Nessus Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Nessus General Questions
Nessus Licensing
Tenable Nessus Support
Nessus Configuration and Troubleshooting
Nessus Windows Specific
Tenable Plugin Subscriptions
NESSUS GENERAL QUESTIONS:
- Q. Should I upgrade to Nessus 4.2?
- Q. What is included in the Nessus download?
- Q. What OS platforms does Nessus have builds for?
- Q. What does Nessus 4.2 cost?
- Q. How do I upgrade to Nessus 4.2 from Nessus 4.0?
- Q. Will Nessus 4.2 work with Security Center?
- Q. Are there detailed instructions on installing and configuring Nessus 4.2?
- Q. Where can I go for more information?
NESSUS LICENSING:
- Q. Can I use Nessus at work?
- Q. Where can I find the Nessus License Agreement?
- Q. Is Nessus a trademark of Tenable's?
- Q. How does the Nessus license work in a VM (virtual machine) environment?
- Q. I'm a consultant, can I use Nessus 4.2 to conduct my clients audits?
- Q. We are a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP), can we install Nessus 4.2 on a server appliance that we provide to our customers?
- Q. We are a software or hardware manufacturer, can we include the Nessus engine and the Tenable ProfessionalFeed Subscription in the products we sell to our customers?
TENABLE NESSUS SUPPORT:
This contains details about Tenable's Nessus support operations that apply only to Tenable's customers that are using Nessus in combination with the Tenable ProfessionalFeed Subscription.
- Q. Where can I go to get help on an issue I'm having with Nessus if I'm not a ProfessionalFeed Subscriber?
- Q. What is the Tenable Support Portal?
- Q. How does the Tenable Support Portal benefit customers?
- Q. Must I use the Tenable Support Portal when requesting support?
- Q. How do I obtain a Tenable Support Portal account?
- Q. How many Technical Contacts am I allowed?
- Q. How do I add or change the Technical Contact information?
- Q. May I share my Tenable Support Portal account with others?
- Q. Does Tenable's Nessus equally support all operating system and hardware combinations?
- Q. What are Fully Supported platforms?
- Q. What are Limited Support platforms?
- Q. Where is the list showing which platforms fall into which tier?
- Q. What versions of Nessus do you support?
- Q. Must I use commercially licensed Nessus 3.x and higher binaries to receive support?
- Q. Will you support user-patched versions of Nessus 3.x or higher binaries?
- Q. Do you support alpha and beta Nessus 4.x binaries?
- Q. May Tenable alter its list of supported software?
- Q. What is an issue's expected Resolution Time?
- Q. What documents will I receive after ordering support?
- Q. Does support cover the Nessus 2.x GPL version of the software?
- Q. Are only Tenable Nessus 3.x and higher software products covered by Tenable support?
- Q. I work on behalf of third-party customers. How do I obtain Tenable Nessus support for them?
- Q. I work on behalf of third-party customers. Can I use my Tenable ProfessionalFeed contract to open issues on their behalf?
- Q. May I request to escalate an issue's priority?
- Q. Must customers provide Tenable with relevant information to receive help?
- Q. Is Tenable support provided according to industry norms of "good faith" effort?
- Q. Do Tenable Nessus ProfessionalFeed contracts automatically renew?
- Q. Where should I send notices required under the Tenable Nessus ProfessionalFeed contract?
- Q. What are the definitions of Release Types?
- Q. What are the definitions of Support Components?
NESSUS CONFIGURATION AND TROUBLESHOOTING:
- Q. How can I change the password of a Nessus user?
- Q. I attempted to install Nessus via RPM, but I get an error. Why can't I install Nessus this way?
- Q. How do I run Plugins from the command line and access a knowledge base?
NESSUS WINDOWS SPECIFIC:
- Q. When I try to install Nessus Windows, why am I receiving the error, "Error 1607: Unable to Install InstallShield Scripting Run Time"?
- Q. Is there a difference in running Nessus Windows on Windows Server (2003) versus Windows XP (Home & Pro)?
TENABLE PLUGIN SUBSCRIPTIONS:
- Q. Where can I get a copy of the Tenable Subscription Agreement?
- Q. How do you license the Subscriptions from Tenable?
- Q. What is a "Registered Scanner"?
- Q. What is a "HomeFeed Subscription" and what can I do with these Plugins?
- Q. What is a "ProfessionalFeed Subscription" and what can I do with these Plugins?
- Q. What are "Inclusive Plugins" and what can I do with these Plugins?
- Q. What are the benefits of the ProfessionalFeed subscription compared to the HomeFeed Subscription?
