How would I use NIST's json vulnerability feeds to check my computer for vulnerabilities?

Question

Edited for improved question duties.

My goal is to automate the provision of vulnerability data for my computer. NIST publishes json feeds, that contain computer os, vulnerabilities, along with associated software, etc.

I'm searching these json's to see if there's any match for my os or for any software products I'm using. So far, I've figured out how to pull the json data and unzip it to my local directory, and I've got a good handle on the json structure (I can find just about anything I need to).

But now, I'm wondering how I would automate the comparison of the json to my against my machine, a pc or a mac. I guess I'm looking for various ways to pull my system info or, better yet, an arbitrary system's info, like how to pythonically list applications (with their info).

The json contains information like (and I can structure this however): junos, juniper, version 2.1, exploitability 2.5, ...

How can I get version level info on my application data? Ideally I would want to put in a dictionary and create some sort interpreter dictionary to match against the json data.

Answer 1

If I understand your question correctly you are asking "How can I, with little programming experience, implement, de novo, a security vulnerability scanner for my PC?" If my understanding of your question is correct then the answer is... you do not. There are plenty of vulnerability scanners out there check them out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulnerability_scanner

You mention you are new to InfoSec. Therefore as a learning exercise, I would suggest you start by investigation 1 or two of the threats in the feed you link and figure out how you might look for a vulnerability in your PC configuration to that small subset of vulnerabilities. If you can do that, figure out if you can look for those vulnerabilities in an automated way. If you can you will have learned something and maybe started a fun project.

Edit Response:

In your edit you ask how to manually evaluate your PC for one of these vulnerabilities. I'm assuming Your feed has a CVE number. If so, you can find details on the vulnerability at https://cve.mitre.org/ including the vectors one could use to exploit the vulnerability. This should give you (if you study it carefully and utilize your resources such as search engines) sufficient information to evaluate the possibility that your machine is vulnerable.