Who Receives a Vulnerability Scan Report?

CS0-003 By islever Editorial Last updated

Explain the importance of vulnerability management reporting and communication

Short answer

AF Executive management and systems administration are the two stakeholders most likely to receive vulnerability scan reports under CySA+ reporting guidance.

Question

Which of the following stakeholders are most likely to receive a vulnerability scan report? (Choose two.)
  1. Executive management Correct Answer
  2. Law enforcement
  3. Marketing
  4. Legal
  5. Product owner
  6. Systems administration Correct Answer

Key Takeaways

The question tests audience matching for vulnerability management reporting; the common trap is selecting product owner because it sounds like the party responsible for affected systems.

Vulnerability scan reporting must reach both the leaders who own risk and the administrators who remediate it. This page establishes executive management and systems administration as the CySA+ answer pair.

Common mistake: Learners pick E (Product owner) because they assume the person who owns the affected product must receive scan findings, but CySA+ pairs executive management with systems administration instead.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

The question asks who is most likely to receive a vulnerability scan report, and CySA+ objective 4.1 treats vulnerability reporting as a communication flow between governance and operations. Executive management (A) receives the summarized risk posture so it can fund remediation and track organizational exposure; systems administration (F) receives the detailed findings because it performs patching, hardening, and verification. CompTIA's study material lists executives, managers, IT staff, and external partners as the audience for vulnerability information, which places A and F squarely in the expected pair. Several commenters reached the same conclusion, including SH_ with "Exec management and Sys Admins. AF." and Omo_Mushin, who ties executive management to overall security posture and systems administration to remediation.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Product owner (E) is the strongest distractor because it sounds like the person accountable for an affected system, but CySA+ uses system owners and IT staff rather than product owners as standard report recipients; maggie22 notes that only the "product owner" is absent from the book's stakeholder categories. Law enforcement (B) enters after a criminal incident, not during routine vulnerability scan reporting. Marketing (C) has no role in vulnerability remediation or risk governance. Legal (D) may handle breach notification and contractual exposure, but legal is not a normal recipient of raw vulnerability scan output.

Community Comment Notes

The comments split between AF and EF, and that split is the exact trap the question sets. jspecht argues that "Executive management doesn't need to see the vulnerability scan report itself," but the counterpoint is that executives receive the summarized report rather than the raw scanner export. ID77 cites page 426 of Chapple's CompTIA study guide for AF, and maggie22 points to CySA-003 Chapter 12 and the book's stakeholder list. Justheretolook and e09294d favor EF, but their reasoning substitutes product owner for the standard system-owner and IT-administration audience; voiddraco's question about whether systems administration is a stakeholder is answered by the remediation role itself.

Official Reference

https://www.comptia.org/certifications/cybersecurity-analyst

This link opens the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Exam Strategy

For stakeholder questions, split the audience into governance and operations: executives get summaries, technicians get details, and legal or law enforcement appear only after incidents. Eliminate marketing and product owner as non-standard roles, then select executive management and systems administration.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is product owner (E) not one of the two vulnerability scan report recipients?

CySA+ names executives, managers, IT staff, and external partners as report audiences, not product owners; product owners are a business role, while administrators handle remediation.

Why do executive management and systems administration both receive the report?

Executives need the summarized risk posture to prioritize funding, while systems administration needs detailed findings to patch and reconfigure affected systems.

More CS0-003 FAQ →

Discussion 17 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 17

  1. jspecht 👍 11
    Executive management doesn't need to see the vulnerability scan report itself. Product owners and systems administration need to see it to prioritize what needs to be remediated.
  2. Omo_Mushin 👍 7
    The two stakeholders most likely to receive a vulnerability scan report are: A. Executive management - They need to be informed about the overall security posture and potential risks to the organization. F. Systems administration - They are responsible for implementing security measures, addressing vulnerabilities, and maintaining the security of the IT infrastructure.
  3. maggie22 👍 7
    AF. Cysa-003 Chapter 12 . Only the "product owner" is not part of the Stakeholders categories mentioned in the book.
  4. Justheretolook 👍 4
    The correct answers are: E. Product owner F. Systems administration Explanation: • E. Product owner: Responsible for overseeing development and maintenance of applications or systems. They need to be informed of vulnerabilities that may affect their products or services to plan remediation efforts. • F. Systems administration: Directly responsible for managing and maintaining IT infrastructure. They are key stakeholders in remediating vulnerabilities identified in the scan.
  5. chimz2002 👍 4
    To effectively communicate vulnerability information, it is essential first to identify who needs to be informed and the best way to inform them. IT staff, executives, managers, and other stakeholders, such as vendors and partners, must be aware of vulnerabilities and any related issues.
Show 12 more comments
  1. bettyboo 👍 4
    What is the definition of a stakeholder? A stakeholder is a person, group or organization with a vested interest, or stake, in the decision-making and activities of a business, organization or project.
  2. ID77 👍 4
    AF are correct answers. For reference p. 426 CompTia study guide von M. Chapple.
  3. voiddraco 👍 3
    How is it Systems administration and there not stakeholders? wouldn't the answer be A and E?
  4. SH_ 👍 3
    Exec management and Sys Admins. AF.
  5. e09294d 👍 3
    yuuhhh
  6. Jay2021aws 👍 1
    You are correct sir! Product owner: They need to understand the vulnerabilities affecting their products to prioritize remediation efforts. Systems administration: They are responsible for applying patches and fixes, so they need detailed vulnerability information to address issues in the systems they manage.
  7. azuredemo2022three 👍 1
    E. Product owner: They need to be aware of vulnerabilities in their product to prioritize fixes and ensure security throughout the development lifecycle. F. Systems administration: They are responsible for implementing patches and remediation measures on systems and networks.
  8. agfencer 👍 1
    it's EF what's executive management going to do with a vulnerability report? It's like a dog staring at a phone
  9. Brittle 👍 1
    EF is the right answer
  10. voiddraco 👍 1
    Understood. thanks
  11. bes_i 👍 1
    CORRECT ANSWER
  12. Japtas 👍 1
    Agree 100%

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