Windows Patch Management Remediation Guidance
SUMMARY Tenable Research is making changes to Windows-based patch management integrations that affect vulnerability remediation. This announcement only applies to customers who are using the WSUS and SCCM patch management credentials. Vulnerabilities identified by WSUS and SCCM integrations will now be identified as “local checks”, which will cause them to now affect vulnerability remediation, also known as vulnerability mitigation. CHANGE Prior to this change, vulnerabilities identified by these scans could not be remediated except by a Host credentialed scan - in other words, a Windows (SMB) credential. After this change, vulnerabilities identified by these Windows patch management scans may be remediated with a subsequent Windows patch management scan. Windows patch management credentials will identify only a subset of the vulnerabilities that a Host credentialed scan will. Therefore, a scenario could arise in which a patch management scan incorrectly remediates vulnerabilities previously identified by a Host credentialed scan. To prevent incorrectly remediating vulnerabilities, Tenable advises customers using a combination of patch management and Host credentials to combine them in a single scan, rather than running them in separate scans. IMPACT Customers who are not using patch management credentials are not affected by this change. Customers using patch management credentials but not Host credentials do not need to take any action, but will now see vulnerabilities identified by Windows and SCCM integrations being remediated. The guidance to combine credentials in a single scan applies to customers who are using Windows-based patch management credentials in combination with Windows Host (SMB) credentials. TARGET RELEASE DATE February 23, 2026