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 e