- Q. What are my options for purchasing a ProfessionalFeed from Tenable?
- Q. How do I renew my ProfessionalFeed?
- Q. I am a home user, can I download Nessus and scan my network and my friends' networks for free?
- Q. I work for a company and I use Nessus to scan our network. Am I required to subscribe to the ProfessionalFeed to use the latest updates for Nessus?
- Q. I work for a college/university and I use Nessus to scan our network, am I required to subscribe to the ProfessionalFeed to use the latest updates for Nessus?
- Q. I work for a company and I use Nessus to scan our lab network prior to using Nessus in production, am I required to subscribe to the ProfessionalFeed to use the latest updates for Nessus for our testing purposes?
- Q. I want to evaluate Nessus at my workplace. Do I need to buy a ProfessionalFeed subscription simply to perform an evaluation?
- Q. We are a product vendor, can I include the ProfessionalFeed with our product?
- Q. We have purchased a product from a vendor that provides the Nessus engine with their product and has referred us to Tenable to subscribe to a ProfessionalFeed?
- Q. We are a MSSP and use Nessus to perform scanning services, are we required to subscribe to the ProfessionalFeed to use the latest updates for Nessus?
- Q. I work for a charity and I would like to use Nessus to scan our network, how do I apply to receive the ProfessionalFeed for free?
- Q. I work as an information security teacher/trainer and I would like to use Nessus as part of my class, how do I apply to receive the ProfessionalFeed for free?
- Q. Which plugins can I distribute in my book, magazine or CD?
- Q. Can I resell Tenable's plugin feeds?
- Q. Can I request Plugin modifications from Tenable as part of my ProfessionalFeed subscription?
- Q. Can I write Custom Plugins for my Nessus Scanner?
- Q. How do I install my Activation Code?
NESSUS GENERAL QUESTIONS:
Q. Should I upgrade to Nessus 4.2?
A. Nessus 4.2 includes several improvements over Nessus 4.0, such as a new flash web-based client, multi-threading, 64-bit support for Windows, Linux and OS X, UDP Port scanning, customized XSLT reporting and much more.
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Q. What is included in the Nessus download?
A. When you download Nessus, you receive the Nessus 4.2 scanning engine (server) that includes a flash web-based client. To receive updates from Tenable under either a ProfessionalFeed or HomeFeed, you will need to register your scanner with Tenable through Nessus.org.
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Q. What OS platforms does Nessus have builds for?
A. Nessus 4.2 is available and supported for a variety of operating systems and platforms:
- Red Hat ES 4 (i386) and ES 5 (i386 and x86-64)
- Fedora Core 10 (i386 and x86-64) [Compatible with Fedora 9]
- Fedora Core 11 (i586 and x86-64)
- Fedora Core 12 (i586 and x86-64)
- Debian 5 (i386 and x86-64)
- FreeBSD 7 (i386 and x86-64)
- Ubuntu 8.04 (i386 and x86-64)
- Ubuntu 8.10 (i386 and x86-64)
- Ubuntu 9.10 (i386 and x86-64)
- Mac OS X 10.4/10.5 (i386, x86-64, ppc)
- Windows XP, Server 2003, Server 2008, Vista and 7 (i386 and x86-64)
- SuSE 9.3 (i386)
- SuSE 10.0 (i386 and x86-64)
To see the list, please visit the download page.
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Q. What does Nessus 4.2 cost?
A. The Nessus 4.2 scanner is available as a free download. To receive updates for new vulnerability checks, select the appropriate plugin Subscription from Tenable depending on the intended use. See Subscription FAQ below.
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Q. How do I upgrade to Nessus 4.2 from Nessus 4.0?
A. Nessus 4.2 is available for download and detailed instructions are available in the Nessus 4.2 Installation manual located here.
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Q. Will Nessus 4.2 work with Security Center?
A. Yes. Nessus 4.2 is fully compatible with Tenable's Security Center. Tenable's Security Center centralizes security management for multiple security and network administrators across multiple organizations. Scheduled vulnerability scanning, real-time IDS event analysis, asset discovery, asset management, vulnerability remediation management, incident response, network topology discovery and organizational executive reporting for hundreds of administrators is accomplished through one easy-to-use web interface. To learn more about Tenable's Security Center, please visit the product page.
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Q. Are there detailed instructions on installing and configuring Nessus 4.2?
A. Yes. Nessus installation and operations guides are available and can be found at the following location: http://www.nessus.org/documentation/.
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Q. Where can I go for more information?
