By alphacardprocess March 31, 2026
What do you do when your heart sinks, and you feel stressed as you look at the PCI ASV scan report? Your scan results are due, and instead of a Pass, you get a list of failures due to High, Medium, and Critical vulnerabilities across your systems with internet exposure. Your compliance deadline is approaching, and you are left with frustration and uncertainty, with a list of failure error codes and no idea how to mitigate the risk to prevent the fines.
Thousands of merchants and service providers get reports from PCI DSS Approved Scanning Vendor (ASV) each quarter. These reports are the results of scans done against your external attack surface (for PCI DSS requirement 11.3.2). These reports are compliance reports, and the results are difficult to explain.
These reports are more difficult to explain than scan results, and they are more difficult to explain than the compliance reports. ASV scans shows external vulnerabilities for services that handle cardholder data. These scans must be done to remain PCI compliant, and they must be done to maintain the security of the external attack surface.
In this compliance frustration, we can help you systematize compliance. We help you learn from frustration, systematize the scanning and get the results you want, and we help you learn how to do this.
What Is a PCI ASV Scan Report—and Why Is It Important?
Automated PCI ASV scans are external vulnerability assessments conducted by a PCI SSC approved vendor. These scans are designed to find vulnerabilities on your public-facing IPs, domains, and systems that involve cardholder data and are scannable from an attacker’s perspective on the internet.detectify.com
The outcome of the scan constitutes your official scorecard. You pass the scan if there are no Medium (CVSS 4.0–6.9), High (7.0– 8.9), or Critical (9.0–10.0) vulnerabilities; any presence of these vulnerabilities results in a fail. You are required to obtain four clean passes annually (one pass each quarter, and after any “significant change” to your systems such as firewall modifications or newly introduced APIs). Failure to do so will result in exposure to merchant-level penalties up to $100,000/month for Level 1 non-compliance).
The most important sections of an ASV scan report are:
– Executive Summary. Summary of the scan result and the number of identified vulnerabilities.
– Vulnerability Details. Explanation of the vulnerabilities, including applicable error codes, CVSS score, affected hosts, and how to fix the issue.
– Remediation Report. Instructions to fix the vulnerabilities to obtain permission for a rescan.
– Attestation of Scan Compliance (AoSC). Only your auditor cares about this (passes only).
ASV scans are to be done only after IPs of ASV and WAFs scanners are whitelisted by your firewall to avoid your scanners being “unreachable” for any reason.
ASV reports are designed to track vulnerabilities by CVE, CWEs, and just about any vendor-specific identifiers, sometimes referred to as “error codes.” Below are the most common error codes, based on scan data from 2025-2026.
| Error Code/Type | CVSS Range | Description | Example Impact |
| SSL/TLS Weak Ciphers (e.g., CVE-2016-2183 for Sweet32) | Medium–High | Supports outdated protocols like SSL 3.0, TLS 1.0/1.1, or weak ciphers (e.g., RC4). | Enables decryption attacks on encrypted traffic. |
| Expired/Self-Signed Certs | Medium | Certs past expiration or not from a trusted CA. | Man-in-the-middle risks; browsers flag as insecure. |
| Exposed Ports/Services (e.g., Port 23/Telnet) | High | Unnecessary open ports like FTP (21), Telnet (23), or RDP (3389). | Direct attack vectors for brute-force or exploits. |
| Outdated Software (e.g., Apache <2.4.49, CVE-2021-41773) | High–Critical | Unpatched servers, libraries, or plugins. | Known exploits like remote code execution. |
| Misconfigurations (e.g., HTTP TRACE Enabled) | Medium | Exposed methods or headers revealing server info. | Info leakage aiding reconnaissance. |
Other than these specific vulnerabilities, they also relate to the secure configuration (req. 2) and vulnerability management (req. 6) of PCI DSS compliance.
Top Reasons Your ASV Scan Fails (and How to Spot Them Fast)
Overall, there are three main reasons: configuration drift, missing patches, and scope drift. Check the Vulnerability List section first – sorted by severity.
1. Outdated encryption (40 – 50% of failures): TLS <1.2 or weak ciphers due to legacy applications. Check for “SSLv3” or “RC4” in the description.
