Deferring findings automatically without manual intervention using exception rules

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Deferring Findings Automatically Without Manual Intervention Using Exception Rules

    The Exception Rules feature in Security Exposure Management Workspace allows for the automatic deferral of findings without manual intervention. This process simplifies the management of vulnerabilities and configuration items (CIs) by automating the deferral of findings that cannot be immediately remediated.

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    Key Features

    • Automated Deferral: Automatically defer findings for a specified period based on predefined rule conditions, reducing manual workload and risk of missing service level agreements.
    • Priority Ordering: Exception rules are processed in order of priority; the highest priority rule is applied first, preventing subsequent rules from affecting the same finding.
    • Lifecycle Management: The lifecycle of an exception rule includes creation, approval, activation, deferral, and expiry.
    • Two-Level Approval Process: Exception rule requests require approval from two levels, ensuring thorough assessment and traceability.

    Key Outcomes

    Implementing exception rules allows your organization to efficiently manage findings by automating the deferral process, thus enhancing workflow consistency and reducing the effort needed for compliance. Once an exception rule is activated, findings will be deferred until the specified expiry date, after which they will revert to an open state if not resolved.

    Exception rules for Security Exposure Management Workspace enable you to automate the deferral process for findings. Request an exception for the findings that can't be remediated or deferred immediately, by identifying the impacted vulnerabilities, configuration items (CIs), or VIs. Defer the matching findings based on the rule when the system identifies them by automating the finding deferral process.

    Using exception rules in your organization

    Use exception rules to automatically defer new and existing findings for a specific period if they match the approved rule condition. Automation minimizes the risk of missing service level agreements and makes it easier to manage multiple items, because you are eliminating manual intervention.

    Deferral rules support ordering, that is, the rule with the highest priority is run first. When a high-priority rule is applied on a finding, no subsequent rules are applied on it again even if the condition matches the Finding.

    The life cycle of an exception rule is as follows:
    • Creating an exception rule
    • Approving an exception rule request
    • Activating an exception rule
    • Deferring an exception rule
    • Expiry of an exception rule
    Creating an exception rule

    You can create an exception rule to automatically defer the findings that match the defined conditions for the specified period. After you create an exception rule, submit it for approval.

    Approving an exception rule request
    Approving an exception rule request is a two-level process. If only the first-level approver is present, the exception rule can be assessed and approved by a single approval. However, if there's no first-level approver, an exception rule approval can't be approved. See Approve an exception rule request for more information.
    Note:
    The Change Approval (CA) is now also created during exception rule submission. This enhancement ensures consistency across exception workflows and improves traceability.
    After an exception rule request is approved, you can perform the following actions:
    • Cancel
    • Delete
    Activating an exception rule
    Starting from the "Valid from" date, the exception rule runs on all the findings that are created and also on the ones that are moved from the Closed to the Open state.
    Note:
    If you enable the Execute on existing data option, a scheduled job runs once on the existing data on the "Valid from" date.
    Deferring an exception rule

    You can defer findings that match the conditions defined in this exception rule, up to the "Deferred until" date that is defined for the rule. On this date, the remediation task that you created for the exception rule is closed and all the findings in this group move back to the Open state.

    Expiry of an exception rule

    After the exception rule expires, it no longer runs on new or reopened findings.