diff --git a/vulnz/src/main/java/io/github/jeremylong/vulnz/cli/commands/CveCommand.java b/vulnz/src/main/java/io/github/jeremylong/vulnz/cli/commands/CveCommand.java
index a10b3c9..6be063a 100644
--- a/vulnz/src/main/java/io/github/jeremylong/vulnz/cli/commands/CveCommand.java
+++ b/vulnz/src/main/java/io/github/jeremylong/vulnz/cli/commands/CveCommand.java
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ private Integer processRequest(NvdCveClientBuilder apiBuilder, CacheProperties p
         // will hold all entries that have been changed within the last8 days across all years
         List<DefCveItem> recentlyChangedEntries = new ArrayList<>();
 
-        for (int currentYear = START_YEAR; currentYear <= Year.now().getValue(); currentYear++) {
+        for (int currentYear = EARLIEST_CVE_YEAR; currentYear <= Year.now().getValue(); currentYear++) {
 
             // Be forgiving, if we fail to fetch a year, we just continue with the next one
             try {
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ private Integer processRequest(NvdCveClientBuilder apiBuilder, CacheProperties p
                 apiBuilder.removeLastModifiedFilter();
                 apiBuilder.removePublishDateFilter();
 
-                Path cacheFilePath = buildCacheTargetFile(properties, String.valueOf(currentYear));
+                Path cacheFilePath = buildCacheTargetFile(properties, currentYear);
                 LOG.info("INFO *** Processing year {} ***", currentYear);
                 CvesNvdPojo existingCacheData = loadExistingCacheAndConfigureApi(apiBuilder, currentYear,
                         cacheFilePath);
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ private Integer processRequest(NvdCveClientBuilder apiBuilder, CacheProperties p
                 if (cvesForYear.lastUpdated != null) {
                     properties.set("lastModifiedDate", cvesForYear.lastUpdated);
                 }
-                storeToCache(String.valueOf(currentYear), cvesForYear, properties);
+                storeToCache(currentYear, cvesForYear, properties);
                 LOG.info("INFO *** Finished year {} with #{} entries ***", currentYear,
                         cvesForYear.vulnerabilities.size());
 
@@ -399,6 +399,14 @@ private CvesNvdPojo aggregateCvesForYear(int year, NvdCveClientBuilder apiBuilde
         return finalResult;
     }
 
+    private void storeToCache(int year, CvesNvdPojo cves, CacheProperties properties) {
+        int target = year;
+        if (target < START_YEAR) {
+            target = START_YEAR;
+        }
+        storeToCache(String.valueOf(target), cves, properties);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Given the CVEs for the year, stores all of them in a json cache file and a meta-dat file. creates
      * nvdcve-$year.json.gz and nvdcve-$year.meta
@@ -516,6 +524,14 @@ private ZonedDateTime determineExistingCacheFileLastChanged(Path cacheFilePath)
                 ZoneOffset.UTC);
     }
 
+    private Path buildCacheTargetFile(CacheProperties properties, int year) {
+        int target = year;
+        if (target < START_YEAR) {
+            target = START_YEAR;
+        }
+        return buildCacheTargetFile(properties, String.valueOf(target));
+    }
+
     private Path buildCacheTargetFile(CacheProperties properties, String target) {
         final String prefix = properties.get("prefix", "nvdcve-");
         return Path.of(properties.getDirectory().getPath(), prefix + target + ".json.gz");