A manufacturer is preparing to deploy a vendor security patch to a fleet of production servers that run a critical order-processing application. What should the security professional ensure happens BEFORE the patch is rolled out to production?
- AThe patch is tested in a representative non-production environment and a rollback procedure is documented and verified. Correct
- BThe vendor's release notes are forwarded to operations so the patch can be applied during the next scheduled maintenance window.
- CThe patch is applied first to a single production server during low-traffic hours so that real behaviour can be observed.
- DThe patch is digitally signed by the vendor and confirmed to address a vulnerability listed on the current scanner report.
Why A is correct: Testing in a like-production environment plus a verified rollback is the standard manager-level safeguard for production patches and is what change management expects before approving deployment.
Why B is wrong: Forwarding release notes is a useful communication step, but it is not a substitute for testing the patch against the application in a representative environment.
Why C is wrong: A canary in production reduces blast radius but still exposes live business workload to an untested change; pre-production testing should come first, with phased production rollout afterwards.
Why D is wrong: Signature validation and tying the patch to a known finding are necessary integrity and relevance checks, but they do not show that the patch will run safely against the application.