71% of vulnerability exploitation starts within a week of disclosure Attackers are exploiting newly disclosed security flaws within days, leaving organizations little time to respond, according to Rapid7’s Q3 2026 Quarterly Threat Landscape Report. The company reported an average of three days between public disclosure and exploitation of high-severity vulnerabilities, with 71% of tracked exploitation occurring within the first week. Cumulative exploitation rate (Source: Rapid7) Exploitation puts pressure on fixed patching schedules Researchers tracked 43 newly exploited high- and critical-severity vulnerabilities during the quarter. Organizations relying on fixed remediation schedules are under pressure to distinguish vulnerabilities with high severity ratings from those posing an…