CVA is found by adding up, period by period, the expected loss from a default of the counterparty. The expected loss for each period is the product of the expected exposure at that time, the probability that the counterparty defaults in that period, and the loss given default (one minus the recovery rate). The lower the counterparty's creditworthiness, the larger CVA becomes and the lower the value.
Reflecting only the counterparty's side is called unilateral CVA, and also reflecting the firm's own side (DVA) is called bilateral CVA. Japanese sources differ in what the Japanese term for credit valuation adjustment covers. The Financial Services Agency and Bank of Japan overview and a 2017 paper by the Bank of Japan's Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies (Yuichi Saito) use it for CVA. A 2018 paper by the same institute (Takashi Kawakami) uses it for CVA and DVA together.