What should be done after remediating vulnerabilities in a network?

SY0-701 By islever Editorial Last updated

Short answer

C Rescan the network.

Question

A security practitioner completes a vulnerability assessment on a company’s network and finds several vulnerabilities, which the operations team remediates. Which of the following should be done next?
  1. Conduct an audit.
  2. Initiate a penetration test.
  3. Rescan the network. Correct Answer
  4. Submit a report.

Key Takeaways

The exam tests the vulnerability management lifecycle sequence — the trap is confusing an audit (process verification) with a rescan (technical verification of remediation effectiveness).

After vulnerability remediation, rescanning the network is the critical next step to verify fixes and detect any newly introduced issues. Community consensus strongly supports rescanning as the immediate post-remediation action in the vulnerability management lifecycle.

Common mistake: Many candidates choose A (Conduct an audit) because audits verify compliance and remediation, but an audit is a higher-level process check that typically follows a successful rescan, not a replacement for technical validation.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

Rescanning the network (Option C) is the immediate next step after remediation to technically validate that patches and fixes were applied correctly and did not introduce new vulnerabilities. This aligns with the standard vulnerability management lifecycle: identify → remediate → verify (rescan) → report. Community comment [1] emphasizes that rescanning confirms remediation effectiveness before proceeding to audits or penetration tests. Comment [5] reinforces that rescanning ensures no new vulnerabilities emerged from the remediation efforts themselves.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Option A (Conduct an audit) is a common distractor — audits verify policy compliance and process adherence, but they do not technically validate whether specific vulnerabilities were patched. Option B (Initiate a penetration test) is premature; pen tests are broader, more resource-intensive assessments that should only occur after rescans confirm the environment is stable. Option D (Submit a report) is a final step in the lifecycle, but reporting should only happen after rescans validate remediation — reporting unverified results would be premature and potentially misleading.

Community Comment Notes

The community is overwhelmingly aligned on C (100% of votes). Comment [3] initially suggested A based on Professor Messer notes mentioning audits for checking remediated systems, but the consensus clarifies that rescanning is the technical verification step that must precede any audit. Comment [4] correctly notes the sequence: rescan first, then audit if needed. The strong consensus (100% votes for C) reflects a clear understanding of the vulnerability management workflow.

Official Reference

https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-40/rev-4/final

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

Exam Strategy

Memorize the vulnerability management lifecycle order: Identify → Classify → Remediate → Rescan (verify) → Report → Audit. When a question asks what to do 'next' after remediation, always look for the technical verification step (rescan) before process-level actions like audits or reporting.

Community Votes

C
100%

100% of anonymous learners picked answer C. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 7 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 7

  1. SHADTECH123 👍 12 Answered C
    Rescanning the network is essential to verify that the previously identified vulnerabilities have been successfully remediated and to ensure that no new vulnerabilities have been introduced. This step confirms the effectiveness of the remediation efforts before moving on to further actions such as audits, penetration tests, or reporting.
  2. hasquaati 👍 6 Answered C
    Answer is C. Rescan the network to find if the remediation is working and is not causing other vulnerabilities.
  3. Osechabelo 👍 5
    A. Conduct an audit. • Audit – Check remediated systems to ensure the patch was successfully deployed (professor-messer-sy0-701-comptia-security-plus-course-notes-v106)
  4. CookieChip 👍 2
    Rescan the network, and once all is clear, that's the time you can Conduct an audit.
  5. KAIjunn 👍 1 Answered C
    The next step should be C. Rescan the network. After vulnerabilities are remediated, a rescan is essential to verify that the identified vulnerabilities have been properly addressed and no new vulnerabilities have emerged as a result of the remediation efforts. This helps ensure the network is now secure and that the remediations were effective.
Show 2 more comments
  1. 3dk1 👍 1
    C. Rescan the network
  2. Sol_tyty 👍 1 Answered C
    GPT!!!

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