2. Certificate problems (20 – 30%): expired certificates on subdomains or load balancers. Don’t forget the “Affected hosts” column.
3. Open Ports/Services (15 – 25%): Non-standard ports that firewalls do not close. Reports have “Banner: OpenSSH” on admin interfaces that are exposed.
4. Unpatched vulnerabilities (10 – 20%): CVEs that have been published in the last 6 – 12 months. Cross-reference with NIST NVD.
5. False Positives? There is a possibility, although unlikely, for example, WAF blocking scans. Document and submit to your ASV for review. redseclabs.com
Step-by-Step Remediation: Fix, Rescan, Pass
To get approval the fastest, ensure to abide by the measures in your Remediation Report. As a rule of thumb:
1. Triage and Prioritize
– Day 1: Delegate task ownership by host/service. Start with the Critical and High severity.
– Employ Nessus or Qualys for internal validation (ASVs are external only).
2. Eliminate Common Problems
– SSL/TLS: Enforce TLS 1.2+ only. Reconfigure your server (e.g. for Apache, SSLProtocol all -SSLv3 -TLSv1 -TLSv1.1). Validate at SSL Labs.
– Certificates: automate rotation via Let’s Encrypt or your CA, and Certbot.
– Ports/Services: Closure via firewall (i.e. iptables -A INPUT -p tcp –dport 23 -j DROP). Segment your PCI systems.
– Patches: for vendor updates, apply them. For custom apps, code fixes or virtual patching via WAF.
3. Rescan and Validate
– Submit a “rescan request.” (Within 30 days. it’s free).
– Whitelisting is still active, don’t forget it.
– Count 24 to 72 hours for results.
4. Sidestep Reoccurrence
– ASV monthly scans are automated.
– Changes occur at CI/CD gates.
– Integrations of Clone Systems (e.g., AI tools for vuln prioritization).
| Problem | Quick Fix Time | Tools |
| TLS Ciphers | 1–2 hours | SSL Labs, OpenSSL |
| Certs | 30 mins | Let’s Encrypt |
| Open Ports | 15 mins | Firewall CLI/GUI |
| Patches | 1–7 days | WSUS, Ansible |
Tips for Mastering ASV Reports and Sustainable Compliance
– Advocate with your ASV: Most offer free support for remediation disputes.
– Scope Control: Conduct a quarterly review of all in-scope assets and offboard any IPs that are no longer in use.
– 2026 Costs: $500–$2,000/quarter for small scopes; scales with IPs.
– ASV+ (ASV Plus): For complete security, internal scans and pentests are essential.
Passing your PCI ASV report is not enough. It is about creating a defensible perimeter. By including these noted vulnerabilities, your upcoming scan could guarantee a pass. Have a difficult report? Offer your report (anonymized) for specific recommendations.
Conclusion: Scan Fail = Compliance Win
Understanding your PCI ASV scan report grants you a unique ability to modify your weaknesses and not only complete your quarterly scans but also have a stronger security posture. Having knowledge about error codes, reasons for failing, and how to fix issues will help you to reduce the number of times you need to be rescanned, keep you away from fines, and be prepared for the upcoming PCI DSS 4.0. The journey begin with your last report, reduce, fix, rescanning, and compliance with your routine.
Questions and Answers
1- How often should I do PCI ASV scans?
Every quarter PCI DSS requires a scan. In addition to the quarterly scans, a scan is required after significant network modifications (i.e. new servers or new rules for the firewall) so that a scan pass is required. The scan is required to be consecutive and have no high or critical vulnerabilities.
2- Can ASV scan report false positives?
Evidence needs to be documented (WAF logs that show the blocking of the evidence). Submit a dispute to your ASV using the documented evidence and they will review the evidence and possibly exclude it. False positives are seldom documented but are often found at endpoints with restricted rates.
3- Can I use internal scans in place of ASV?
You cannot use internal scans as ASV scans are required to use a PCI SSC-approved vendor for AoSC and compliance validation. Tools like Nessus are used, but they should not be used to replace ASV.
4- What is the time frame for remediation?
We see the majority of issues take 1-7 days to resolve. Configurations and certificates can take several hours, days for patches, or longer for more complex issues. Remember, schedule rescans right away as most ASVs take 24-72 hours to process free within 30 days.