A. If you still have questions about Nessus 4.2, feel free to contact sales, visit http://www.nessus.org/ or post to the Tenable Discussion Forums.
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NESSUS LICENSING:
Q. Can I use Nessus at work?
A. You must subscribe to the ProfessionalFeed to use Nessus outside of the home.
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Q. Where can I find the Nessus License Agreement?
A. The Nessus License agreement can be found here.
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Q. Is Nessus a trademark of Tenable's?
A. Yes. Nessus is a registered trademark of Tenable Network Security. Tenable does not grant to you, either expressly or by implication, any license or permission under the License Agreement to use any of the Tenable marks (including trademarks, service marks, trade names, trade dress, symbols, logos, designs, domain names, slogans and other source identifiers) (collectively, the "Marks").
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Q. How does the Nessus license work in a VM (virtual machine) environment?
A. Each installation of Nessus requires Tenable's license whether it is stand-alone or in a virtual machine (VM) environment. The same is true for Subscription licensing.
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Q. I'm a consultant, can I use Nessus 4.2 to conduct my clients audits?
A. Tenable permits you to use Nessus to audit the security of 3rd party networks but requires that you purchase a ProfessionalFeed Subscription. You must subscribe to the ProfessionalFeed to use it commercially with the latest updates and have access to technical support and knowledgebase articles. A HomeFeed cannot be used for consulting commercially.
A very common scenario for Tenable is to license several ProfessionalFeeds to a service provider who operates an equivalent number of Nessus scanners to check for vulnerabilities on their customers' systems and networks. The ProfessionalFeed license is tied to the Nessus scanner. If the Nessus scanner is mobile (such as on a laptop), then the license is mobile. We do not tie it to an IP address. There is no limitation to the amount of scans completed or IPs scanned. However, the Tenable Plugins are licensed only for use with Registered Nessus scanners obtained directly from www.nessus.org or www.tenablesecurity.com.
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Q. We are a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP), can we install Nessus 4.2 on a server appliance that we provide to our customers?
A. No. If you are a MSSP, you cannot install Nessus on an appliance, either virtual or physical, you provide to your customers.
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Q. We are a software or hardware manufacturer, can we include the Nessus engine and the Tenable ProfessionalFeed Subscription in the products we sell to our customers?
A. No. You cannot include Nessus without acquiring a license from Tenable to do so. You can inquire about an OEM agreement with Tenable for the Nessus engine and the Tenable Plugins on a case-by-case basis. To inquire about an OEM agreement for Tenable's Nessus software, please send a request to sales@tenablesecurity.com.
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TENABLE NESSUS SUPPORT:
This contains details about Tenable's Nessus support operations that apply only to Tenable's customers that are using Nessus in combination with the Tenable ProfessionalFeed Subscription.
Q. Where can I go to get help on an issue I'm having with Nessus if I'm not a ProfessionalFeed Subscriber?
A. Please visit our Discussion Forums for Nessus. We suggest you join our Forum and ask questions.
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Q. What is the Tenable Support Portal?
A. The Tenable Support Portal is a web application used by Tenable Support engineers to manage requests with our customers on the incidents they file, provide a knowledgebase of information about Tenable products and manage subscription licenses. The Tenable Support Portal may be accessed at the following URL: https://support.tenablesecurity.com/support-center/
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Q. How does the Tenable Support Portal benefit customers?
A. The Tenable Support Portal enables customers to easily submit all support related issues. It keeps all related messages, files and other details grouped together on an issue-by issue basis. It also provides access to the Tenable Nessus Knowledgebase. We have provided a short paper about all of its features and content: http://www.tenablesecurity.com/whitepapers/Tenable_Support_Portal_Features.pdf.
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Q. Must I use the Tenable Support Portal when requesting support?
A. When you purchase a Tenable ProfessionalFeed, you must provide us with the name and email address of your Technical Contact Person(s). A separate Tenable Support Portal account is automatically created for each Technical Contact Person. Support requests are accepted via the Tenable Support Portal, or an email may be sent to nessus-support@tenablesecurity.com. Note that email requests must be sent from one of the email addresses provided to Tenable as a support contact.
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Q. How do I obtain a Tenable Support Portal account?
A. To log in for the first time, please use the "First Time Login?" link on the login page, enter your email address, click "Send New Password" and follow the instructions in the email you will receive. Your email address must be the same as the one provided on your support contract.
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Q. How many Technical Contacts am I allowed?
A. Each customer is allowed to have a maximum of five Technical Contacts at any given time, regardless of the number of scanners covered.
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Q. How do I add or change the Technical Contact information?
