminent threats, intelligent prioritization is essential. Security teams should assess vulnerabilities based on exploitability, exposure, business context, and asset criticality.
This approach shifts the focus from volume-based metrics to risk-based decision-making, ensuring that limited remediation resources are directed toward the vulnerabilities that matter most.
3. Prove
Modern regulatory and compliance landscapes demand evidence. Organizations must demonstrate that their security posture meets evolving standards and that they are effectively managing risk.
Proving security effectiveness requires measurable outcomes, audit-ready reporting, and continuous validation of risk reduction efforts. It is no longer sufficient to claim security maturity; it must be demonstrated through verifiable data.
Breaking Free from the Vulnerability Treadmill
Wysopal concludes that organizations have reached a critical inflection point. Running faster—producing more code, scanning more frequently, and chasing every vulnerability—will not solve the underlying problem.
Instead, success in 2026 and beyond depends on deliberate decision-making:
- Prioritizing the 11.3 percent of vulnerabilities that present real-world threat
- Protecting critical resources through automation
- Demonstrating compliance and measurable risk reduction
Security leaders must rethink metrics of success. Rather than aiming to eliminate all vulnerabilities, the goal should be to reduce meaningful risk and prevent catastrophic outcomes.
About the State of Software Security Report
Veracode’s annual State of Software Security report remains one of the oldest and most authoritative resources in the application risk management industry. Built on trillions of historical code scans and powered by a proprietary AI-driven remediation engine, Veracode’s platform provides organizations with continuous visibility into application security risks.
Thousands of development and security teams worldwide rely on Veracode’s tools—including static analysis, dynamic analysis, software composition analysis, container security, application security posture management, malicious package detection, package firewall, penetration testing, and automated remediation solutions—to secure software from initial code creation through cloud deployment.
