Breaking Free from Security Debt: Lessons from Leading Organizations

Security debt is a pervasive challenge affecting organizations of all sizes, and it’s only growing. According to the 2025 State of Software Security Report (SoSS), 74% of organizations have accrued security debt, with nearly half of this security debt being critical in nature. This accumulation of unresolved flaws, especially severe ones, poses long-term risks to an organization’s resilience and effectiveness. Yet, the top-performing organizations prove that it’s possible to manage and even reduce security debt effectively.

Let’s explore key lessons from these leading organizations, introduce practical strategies for fighting security debt, and shed light on how open-source code significantly contributes to the problem… and the solutions available to tackle it. We’ll also discuss how to mitigate risks from third-party dependencies, ultimately helping organizations break free from the burden of where most critical security debt resides.

What Is Security Debt and Why Does It Matter?

Security debt refers to unresolved software flaws that persist for over a year after being identified. A subset of technical debt, it builds up over time, compounding challenges and leaving organizations more vulnerable to threats such as data breaches and exploit attempts (which has become the top attack vector according to the most recent Verizon DBIR).

The financial and operational risks of security debt are enormous. As highlighted in the 2025 SoSS report:

• The average time to fix flaws has risen by 47% over the past five years, stretching to 252 days on average.
• Critical security debt is prevalent in nearly 50% of organizations, underlining the severity of the unresolved issues.
• Alarmingly, 70% of critical security debt stems from third-party open-source code, a statistic that underscores the urgency of addressing vulnerabilities within the open-source ecosystem.

Understanding these metrics is the first step toward reducing security debt. To make meaningful changes, organizations must adopt the practices of top performers.

Lessons from Leading Organizations

The organizations that successfully manage security debt excel in three key areas: flaw prevalence, fix capacity, and fix speed. Here’s how they differ from their lagging peers:

1. Flaw Prevalence

Top-performing organizations consistently minimize the percentage of applications containing unresolved security flaws. While the lagging organizations had flaws in 86% of their applications, leaders maintain a flaw prevalence below 43%.

The reduction in flaw prevalence reflects a proactive approach to identifying and addressing vulnerabilities early in the software development life cycle (SDLC). This strategy is closely tied to rigorous testing and automation integrated into the software development pipeline.

2. Fix Capacity

Fix capacity, the percentage of flaws an organization can resolve within a given time frame, is another area where leading organizations excel. While lagging organizations struggle to fix more than 1% of flaws monthly, leaders exceed this at 10%+ monthly, consistently resolving vulnerabilities faster and at scale.

Fix capacity improvements come from operational efficiency and technology investments. Capacity is a choice, and it’s clear that teams who burn down security debt (and avoid introducing it in the first place) dedicate capacity for fixing.

3. Fix Speed

Fix speed, measured as the “half-life” of a security flaw, is a critical metric for successful organizations. The report shows that leading teams fix half of their flaws in just five weeks, compared to over a year for lagging organizations. This rapid response capability reduces exposure time and the likelihood of exploitation.

Frequent scanning, AI-driven remediation, security champions, strict policy enforcement, and prioritization help leaders sustain this pace.

How They Do It

These organizations maximize their results by relying on these practices:

• Automation in the SDLC: Automating security testing (like SAST, DAST, and SCA) and remediation enables faster identification and resolution of flaws, removing human bottlenecks.
• AI-enabled tools: Responsible-by-design AI tools plays a significant role in scaling fix capacity and speeding up remediation. It’s especially adept at eliminating simple, recurring flaws.
• Developer training: Security-focused training ensures that developers are better equipped to write secure code and address vulnerabilities efficiently.
• Prioritization: Effective vulnerability management requires prioritization to focus on the most critical issues first. Leveraging risk-based assessment tools can help identify vulnerabilities that pose the highest threats. By considering factors such as exploitability, potential impact, and the sensitivity of affected systems, teams can efficiently allocate resources to address the most pressing risks, ensuring enhanced security while maintaining operational efficiency.

The Open-Source Security Challenge

While first-party code management can be streamlined and controlled, third-party open-source code introduces a unique challenge. Open-source libraries are essential to modern development, but they often include vulnerabilities that remain unresolved for extended periods. According to the 2025 SoSS report:

• 70% of critical security debt originates in third-party code.
• Flaw remediation timelines in third-party libraries average 12 months, compared to 8 months for first-party code.

These statistics emphasize the critical need for proper evaluation and management of open-source dependencies, as they’re linked to mounting critical security debt.

Defending Against Open-Source Risk with a Package Firewall

One effective way to address the risks posed by open-source code is implementing a Package Firewall. A Package Firewall is the epitome of “shifting left.” It acts as a safeguard, analyzing, detecting, and mitigating risks associated with third-party libraries before they are integrated into an application. Here’s how it works:

• Evaluate Dependencies: The firewall scans all imported libraries for known vulnerabilities and flags risky components.
• Block Malicious Packages: By detecting potential threats like malicious packages early in the build process, the firewall reduces the risk of introducing vulnerabilities into your codebase.
• Policy Enforcement: It ensures compliance with organizational or industry security standards, promoting consistent practices across teams.

By incorporating tools like Veracode Package Firewall, organizations can significantly reduce the likelihood of security debt linked to open-source vulnerabilities.

For more insights and actionable strategies, explore the “Blueprint for a Secure Software Supply Chain.” This resource offers a comprehensive guide to building a secure, streamlined software development process that minimizes risk from the start.

Breaking Free from Security Debt Starts with Prioritization and Strategy

Managing security debt requires prioritizing flaws based on their severity, exploitability, and business context. Organizations that focus on addressing the most critical security debt first can achieve meaningful progress faster. Here’s how you can start:

1. Integrate Continuous Testing and Automation
   Rely on frequent security scans throughout the development life cycle to detect flaws as early as possible.
2. Contextualize Findings
   Use an application security posture management tool to determine which vulnerabilities are exploitable and urgent. This helps prioritize fixes that reduce the most risk with minimal effort.
3. Use AI for Remediation at Scale
   AI that’s specifically trained on high quality fix intelligence can quickly address recurring, low-complexity flaws, enabling teams to focus on more pressing issues.

Take the Next Step

Breaking free from security debt isn’t just about remediation; it’s about prevention, strategy, and leveraging the right tools to eliminate the most critical vulnerabilities at the source.

If you’re ready to take control of your software security posture, download the 2025 State of Software Security Report and learn how leading organizations are reducing security debt and safeguarding their futures.

Start your transformation today. Your software (and your organization) can’t afford to wait.