A. Please send an email to nessus-support@tenablesecurity.com with the requested changes. We will reply with a confirmation email once your changes are made.
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Q. May I share my Tenable Support Portal account with others?
A. No. Email addresses must be for individual persons, not groups.
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Q. Does Tenable's Nessus equally support all operating system and hardware combinations?
A. No. Nessus runs on many different combinations of operating systems and hardware platforms. Tenable divides these into one of two tiers:
- Fully Supported (FS)
- Limited Support (LS)
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Q. What are Fully Supported platforms?
A. These are operating system and hardware combinations that are primary platforms for Nessus usage. Tenable builds and tests binaries for these combinations using our own hardware. All forms of Nessus 3 binaries can be included under this tier: Certified, Production (GA), Alpha and Beta. There should be no technical scenarios on these platforms that the Tenable Nessus Support Team cannot resolve to a reasonable level.
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Q. What are Limited Support platforms?
A. These are specific operating system and hardware combinations for which Tenable provides only limited support. Tenable cannot provide full support for Nessus installed on an operating system for which commercial support is unavailable from the OS provider. In addition, there may be other mitigating technical or logistical reasons for not providing full support for Nessus on a particular hardware/OS combination.
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Q. Where is the list showing which platforms fall into which tier?
A. Currently supported platforms are listed on the website but as a general rule, the following is expected to apply to supported platforms and platforms that will be provided a Nessus binary but without any support, implied or otherwise.
Two levels of support are being offered for Nessus, Full Support and As Is Support. The former is supported for bugs, changes and future feature additions. The latter is offered as is and may or may not be continued in the future. Bugs will be fixed when possible but they are not considered a priority. As Is supported platforms also do not come with access to Tenable Customer Support, only the supported platforms come with the ability to contact Tenable Customer Support for problems regarding the Nessus binary. Otherwise, all support issues must be taken to the Nessus Discussion Forums.
Of the two levels, the first provides full support for the current release and one prior (N & N-1). The second level only provides a binary with no implied support and only on the most current release (N) except in the case of Windows XP for which there is only one version. Each version is assumed to be at the most recent patch level available.
Nessus Support (FS)
Full support from bugs to feature requests is provided on the following platforms:
| Red Hat Enterprise Server |
N & N-1 |
| SuSE |
N & N-1 |
| Mac OS X |
N & N-1 |
| Solaris |
N & N-1 |
| Windows Server 2003 |
N & N-1 |
| Windows Server 2008 |
N |
| Windows XP Professional |
N |
| Windows Vista |
N |
Limited Support (LS)
Tenable provides a binary with no implied support. We may or may not correct problems and a version may or may not be updated in the future. Newer releases may not be made available.
| Red Hat Fedora Core |
N |
| FreeBSD |
N |
| Debian |
N |
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Q. What versions of Nessus do you support?
A. Currently, we support Nessus version 3.x and above. This covers all versions of Nessus 3 in combination with the ProfessionalFeed. As newer versions are introduced, support for past versions will gradually phase out.
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Q. Must I use commercially licensed Nessus 3.x and higher binaries to receive support?
A. Yes. Nessus support is only available for commercially licensed versions of Nessus 3 and higher and is only available in combination with a ProfessionalFeed subscription from Tenable. Nessus is a full-featured enterprise network scanning engine designed for production environments.
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Q. Will you support user-patched versions of Nessus 3.x or higher binaries?
A. No.
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Q. Do you support alpha and beta Nessus 4.x binaries?
A. No. However, any customer that is invited to participate in an alpha and/or beta release will receive timely responses to reported problems. Due to the nature of testing and development efforts, some issues may not be resolved in an alpha/beta release until the eventual public release of the new version.
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Q. May Tenable alter its list of supported software?
A. Yes. Tenable reserves the right to discontinue support of versions of its software, other than the then-current version, at any time.
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Q. What is an issue's expected Resolution Time?
A. Tenable Support responds to all email queries for support within one business day. Resolution Time is the time within which support engineers will endeavor to resolve your issue. There are no guarantees about Resolution Times; however most of our customers have their issues resolved in one business day. Depending on the complexity of the issue, resolution may take a few hours to a few days or longer. In some cases successful resolution or a work-around may not be possible. Issues involving the functionality of the Nessus engine will be corrected in a timely manner. When necessary, plugins will be altered and fine-tuned to provide the best overall responses to the entire customer base but there may be OSs, applications and other network devices that will respond in ways that prevent problems or disruptions from being resolved. In such cases, it is Tenable's policy that the applicable vendor is liable for the correction of the response or behavior of their products.
