Nessus Network Scan (Authenticated/Credentialed Scan) — Part 5

Hi everyone! Hope your doing great. It’s always a pleasure to connect with you through this blog. As you know, we’re currently diving into an exciting scanner series, where we explore one of the most trusted tools for pentesters and vulnerability analysts in the InfoSec world — Nessus, the legend and our best friend!

If you’re new here, feel free to catch up on previous posts by clicking here.

we will take a minute to recollect what we’ve covered:

• Part 1: Understanding Tenable’s product offerings
• Part 2: Installing Nessus Essentials in a home lab
• Part 3: Configuring and running the Discovery scan, an essential first step in any vulnerability assessment
• Part 4: Nessus Network Scan (Un-Authenticated) — Part 4

In this blog, we gonna explore the second part of the step 7 in the vulnerability scanning workflow. If you want to revisit the workflow, feel free to go to the Part 4 of this scanner series, where it is explained in detail.

So the step 7 is network scan and we have unauthenticated and authenticated scan.

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Tips & Tricks : It’s always recommended to perform an authenticated scan. This approach reduces false positives and provides a more comprehensive assessment of the target system.

What is covered

1. Setting Up SSH Authentication for the victim Ubuntu machine
2. Using SSH Credentials to perform an authenticated Nessus scan
3. Configuring and Running an advanced authenticated network scan
4. Verifying SSH Authentication success during the scan process
5. Best Practices for effective and accurate vulnerability scanning

Watch the below video on Demonstrating how to config an authenticated network scan and run it successfully.

Tips & Tricks :

1. Nessus Scan Information — 19506 — holds details on the scan details like the scanner IP, Hostname, configuration settings, etc.
2. Target Credential Issues by Authentication Protocol — Insufficient Privilege — 110385 — holds whether the credentials provided have sufficient privileges
3. Target Credential Status by Authentication Protocol — Valid Credentials Provided — 141118 — from this plugin we can know whether the authentication went well or failed

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🎁Its Reward Time

📌Stay tuned for Part 6, where we’ll explore other scan options for deeper vulnerability insights!

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