---
title: Automatically close vulnerable items related to retired CIs
description: If the Configuration Management Database \(CMDB\) changes the life cycle stage status of a configuration item \(CI\) to retired, you can choose to automatically close the associated vulnerable items \(VIs\) and detections.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/security-management/vulnerability-response/auto-close-vis.html
release: australia
product: Vulnerability Response
classification: vulnerability-response
topic_type: task
last_updated: "2026-03-12"
reading_time_minutes: 2
keywords: [auto-close vulnerable items, auto-close retired configuration items, auto-close retired CIs]
breadcrumb: [Automatic closing of vulnerable items and detections, Triage vulnerabilities automatically, Vulnerability Response remediation overview, Vulnerability Response, Unified Security Exposure Management, Security Operations]
---

# Automatically close vulnerable items related to retired CIs

If the Configuration Management Database \(CMDB\) changes the life cycle stage status of a configuration item \(CI\) to retired, you can choose to automatically close the associated vulnerable items \(VIs\) and detections.

## Before you begin

Role required: sn\_vul.admin

## About this task

Starting with v22.0 of Vulnerability Response, to automatically close the associated VIs and detections, you must enable the system property **sn\_vul\_cmn.auto\_close\_vis\_linked\_retired\_cis** to auto-close VIs that are associated with retired CIs. To enable the option, set the Value field to '1'. Conversely, to disable the option, set the Value field to '0'.

During an upgrade if the system property **sn\_vul\_cmn.auto\_close\_vis\_linked\_retired\_cis** is selected in v21.0 of Vulnerability Response, then the value remains as '1'. When this option is enabled, any new or existing VIs and detections reported for the same CI, are automatically created or updated with a status of 'Closed'. This is based on the Asset ID in the scanner payload and status of the Discovered Items entry. For more information on the impact of retired CIs, see [Working with retired configuration items](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/security-management/vulnerability-response/working-with-retired-CIs.md)

.

**Note:**

-   The state of a DI is updated to 'CI decommissioned' whenever the life cycle state of a CI is updated. On the other hand, the state of a VI is updated to Closed only when the **Auto-close VIs linked to retired CIs** option is enabled.
-   The information provided in the following procedure is only applicable to versions prior to v22.0 of Vulnerability Response. Starting from v22.0 of Vulnerability Response, you have the option to configure additional search options. See [Create auto-close rules](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/security-management/vulnerability-response/create-auto-close-rules.md) for more information.

## Procedure

1.  Navigate to **All** > **Vulnerability Response** > **Auto-Close Configuration** > **Configuration Item Lifecycle**.

2.  To automatically close vulnerable items associated with the retired CIs, select the **Auto-close VIs linked to retired CIs** check box.

3.  Select **Update**.

    **Note:** If a CI is already retired before the **Auto-close VIs linked to retired CIs** option is enabled, VIs are created only for new detections from scanners. The state of these VIs is Closed and the substate is CI Decommissioned.

    You cannot manually reopen VIs whose state is CI decommissioned, using the **Reopen** or **Bulk Edit** options.

    Closed VIs with a substate of fixed or stale are reopened if a new detection is created and the VIs can be matched with the new vulnerability. See [Detections, remediation tasks, and vulnerable item states](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/security-management/vulnerability-response/vr-detections-rt-vi-states.md) for more information.