A method for utilizing a security service engine (SSE) to assess security vulnerabilities on a security gateway element (SGE) includes establishing a security configuration for a SGE corresponding to a provisioned security service policy definition and configuring a plurality of SGE security service managers hosted by a SSE on the SGE based on policies included in the security service policy definition. The method further includes executing, by the SSE, each of the plurality of SGE security service managers as a software based service in real time to enforce the policies of the security service policy definition on the SGE and remediating the security configuration of the SGE if one or more of the plurality of SGE security service managers detects a security vulnerability corresponding to the operation of the SGE.