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Q. What documents will I receive after ordering support?
A. You will receive a welcome email containing details of your order and instructions on how to get started. If you do not receive this shortly after ordering, write to nessus-support@tenablesecurity.com for assistance.
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Q. Does support cover the Nessus 2.x GPL version of the software?
A. No.
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Q. Are only Tenable Nessus 3.x and higher software products covered by Tenable support?
A. Yes. Although we try to take a broad and inclusive view of technical support, our support formally covers only authorized, unmodified versions of the Nessus 3.x and higher binaries, tools and our own utilities. This does not include any user-compiled products, or third party developed products (e.g., NessusWX). However, Nessus 3.x and higher clients for Windows and Mac OS X developed by Tenable are supported. Tenable does not provide support for the underlying operating system, hardware, applications or third-party products that access a Nessus 3.x and higher server. Further, Tenable is not required to provide support services regarding the following: (a) any software other than supported software; (b) any classroom training or on-site consulting; (c) design of any application; (d) patches or modifications to the source code of the supported software authored by anyone other than Tenable; (e) installation, configuration or malfunctions of any part of the customer's computer or networking hardware equipment; or (f) installation, configuration or malfunctions of any part of the customer's operating system, including without limitation kernels, libraries, patches and drivers.
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Q. I work on behalf of third-party customers. How do I obtain Tenable Nessus support for them?
A. Each customer must buy their own Tenable Nessus ProfessionalFeed contract. They must use this ProfessionalFeed with Nessus to receive support.
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Q. I work on behalf of third-party customers. Can I use my Tenable ProfessionalFeed contract to open issues on their behalf?
A. No. If your customers require Tenable Nessus support, they must download their own Nessus software from Tenable and buy their own ProfessionalFeed contract.
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Q. May I request to escalate an issue's priority?
A. Tenable determines the initial priority of your issues. You may request to escalate or downgrade the priority of an issue via the Tenable Support Portal at any time.
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Q. Must customers provide Tenable with relevant information to receive help?
A. Yes. When submitting requests for support, the customer must provide to Tenable all data that is relevant for resolving each technical support request. Relevant data may include, but is not limited to, log files, database dumps, program scripts, descriptions of the hardware and software environment, examples of inputs and expected and actual outputs.
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Q. Is Tenable support provided according to industry norms of "good faith" effort?
A. Yes. Tenable will use its good faith, commercially reasonable efforts to attempt to diagnose any failure of the supported software used by the customer to conform to written specifications and to advise the customer of appropriate remedies.
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Q. Do Tenable Nessus ProfessionalFeed contracts automatically renew?
A. No. They renew annually only if a ProfessionalFeed subscription has been renewed and paid on their term anniversary date until canceled by the customer or Tenable. Contracts that lapse and are later renewed are subject to a payment to cover the gap in coverage.
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Q. Where should I send notices required under the Tenable Nessus ProfessionalFeed contract?
A. Tenable Network Security, Inc.
7063 Columbia Gateway Drive, Suite 100
Columbia, MD 21046 – USA
Attn: Sales Operations
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Q. What are the definitions of Release Types
A. See below:
- Alpha Release
Alpha is for preview purposes only. It may contain known bugs or functionality that is not implemented yet.
- Beta Release
Beta releases are appropriate for use with new development. Within beta releases, the features and compatibility are expected to remain consistent. However, beta releases may contain numerous and major unaddressed bugs and are not recommended for deployment in production environments.
- GA/Production Release
GA (Generally Available, formerly named Production) releases are stable, having successfully passed through all earlier release stages and have been verified through widespread use to be reliable, free of known bugs at the time of release and suitable for use in production systems.
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Q. What are the definitions of Support Components?
A. See below:
- Server Machine
A Server Machine is a complete computing system, including one or more CPUs, Memory, Disk Storage, Operating System and Network Connections. A "Per Server" License covers a single Server Machine, which is owned or controlled by the Customer, regardless of the number of CPUs, connections or User Instances. A server machine may be used as a scanning server, replication master, replication slave or cluster node.
- Technical Contact Person
An individual person authorized to open support issues with Tenable and communicate with the Tenable Nessus Support Team.
- Administrative Contact Person
The Administrative Contact is the customer's representative who names their Technical Contact Persons, and who handles administrative issues regarding their Tenable Nessus ProfessionalFeed contract.
