Scenario: During a CI/CD pipeline execution, a critical security vulnerability is identified in the code. What should be the immediate action taken by the development team?

Upon identifying a critical security vulnerability during CI/CD pipeline execution, the immediate action should be to halt the deployment and fix the vulnerability immediately. This ensures that the security issue is addressed promptly, preventing it from being deployed to production. Documenting the vulnerability, notifying the security team, and scheduling a fix are important steps in the post-incident response process.