> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://developer.harness.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://developer.harness.io/security-testing-orchestration/3.0/new-to-sto/key-concepts/targets-and-baselines.md).

# Targets, variants, and baselines in STO

This topic discusses the following STO topics:

* [Targets](#targets)
* [Variants](#variants)
* [Baselines](#baselines)
* [Where was an issue detected: in the variant, in the baseline, or both?](#where-was-an-issue-detected-in-the-variant-in-the-baseline-or-both)
* [Every target needs a baseline](#every-target-needs-a-baseline)

#### Targets <a href="#targets" id="targets"></a>

#### Variants <a href="#variants" id="variants"></a>

#### Baselines <a href="#baselines" id="baselines"></a>

#### Is an issue unique to the variant or common to the baseline? <a href="#is-an-issue-unique-to-the-variant-or-common-to-the-baseline" id="is-an-issue-unique-to-the-variant-or-common-to-the-baseline"></a>

Every STO pipeline execution has a [Vulnerabilities tab](/security-testing-orchestration/3.0/use-sto/sto-security-issues/view-scan-results.md) with separate lists of issues that make it easy to determine

* Issues only in the variant.
* Issues common to the variant and the baseline.

If you scanned the baseline, or the baseline isn't defined, you'll see

* New issues only in the current scan (first list).
* Old issues common to the previous scan (second list).

#### Every target needs a baseline <a href="#every-target-needs-a-baseline" id="every-target-needs-a-baseline"></a>