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NESSUS CONFIGURATION AND TROUBLESHOOTING:
Q. How can I change the password of a Nessus user?
A. For Unix users, run the "nessus-chpasswd <username>" command from a shell prompt and follow the instructions. For Windows users, the Nessus Server Manager can be used to edit the passwords of users via the "Manage Users..." button. For Mac OS X users, use the program Nessus Server Manager located under /Applications/Nessus/, select the "Manage Users" button, select the user and then click on "Edit".
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Q. I attempted to install Nessus via RPM, but I get an error. Why can't I install Nessus this way?
A. If you downloaded the Nessus RPM to a Windows system and then transferred it to your Unix system, the name of the Nessus RPM file will likely be something similar to Nessus-4[1].2.0-es4.i386.rpm. RPM cannot handle square brackets (i.e., [1]). Rename the file to Nessus-4.2.0-es4.i386.rpm and re-attempt the installation.
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Q. How do I run Plugins from the command line and access a knowledge base?
A. You can have the NASL interpreter load the Knowledge Base (KB) for a specific host with the "-k" option. For example, you could test for the First4Internet CodeSupport ActiveX control by running:
$ nasl -k /opt/nessus/var/nessus/<user>/kbs/<target> \
-t <target> codesupport_activex_code_exec.nasl
Note: this requires that you have access to the KB and that the KB has already been populated by any plugin dependencies. Tenable has an extensive blog post on the usage of the NASL command line tool.
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NESSUS WINDOWS SPECIFIC:
Q. When I try to install Nessus Windows, why am I receiving the error, "Error 1607: Unable to Install InstallShield Scripting Run Time"?
A. This error code can be produced if the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service has been disabled for any reason. Please verify that the service is running.
If the WMI service is running, then this may be a problem between the Microsoft Windows Operating System settings and the InstallShield product that is used for installing and removing Nessus Windows. There are knowledge base articles from both Microsoft and InstallShield that both detail potential causes and the resolution of the issue.
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Q. Is there a difference in running Nessus Windows on Windows Server (2003) versus Windows XP (Home & Pro)?
A. Yes. Microsoft has added changes to Windows XP Service Pack 2 (Home & Pro) that may impact the performance of Nessus Windows. The TCP/IP stack now limits the number of simultaneous incomplete outbound TCP connection attempts. After the limit is reached, subsequent connection attempts are put in a queue and will be resolved at a fixed rate (10 per second). If too many enter the queue, they may be dropped. See the following Microsoft TechNet page for more information:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/sp2netwk.mspx
This has the effect of causing a Nessus scan on Windows XP to potentially have false negatives as XP only allows for 10 new connections per second that are incomplete (in a SYN state). For better accuracy, it is recommended that Nessus on a Windows XP system have its port scan throttle setting down to the following, which is found in the individual scan configuration for each scan policy:
Max number of hosts: 10
Max number of security checks: 4
Max number of packets per second for a port scan: 50
For increased performance and scan reliability, it is highly recommended that Nessus Windows be installed on a server product from the Microsoft Windows family such as Windows Server 2003.
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TENABLE PLUGIN SUBSCRIPTIONS:
Q. Where can I get a copy of the Tenable Subscription Agreement?
A. The agreement can be found here.
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Q. How do you license the Subscriptions from Tenable?
A. A Subscription license is an annual subscription. It is required for each installation of Nessus. The Subscription license is tied to the Nessus scanner. If the Nessus scanner is mobile (such as on a laptop), then the license is mobile. Tenable does not tie it to an IP address.
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Q. What is a "Registered Scanner"?
A. A Registered Scanner is the Nessus vulnerability scanner obtained directly from www.nessus.org, www.tenablesecurity.com, or any authorized sources as listed on Tenable's website and registered with Tenable.
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Q. What is a "HomeFeed Subscription" and what can I do with these Plugins?
A. The HomeFeed subscription is available for home use ONLY. The HomeFeed Subscription is a non-commercial subscription that permits you to use the Plugins in conjunction with Registered Scanners for your personal use solely to detect vulnerabilities only on your own personal system (or for your own personal network) that you use for non-commercial purposes or on the personal system (or for the personal network) of another natural person in a non-commercial arrangement. You are not eligible to subscribe to the HomeFeed Subscription if you are a corporation, a governmental entity or any other form of organization. You may not subscribe to the HomeFeed Subscription to use the Plugins on a computer owned by your employer or otherwise use the Plugins for the benefit of or to perform any services for any corporation, governmental entity or any other form of organization.
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Q. What is a "ProfessionalFeed Subscription" and what can I do with these Plugins?
