I am not sure if this problem is new to the 3.x version, as I don't
remember having it in the past, but I have recently been forced to use
the GUI for running nessus, as I don't seem to get consistent results by
editing .nessurc and running in batch mode (which I would very much
prefer to do)
I'm running nessus 3.0.1 on Fedora core 4 using NessusClient, using
these cmd line options:
[root@localhost ~]# NessusClient -T nbe -c /root/.nessusrc -qx localhost
1241 user user /root/testtarget /tmp/testnessus/third.nbe
I initially ran NessusClient to build the .nessusrc file, and then
edited it by hand, my problems follow:
(problem 1)
My goal was to configure nessus not to ping the remote host, so I set
'ping_hosts = no' in the .nessusrc. By running a packet sniffer I could
see that nessus actually did ping the remote host. After some
investigation, I learned that 'ping_host' seems to have no effect, and
it is the actual plugin in the .nessurc file which determines whether
the host is ping'd.
What I found was that setting either plugin 10180 (ping host) or 11219
(syn scan) to yes would cause nessus to ping the remote host, regardless
of the value of 'ping_host'. So what is the significance of
'ping_host'?
(problem 2)
With these settings:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ping the remote host[entry]:TCP ping destination port(s) : = 1-3000
Ping the remote host[checkbox]:Do a TCP ping = no
11219 = yes
nessus scans the port range 1-3000.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ping the remote host[entry]:TCP ping destination port(s) : = 1-3000
Ping the remote host[checkbox]:Do a TCP ping = yes
11219 = no
only first digit is recognized in port range (port 1)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ping the remote host[checkbox]:Do a TCP ping = no
10180 = yes
11219 = no
ping_host.nasl runs, and then plugins start to run as well, even though
there was no response from ping.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My frustration lies in the fact that I can't seem to trust the settings
I edit in the .nessusrc file. I would ideally like to edit server
setting/preferences, without having to know the purpose and value of
each plugin.
I have searched through the archives, and looked on the web site, but
none of the documentation I have found is detailed enough. I there
documentation on the sections of the config file, and the implications
of the settings contained within
thanks. I can provide a .nessurc file if you would like
Scott Pate
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