VEX and CSAF are related, but they are not interchangeable. VEX describes whether a particular product is affected by a vulnerability and why. CSAF is a broader framework for creating and exchanging structured security advisories, including product, vulnerability, impact, and remediation information. CSAF 2.0 includes a VEX profile, so VEX status information can be published in CSAF form without making every VEX statement a CSAF document.
What is the difference between VEX and CSAF?
| Question | VEX | CSAF |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Communicate whether and why a particular product is affected by a vulnerability. | Create, update, distribute, and exchange structured security advisories about products, vulnerabilities, impact, and remediation. |
| Scope | Focused vulnerability-status information, useful for interpreting vulnerabilities in a product context, including SBOM-related workflows. | A broader advisory framework with profiles for defined use cases, including VEX. |
| Format | Names an information-exchange purpose; do not assume it always means one serialization. | Specifies a JSON security-advisory language and related structures. |
| How they connect | Supplies the product-specific status and rationale. | CSAF 2.0 has a VEX profile with required advisory elements and status requirements. |
In short, VEX describes the question being answered; CSAF is one structured framework that can carry that answer as part of an advisory. OASIS describes VEX’s main purpose as stating whether and why a product is or is not affected by a vulnerability, while defining CSAF as a language for structured advisory creation and interoperable exchange. See the CSAF 2.0 specification.
Is VEX part of CSAF?
CSAF 2.0 defines a VEX profile: a set of requirements for using the CSAF advisory structure to communicate VEX information. That profile connects the two, but does not mean VEX is merely another name for CSAF or that every VEX statement must use CSAF serialization. If you are discussing a particular VEX implementation, name that implementation rather than treating the term “VEX” as one universal wire format.
The CSAF committee describes VEX and its relevance to product-vulnerability interpretation in its committee overview.
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What does the CSAF VEX profile require?
Under the CSAF 2.0 VEX profile, a conforming document must satisfy the CSAF Base profile requirements and include the product and vulnerability information needed to make the status meaningful. The profile calls for a product tree, vulnerabilities, at least one product status, a vulnerability identifier, and vulnerability notes.
- Identify the product: include the product tree so the assertion has a specific product context.
- Identify the vulnerability: provide a CVE or another vulnerability identifier.
- State the status: use at least one of fixed, known affected, known not affected, or under investigation.
- Provide notes: include vulnerability notes required by the profile.
A status without product and vulnerability context is not a complete, useful determination. When implementing an exchange, validate against the exact CSAF version and schema accepted by the organizations exchanging the document.
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Known-not-affected explanations in CSAF 2.1 draft text
The CSAF 2.1 Committee Specification Draft 03 adds an explicit condition for each product listed as known_not_affected: provide an impact statement either as a machine-readable flag or as a human-readable justification in threats. This is the wording of the CSAF 2.1 CSD03 draft, not a final-standard requirement established by the available version-status information.
When should an organization use VEX or CSAF?
- Use the VEX use case when the main deliverable is an answer to “Is this product affected by this vulnerability, and why?” Include a specific product, vulnerability, status, and supporting explanation.
- Use the CSAF VEX profile when that product-specific status needs to be published within a CSAF advisory structure and workflow.
- Use broader CSAF advisory content when recipients need interoperable product, vulnerability, impact, and remediation information in a structured advisory.
- When processing suppliers’ VEX statements, check the producer’s implementation, product identifiers, status vocabulary, justification, and compatibility with your receiving tools. These are practical interoperability checks, not a separate OASIS selection matrix.
These options are not mutually exclusive: a team can have VEX as its communication goal and use the CSAF VEX profile as the representation for a particular advisory exchange.
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Is CSAF 2.1 an approved standard?
As of 4 October 2026, CSAF 2.0 is the OASIS Standard, approved on 18 November 2022. CSAF 2.1 Committee Specification Draft 03 is dated 11 September 2026; its OASIS public-review period ran from 15 to 29 September 2026. The end of public review does not itself constitute final approval, so CSAF 2.1 should be identified as a draft based on the status available on that date. OASIS lists 2.1 as the latest public version while distinguishing it from the current working draft and approved standard status. See the CSAF 2.1 public-review metadata and the CSAF committee page. Because standards status can change, check OASIS’s current CSAF pages when making a version-sensitive implementation decision.
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- Powerful Pass-Through Charging: Supports up to 85W pass-through charging so you can power up your laptop while you use the hub. Note: Pass-through charging requires a charger (not included). Note: To achieve full power for iPad, we recommend using a 45W wall charger.
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