A. The ProfessionalFeed subscription is required for ALL uses of Nessus outside of the home. The ProfessionalFeed Subscription is a commercial subscription that permits you to use the Plugins in conjunction with Registered Scanners to detect vulnerabilities only on your system or network or on the system or network of a third party for which you perform scanning services, auditing services, incident response services, quality assurance and other lab testing, vulnerability assessment services or other security consulting services; provided that you have paid the applicable annual subscription fee for each Registered Scanner in conjunction with which you will use the Plugins. You will receive the ProfessionalFeed Subscription and email support if you use this ProfessionalFeed Subscription with the supported commercial version of Nessus (for clarification, a commercial version of Nessus means Nessus version 3 or higher that was developed, copyrighted and distributed by Tenable or authorized distributor of Tenable and not released as open source or licensed under the GPL). The term "Supported" means the list of Operating System distribution(s) included in the Plugin FAQ or Nessus FAQ found on any Tenable website, including www.nessus.org. For the ProfessionalFeed Subscription, you agree to pay a subscription fee to Tenable for each system on which you have installed a Registered Scanner.
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Q. What are "Inclusive Plugins" and what can I do with these Plugins?
A. The term "Inclusive Plugins" means any Plugin that you obtained directly from www.nessus.org, www.tenablesecurity.com or any authorized sources as listed on Tenable's website (www.tenablesecurity.com), including as part of a download of Nessus vulnerability scanner software. You may use the Inclusive Plugins for personal or commercial use. You may not use the Inclusive Plugins with the HomeFeed or ProfessionalFeed Subscription. You may not add any other plugins to the Inclusive Plugins or register with any source of plugins or Plugins (including Tenable), whether such source is self-updating or manual. You agree to use the Plugins only in conjunction with Nessus vulnerability scanner programs obtained directly from www.nessus.org/, www.tenablesecurity.com/ or any authorized sources as listed on Tenable's website.
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Q. What are the benefits of the ProfessionalFeed subscription compared to the HomeFeed Subscription?
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Q. What are my options for purchasing a ProfessionalFeed from Tenable?
A. Tenable has two avenues for you to become a ProfessionalFeed subscriber:
- For those users who purchase through resellers, Tenable has developed channel relationships with Authorized ProfessionalFeed Partners that will allow you to purchase through your preferred partner. To inquire about our Authorized Resellers, please contact subscriptions@tenablesecurity.com.
- For those users that prefer to use their credit card for purchases, Tenable's e-commerce site will continue to serve your needs.
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Q. How do I renew my ProfessionalFeed?
A. Renewals must be placed through our ProfessionalFeed Partners. Renewals require your Customer ID and Serial Number or Activation Code. This information can be found in your Tenable Support Portal.
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Q. I am a home user, can I download Nessus and scan my network and my friends' networks for free?
A. Yes. You can download Nessus, subscribe to the HomeFeed and use Nessus to audit any computer or network, as long as you use it for non-commercial purposes and you are authorized to scan the network. Please make sure to review the Subscription License.
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Q. I work for a company and I use Nessus to scan our network. Am I required to subscribe to the ProfessionalFeed to use the latest updates for Nessus?
A. Yes. If you work for a company and are using Nessus to audit the security of the company you work for, you must subscribe to the ProfessionalFeed to use it commercially with the latest updates. A HomeFeed cannot be used for commercial purposes.
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Q. I work for a college/university and I use Nessus to scan our network, am I required to subscribe to the ProfessionalFeed to use the latest updates for Nessus?
A. Yes. If you work for a college/university and are using Nessus to audit the security of the college/university you work for, you must subscribe to the ProfessionalFeed to use it commercially with the latest updates. A HomeFeed cannot be used for commercial purposes.
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Q. I work for a company and I use Nessus to scan our lab network prior to using Nessus in production, am I required to subscribe to the ProfessionalFeed to use the latest updates for Nessus for our testing purposes?
A. Yes. If you work for a company and are using Nessus in a lab for testing or research purposes for the company you work for, you must subscribe to the ProfessionalFeed to use it commercially with the latest updates. A HomeFeed cannot be used for commercial purposes.
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Q. I want to evaluate Nessus at my workplace. Do I need to buy a ProfessionalFeed subscription simply to perform an evaluation?
A. No. You can download Nessus from www.nessus.org and sign up for an on-demand evaluation that allows you to evaluate the ProfessionalFeed by using the HomeFeed subscription commercially for 15 days. You may only perform such an evaluation once. The on-demand evaluation does not give you access to the Tenable Support Portal, nor to the features specific to the ProfessionalFeed, but should be adequate to test Nessus. Since it is on-demand, you can obtain an activation code right now.
