How do I check whether a CVE has a patch available?
Check the vendor advisory linked from the CVE record, because that is the only authoritative source for a fix. Patch availability changes after publication, so a CVE that had no fix at disclosure often has one days later — which means the answer has to be re-checked rather than recorded once during triage.
The gap between disclosure and patch is where the risk concentrates. A vulnerability with public exploit code and no vendor fix is the case that justifies compensating controls: restricting reachability, disabling the affected feature, or adding detection.
Where no patch exists yet, the advisory usually carries a workaround. Those are worth applying even when they are inconvenient, because the alternative is an exposure with no expiry date.
Once a fix ships, urgency does not drop — it rises. Attackers reverse-engineer patches quickly, so unpatched systems get easier to attack after the fix is public, not harder.