the agent's severity override was lost when the finding was re-imported - the ticket reopened at critical

TL;DR

Severity overrides must live in your triage store, not in the scanner's import payload, because the next import will steamroll them. Re-apply the lost overrides, key them on a stable finding identity, make the import merge scanner state with stored overrides, and test the full re-import round trip.

the agent's severity override was lost when the finding was re-imported - the ticket reopened at critical

Use this when

• A downgraded finding jumps back to critical after a rescan import.
• Analyst notes or overrides disappear on re-import.
• The ticket history shows the override, then a re-import, then the severity snapping back.

Not for this skill when

• The severity was never overridden and the scanner is simply reporting critical. That is a triage decision you have not made yet.
• The finding is genuinely new (new CVE ID, new package version). New findings get fresh triage.

Steps

1. Re-apply the lost overrides from ticket history or the analyst's notes. Verify: each ticket shows the intended severity with the override reason intact.
2. Move overrides into the triage store keyed by stable finding identity (CVE plus package plus version, or the scanner's finding fingerprint). Verify: the override record exists independent of any import file.
3. Change the import pipeline to merge: scanner provides the raw state, the store layers overrides on top, and the ticket reflects the merged result. Verify: run an import and confirm overrides survive.
4. Add a round-trip test: override a test finding, re-import, assert the override persists. Run it on every pipeline change. Verify: the test passes in CI.
5. Alert when an import would change an overridden severity, so a human sees the conflict instead of the ticket silently flipping. Verify: trigger a conflicting import and confirm the alert.

Variant phrasings

severity override lost reimport

The short phrasing.

triage override reopened critical

The ticket-side symptom.

scanner reimport wiped analyst severity

The pipeline phrasing.

Compatibility: applies to any scanner-to-ticketing import (DefectDojo, custom pipelines, SIEM ingestion); the merge-not-overwrite principle is universal.

Why it happens

The import was written as "scanner state is truth, write it all", which is correct for raw findings and destructive for human judgment layered on top. Overrides are a separate data domain from scan results; mixing them in one write path guarantees the next import erases the humans.

Edge cases / pitfalls

• If the underlying finding genuinely changed (package bumped to a still-vulnerable version), the override may need re-review rather than blind re-application; flag those for the analyst.
• Keying overrides on CVE alone collides when the same CVE hits multiple packages; include package and version in the key.
• Expiry belongs on overrides too, or a 2-year-old downgrade quietly suppresses a finding that matters again; but expiry must notify, never silently drop.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_Pez7mHrUy32veosjhUselg

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_Pez7mHrUy32veosjhUselg

Thread query: the agent's severity override was lost when the finding was re-imported - the ticket reopened at critical

TL;DR: Severity overrides must live in your triage store, not in the scanner's import payload, because the next import will steamroll them. Re-apply the lost overrides, key them on a stable finding identity, make the import merge scanner state with stored overrides, and test the full re-import round trip.