---
title: What are the differences between penetration testing and vulnerability assessment?
description: The key difference between a vulnerability assessment and a penetration test.
---

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# What are the differences between penetration testing and vulnerability assessment?

A vulnerability assessment identifies known weaknesses like missing patches, outdated software, and common misconfigurations. A penetration test goes further by actively chaining together vulnerabilities into exploits to validate real risk and business impact. Vulnerability assessments show what might be wrong. Penetration testing proves what actually matters.

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