Nearly 32% of advisories have inaccurate info
Open Source Security · Seal Security Research ·

1 in 3 critical Java advisoriesgot the facts wrong.

We took 94 recent critical-severity Java vulnerabilities and re-checked every GitHub advisory against the actual published Maven artifacts. 30 of them - almost one in three - carried wrong information: the wrong affected versions, the wrong fixed version, or the wrong package named entirely. And the volume of advisories you're meant to trust is climbing faster than ever.

The experiment

94 critical Java vulnerabilities. We re-checked every advisory.

We pulled 94 recent critical-severity Java vulnerabilities and compared each GitHub advisory against the actual published artifacts and sources. When the data is wrong, so is the scanner - this noise might seem negligible, but besides forcing you to upgrade dependencies for no reason, it widens your exposure to supply-chain attacks.

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Wrong affected range

The advisory's vulnerable-version range didn't match reality. Scanners then flag builds that are actually safe, or stay silent on builds that are actually exposed.

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Wrong package

The advisory named the wrong Maven artifact entirely - making users update the wrong thing and remaining vulnerable.

Wrong fixed version

The version listed as "fixed" didn't actually contain the patch - or pointed at the wrong release. "Just upgrade to the fixed version" leaves you exposed.

In the wild

The common cases.

Overzealous version range CVE-2025-66614 · GHSA-fpj8-gq4v-p354 ↗
Maven · org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-embed-core

The range listed has no lower bound, so it also matches versions outside the 9.x line. Tomcat 8.5 and older are EOL, so fell through the cracks despite having the information in the description of the advisory.

Advisory< 9.0.113no lower bound - over-matches
Actually>= 9.0.0-M1, < 9.0.113
>= 8.5.0, <= 8.5.100
Maven · org.jenkins-ci.plugins:git

Due to the confusion of Jenkins plugins and Java dependencies, the actual artifact is completely wrong, while the correct one doesn't appear in the advisory at all.

Advisoryorg.jenkins-ci.plugins:git
Actuallycom.coravy.hudson.plugins.github:github
Maven · org.pac4j:pac4j-core

The advisory marks this deserialization RCE fixed in 4.0.0 - but 4.0.0 only added an opt-in allow-list while still deserializing attacker-controlled profile attributes by default. The vulnerable handler wasn't removed until 4.1.0.

Advisoryfixed in 4.0.0still deserializes by default
Actuallyfixed in 4.1.0
The trend

There are more advisories than ever.

The accuracy problem is getting bigger because the pile is getting bigger. In the first half of 2026 alone, GitHub filed roughly 6,900 reviewed advisories - already nearly double all of 2025.

GitHub-reviewed security advisories per quarter

Advisories filed each quarter.

Quarterly advisory count 2026 - current surge

Source: GitHub Advisory Database.

The solution

Seal verifies the advisory before you act on it.

We don't take advisory metadata at face value. Seal re-checks the affected package, the vulnerable-version range, and the fixed version against the real artifacts - then ships a verified, tested patch. As we showed in our previous research, the standard disclosure process is already too slow for the age of agentic exploitation - and now the data itself can't be trusted as-is.

Seal is a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA). When we publish a vulnerability, we set the affected and fixed version ranges ourselves - verified against the real artifacts - so the advisory is accurate at the source, not corrected after the fact.

FAQ

Common questions

Get protected

Patch from data you can actually trust.

Seal re-verifies vulnerability advisories against the real artifacts and ships tested patches - so you're not chasing false positives or shipping versions that were never really fixed. Scan your dependencies and see what's covered.

With Seal Security
Every advisory re-checked against the real artifact. Wrong version ranges, fixed versions, and misattributed packages corrected. Verified, tested patches - no code changes required.
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