As part of your Vulnerability Management project last week, you analyzed a report on a Windows system within the company network vulnerable to the MS17-010 exploit. That report was created using OpenVAS, a free vulnerability scanner designed to run on Linux operating systems (). Now that youve examined a vulnerability assessment report for a Windows machine, its time to see what the same tool produces from a Linux system. OpenVAS was used to scan a Linux machine on the network running the companys database applications. This machine is using an older version of Linux because the companys database applications are not supported with the latest Linux shared libraries. This system contains critical data and cannot be taken offline.
Your analysis of these two reports should provide you with a good understanding of the OpenVAS tool and the reports you will encounter in the workplace. The report used for this discussion limits the scope to a single host to allow you to focus on the vulnerabilities you would encounter on a Linux machine in the workplace. You will also be able to compare/contrast the vulnerabilities across the two OS platforms.
Looking ahead to Project 2s VM Scanner Background Report (due at the end of Week 5), you will analyze the results from a commercial VM scanner. Youll be better prepared to assess the output from the two different vulnerability scanning tools and to form the basis of your recommendation to management.
Review and answer the following questions in your response:
1. For this Linux system, what do you recommend fixing right away? Are there dangers if the vulnerabilities and associated threats are not fixed?
2. How do you fix the problem(s) identified? Can you defer mitigation for another time? How can the problem(s) be fixed if the system cannot be taken offline?
Judy is considering asking the pen tester to rescan the company systems using the commercial tool, Nessus. The organization has an evaluation version that can be used for 30 days. After that, the company will need to purchase the tool. The cost is significant.
3. Since some machines were already scanned with OpenVAS, should you also consider scanning the same systems with Nessus? Why or why not?
4. Conduct open source research using the internet. Roughly, what is the cost to license Nessus for one year?