Nessus Scan Report

Vulnerability scanning and reporting are essential steps in evaluating and improving the security of a network. By knowing which vulnerabilities affect hosts on the network, security teams can coordinate their mitigation efforts more effectively. Nessus provides vulnerability scan information and Tenable.sc Continuous View (CV) has the ability to monitor and report on scan data from Nessus.

The Nessus Scan Report presents extensive data about vulnerabilities detected on the network. The report can be especially useful to security teams that are new to Tenable.sc but are familiar with the format and content of reports generated by Nessus. Detailed information about the vulnerabilities detected on every host scanned is included. Security teams can use this report to easily identify vulnerabilities and the affected hosts in their network.

Depending on the size and layout of the network, limiting the scope of this report may be useful. Tenable.sc can configure the scope of a report when it is added from the Feed. On the Report Detail page, using the drop-down menu of options under the Focus heading allows the report to be limited by assets, IP addresses and hostnames, or repositories.

Another useful approach to limiting the scope of the report is to apply the report to scan as a post-scan action. Post-scan actions, such as email notifications and automatic report generation, are conducted automatically each time a scan is completed. Limiting the scope will allow the report to be focused on areas of particular concern and make the report more manageable to review.

The chapters in this report provide both a high-level overview and an in-depth analysis of the vulnerability status of the network. Charts are used to illustrate the ratio of vulnerability severities as well as list the most vulnerable hosts by vulnerability score. An iterator is used to provide detailed information on each host scanned. For each host, the IP address, DNS name, NetBIOS name, MAC address, repository, vulnerability total, and last scanned time are listed. A severity summary of each host shows how many vulnerabilities of each severity level impact that host. Detailed information about every vulnerability detected on that host is listed, including plugin ID, plugin name, plugin family, severity, protocol, port, exploitability, host CPE, plugin text, first discovered, and last seen times. Security teams can use this extensive data in order to identify vulnerabilities in their network and tailor their mitigation efforts accordingly.

This report is available in the Tenable.sc Feed, a comprehensive collection of dashboards, reports, Assurance Report Cards and assets. This report can be easily located in the Tenable.sc Feed under the category Threat Detection & Vulnerability Assessments. The report requirements are:

• Tenable.sc 4.8.2
• Nessus 8.4.0

Tenable.sc Continuous View (CV) provides continuous network monitoring, vulnerability identification, risk reduction, and compliance monitoring. Nessus is continuously updated with information about advanced threats and zero-day vulnerabilities, and new types of regulatory compliance configuration audits. By integrating with Nessus, Tenable.sc CV provides the most comprehensive view of network security data.

The following chapters are included in this report:

• Executive Summary: This chapter provides as overview of the results of Nessus scans.
• Vulnerabilities by Host: This chapter contains an iterator that lists scanned IP addresses and detailed information about vulnerabilities detected on each.