This study investigates the software vulnerability resolution time in the Maven ecosystem, focusing on the influence of CVE severity, library popularity as measured by the number of dependents, and version release frequency. The results suggest that critical vulnerabilities are addressed slightly faster compared to lower-severity ones. Library popularity shows a positive impact on resolution times, while frequent version updates are associated with faster vulnerability fixes. These statistically significant findings are based on a thorough evaluation of over 14 million versions from 658,078 libraries using the dependency graph database of Goblin framework. These results emphasize the need for proactive maintenance strategies to improve vulnerability management in open-source ecosystems.

Vulnerabilities in software libraries and reusable components cause major security challenges, particularly in dependency-heavy ecosystems such as Maven. This paper presents a large-scale analysis of vulnerabilities in the Maven ecosystem using the Goblin framework. Our analysis focuses on the aspects and implications of vulnerability types, documentation delays, and resolution timelines. We identify 77,393 vulnerable releases with 226 unique CWEs. On average, vulnerabilities take nearly half a decade to be documented and 4.4 years to be resolved, with some remaining unresolved for even over a decade. The delays in documenting and fixing vulnerabilities incur security risks for the library users emphasizing the need for more careful and efficient vulnerability management in the Maven ecosystem.