MANUFACTURING CYBERSECURITY RESEARCH
The Patch Gap: Why Manufacturing Risks Are Still Preventable
Known vulnerabilities can remain open when aging systems, production demands, and limited maintenance windows delay security updates. Accent Consulting’s research examines patch-related findings across 21 manufacturing organizations and explains how leaders can prioritize practical fixes.
What is Manufacturing Patch Managment?
Manufacturing patch management is the process of finding, prioritizing, testing and applying security updates across production systems, business applications, operating systems, network devices and connected equipment.
Because manufacturing environments must balance security with uptime, teams may need testing, approval, vendor coordination, and planned maintenance windows before applying a fix. The NIST Guide to Enterprise Patch Management Planning provides additional guidance on managing this process.
Why Does Patch Management Matter?
Known vulnerabilities can remain open when teams lack an accurate asset inventory, clear ownership, or enough time to test and apply updates.
As a result, outdated or unsupported systems may create avoidable exposure. Strong patch management helps manufacturers understand which systems need attention and decide which fixes should come first.
The Preventable Risk Behind the Patch Gap
Manufacturers often think of cyber risk as something advanced, such as ransomware, zero-day attacks, or highly skilled attackers. However, patch-related risks often begin with known vulnerabilities and available fixes.
The challenge is not always a lack of solutions. Instead, teams may need to identify affected systems, confirm ownership, schedule downtime, test changes or coordinate with equipment vendors.
Our research found patch-related findings across all 21 assessed manufacturing organizations. The findings included 246 patch-related findings and 81 possible missing security patches.
These findings do not mean that every system faced an active attack. Rather, they show that patch and update gaps appeared throughout the assessed sample. Therefore, manufacturers should focus first on the systems that are both reachable and important to production or business operations. Review the full manufacturing cybersecurity research to explore the other risk areas.
100%
of assessed organizations had patch-related findings.
81
possible missing security patches identified.
246
patch-related findings identified.
15%
of total findings were patch-related.
Source: Accent Consulting analysis of 1,625 anonymized cybersecurity findings from assessments of 21 manufacturing organizations conducted between 2023 and 2026.
PATCH VISIBILITY
Why Patch Management Starts with Knowing What You Have
Manufacturers cannot manage patch risk without a current view of their systems, software, owners and patch status.
A reliable inventory should include production systems, business applications, remote-access tools, network devices, operating systems, and other connected assets. It should also record software versions, support status, system owners and maintenance needs.
Legacy platforms and production systems may require different approval or testing steps. Even so, teams need a clear way to track known vulnerabilities, planned fixes, approved exceptions, and temporary controls.
For that reason, patch management starts with visibility. Teams cannot prioritize what they cannot identify.
RISK PRIORITIZATION
Why Reachable and High-Impact Should Move First
Patch-related findings represented 15% of the total findings in the research sample. The analysis also identified 246 patch-related findings.
These results show why manufacturers need a clear way to rank patching work. Start with systems that are both reachable and important to operations, such as internet-facing systems, remote administration tools, production-connected assets, and systems that hold sensitive information. Teams should also consider whether a vulnerability appears in CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog.
For example, internet-facing systems, remote administration tools, production-connected assets and systems that hold sensitive information may require earlier attention.
Next, consider exposure, exploitability, operational impact, asset importance, and the availability of a practical fix.
As a result, teams can focus limited maintenance time on the vulnerabilities most likely to create business or production disruption.
Why Patch Management Starts with Knowing What You Have.
Effective patch management depends on five connected practices. Together, they help manufacturers understand exposure, prioritize work and measure progress over time.
PRODUCTION CONSTRAINTS
Why Uptime Should Not Become a Permanent Reason to Defer Fixes
Manufacturing patching can be difficult because uptime, testing, vendor timing, and equipment dependencies are real constraints.
These factors should shape the patching plan. However, they should not turn known vulnerabilities into accepted background risk without review.
High-maturity programs use planned maintenance windows, testing, documented exceptions, and review dates. This approach does not require teams to patch every system immediately. Instead, it helps them assign ownership, document decisions, and set a clear next step.
Over time, this process can reduce avoidable exposure while keeping operational decisions visible and accountable.
LEGACY AND REMOTE ACCESS
Why Unsupported Systems and Remote Tools Need Special Attention
The patch gap is not limited to ordinary software updates. It can also involve end-of-life operating systems, unsupported platforms, production workstations, and remote-access tools that continue to support important work.
These assets may combine operational importance with elevated exposure. As a result, they can create higher-priority risks even when standard patching is not possible.
Manufacturing teams should also consider CISA’s industrial control systems security resources when reviewing production-connected assets.
Teams may need to consider isolation, replacement planning, vendor-supported upgrades, restricted access, temporary controls or closer monitoring.
Remote-access tools also require regular review. Keep them current when possible, protect them with MFA, limit direct internet exposure, and govern them like any other critical pathway into the environment.
How Patch Risk Builds
Patch risk often follows a predictable pattern. First, teams lack a complete view of their assets or vulnerabilities. Next, production constraints delay updates or other fixes. Finally, unresolved gaps remain open and may increase exposure over time.
COMMON QUESTIONS
How Manufactures Can Improve Patch Management
What are the best practices for manufacturing patch management?
Effective patch management begins with an accurate inventory of hardware, software, operating systems, and connected devices.
Manufacturers should track known vulnerabilities, assign system owners, prioritize patches based on risk, test updates when necessary, and document approved exceptions. In addition, teams should review unsupported systems, monitor remote-access tools, and reassess open vulnerabilities over time.
How can manufacturing companies improve cybersecurity through patching?
Manufacturers can improve cybersecurity by identifying vulnerable systems, prioritizing internet-facing and high-impact assets, and applying security updates within a defined schedule. When immediate patching is not possible, teams should document the reason and apply compensating controls. These controls may include network segmentation, restricted access, additional monitoring, or temporary system isolation.
What are the biggest patch management challenges in manufacturing?
Common challenges include legacy equipment, limited maintenance windows, unsupported software, production uptime requirements, incomplete asset inventories, and systems that are difficult to update. Because some updates may affect production, manufacturers should coordinate patching with operations, engineering, IT, and system owners. A risk-based process helps teams address the most important vulnerabilities first without disrupting essential operations.
How much manufacturing cyber risk is related to patching?
Patch-related risk can appear when known vulnerabilities remain unresolved, systems reach end of support, or security updates are delayed.
The exact level of risk varies by organization. It depends on factors such as system exposure, vulnerability severity, available security controls, system ownership, and the potential effect on production or business operations.
For that reason, manufacturers should evaluate patch risk across the full environment instead of relying only on the number of missing updates.
How can manufacturers reduce ransomware risk through better patch management?
Manufacturers can reduce ransomware risk by prioritizing vulnerabilities that affect internet-facing systems, remote-access tools, operating systems, identity services and production-connected assets. Teams should also maintain accurate asset inventories, use MFA, segment IT and OT networks, monitor important systems, test backups and document exceptions when patches cannot be applied immediately. Patch management is an important part of ransomware defense. However, it works best when combined with access controls, endpoint protection, network monitoring and recovery planning.
PATCH MANAGEMENT NEXT STEPS
Prioritize the Patch Gaps That Matter Most
Known vulnerabilities do not all create the same level of risk. Accent Consulting can help your organization improve patch visibility, prioritize reachable and high-impact systems, and build a practical plan to reduce preventable exposure.