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Q. We are a product vendor, can I include the ProfessionalFeed with our product?
A. No. Tenable Plugins, which are only available through the ProfessionalFeed or HomeFeed, are subject to a license that prohibits you from including them in your own product. In other words, the Tenable Plugins are licensed only for use with Registered Nessus Scanners obtained directly from www.nessus.org or www.tenablesecurity.com. Your customers are prohibited from using Tenable's plugin subscriptions with the Nessus scanner you provide with your product.
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Q. We have purchased a product from a vendor that provides the Nessus engine with their product and has referred us to Tenable to subscribe to a ProfessionalFeed?
A. If you have purchased a product from a vendor who provides you Nessus as part of their product, you cannot use Tenable's subscriptions with that product. Please contact your product vendor from which you purchased the product for your options.
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Q. We are a MSSP and use Nessus to perform scanning services, are we required to subscribe to the ProfessionalFeed to use the latest updates for Nessus?
A. Yes. If you are a MSSP and are using Nessus to perform remote scanning services, you must subscribe to the ProfessionalFeed to use it commercially with the latest updates. As a reminder, if you are a MSSP, you cannot install Nessus 4.2 on an appliance, either virtual or physical, and provide to your customers as Nessus 4.2 can only be used by you to provide remote scanning services of external IP addresses. In addition, you cannot sell, resell, loan or otherwise provide access to third parties the new Nessus XMLRPC interface, Nessus client interface or Nessus communication interface shipped by Tenable and provided to You.
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Q. I work for a charity and I would like to use Nessus to scan our network, how do I apply to receive the ProfessionalFeed for free?
A. Tenable is offering a free ProfessionalFeed subscription to charities that qualify. Please review our Charitable Program to determine if you qualify.
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Q. I work as an information security teacher/trainer and I would like to use Nessus as part of my class, how do I apply to receive the ProfessionalFeed for free?
A. If you work as an information security teacher or trainer and would like to use Nessus and Tenable's plugins as part of your curriculum, please review our Information Security Training Program and make sure that you are in compliance with Tenable's Subscription Agreement.
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Q. Which plugins can I distribute in my book, magazine or CD?
A. You must obtain express written consent from Tenable Network Security to redistribute Tenable Plugins or a copy of Nessus.
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Q. Can I resell Tenable's plugin feeds?
A. Yes. Tenable has established channel relationships that allow you to resell the ProfessionalFeed to your customer. To inquire about our Authorized Resellers, please contact subscriptions@tenablesecurity.com.
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Q. Can I request Plugin modifications from Tenable as part of my ProfessionalFeed subscription?
A. Yes, we welcome feedback to enhance or fix existing Plugins and will consider requests for future Plugin releases.
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Q. Can I write Custom Plugins for my Nessus Scanner?
A. Tenable Network Security encourages users of the Subscriptions to write and develop new Nessus plugins.
(i) If You feel custom plugins developed by You or Your organization will benefit the Nessus HomeFeed and ProfessionalFeed subscribers, You should consider submitting them to Tenable so that the plugins can be tested and distributed as part of the Subscription. Tenable may accept or reject plugin submissions based on code quality, relevance, performance and other factors. Submitted plugins may include copyright information about the authors, and Tenable will continue to include the copyright information in the plugin. Submitted plugins may not include any licensing terms, usage agreements or distribution clauses that would interfere with Tenable making the plugin available to subscribers to a Subscription, or would limit Tenable's right to modify the plugin if, for example, changes may be useful to improve its accuracy, performance, network impact or other parameters.
(ii) Custom Plugins. You may use the Tenable ".inc" files provided with the Subscription, as well as the built-in NASL functions to write custom plugins for Your internal use and internal redistribution, provided, however, that they may not be privately or publicly distributed, whether for free or for a fee.
(iii) Plugin writers should also be aware that many of the APIs available in the NASL language and various ".inc" libraries, may be used to write custom plugins, but such plugins may only be distributed within Your organization and may not be distributed publicly, whether for free or for a fee. For example, custom plugins that specifically make use of authenticated logins to remote systems via Secure Shell or Windows Domain, that use the libraries included in the Subscriptions or that have previously been distributed with the Registered Feed may not be publicly distributed. To ensure that Your custom plugins do not make use of a library that prohibits public distribution, You should audit them to see which libraries are being invoked and then read each corresponding license.
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Q. How do I install my Activation Code?
A. Please view the Nessus Activation Code Installation document for instructions on installing the Activation Code you have received after registering for either the ProfessionalFeed or the HomeFeed.
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