A security assessment technique used to identify and evaluate potential weaknesses or vulnerabilities in a computer system, network, or application.
Vulnerability scanner

Hardware or software configured with a list of known weaknesses and exploits and that can scan for their presence in a host OS or particular application.
Vulnerability assessment

The results of vulnerability scanning that identifies missing patches, deviations from baseline configuration templates, and other related vulnerabilities each of which is categorized and prioritized using an assigned impact warning.
