Mike,
You're making it too hard. Just disable the plugins that check for
older versions of Firefox and leave only the one which checks for the
most recent relase.
That's how we do it in our environment. We use NessusWX for our client
but it doesn't matter what client you use as they all support making
custom plugin sets.
Works the same way for other 3rd party software checks for Quicktime,
Thunderbird, Adobe, etc...
--------
Jeff Mercer - CISO - Security Vulnerability Assessments
________________________________
From: nessus-bounces@list.nessus.org
[mailto:nessus-bounces@list.nessus.org] On Behalf Of
Mike.Vasquez@cityofmesa.org
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 5:58 PM
To: Nessus List
Subject: Reports: Problem.... solution....
I've pondered this for a while, and it's an issue that bugs me,
and this is probably just a pipe-dream of a solution, but here goes:
Problem: I scan and generate reports all the time, and my key
focus is generating the cleanest, simplest reports to hand over to the
folks that administer the servers. So, let's say we have a box with
Firefox 2.0.0.2, and an older version of Java. My report ends up
looking something like:
Issue 1: Upgrade to Firefox 2.0.0.3
Issue 2: Upgrade to Firefox 2.0.0.4
Issue 3: Upgrade to Firefox 2.0.0.5
Issue 4: Upgrade to Firefox 2.0.0.6
Issue 5: Upgrade to Firefox 2.0.0.7
Issue 6: Upgrade to Java 1.14_12
Issue 7: Upgrade to Java 1.15_8
You get the idea.
From one standpoint, I can see the value of knowing *just how*
out of date everything is, but on the otherhand, it does skew things a
bit from a remediation perspective. "Oh No, I've got 7 things to fix"
is really "Oh. I've got 2 things to update". All the remediator wants
to know is *what's the bottom line. What will *really* remediate this?
So, how can I view the *most current* issue for Firefox, and
generate a report, as long as the issue is of say, at least *Medium*
level severity?
Solution: Add 2 pieces of information, a <Family> and <Version>.
We all know that certain software products are much more
susceptible to these types of issues. "Bubba's eShopping Compendium PHP
Package" is a non-issue. Firefox. Java. Quicktime. Flash. Acrobat.
All of these are much more susceptible to frequent updates, minor
revision/security fixes, and thus, longer reports.
Here's how I envision it: Firefox is family <13245> (random
assigned number I picked outta my head). Version increments by "x"
whenever a new issue/patch/update comes out -- newer version, higher
number, so the above looks like:
Issue 1: Upgrade to Firefox 2.0.0.3 <Family>13245</Family>
<Version>26</Version>
Issue 2: Upgrade to Firefox 2.0.0.4 <Family>13245</Family>
<Version>28</Version>
Issue 3: Upgrade to Firefox 2.0.0.5 <Family>13245</Family>
<Version>29</Version>
Issue 4: Upgrade to Firefox 2.0.0.6 <Family>13245</Family>
<Version>33</Version>
Issue 5: Upgrade to Firefox 2.0.0.7 <Family>13245</Family>
<Version>36</Version>
Risk (hole/warning) is already captured. So with this info, I
could easily pull the most recent version, at the severity level, that I
wanted. Talk about nice clean reports that the end Admins will
appreciate.
Ya, I know it's a lot of work, but I've got to think I'm not the
*only* one who would like to see something like this. Consider that
while many products don't need the info (See Bubba), just hitting the
big ones will make a big difference.
Even if 1.5 of Firefox and 2.0 of Firefox are dubbed "different
families" -- it's still going to produce a much cleaner report than the
current model.
So ya, it's a big change, and would require updating a lot of
nasl's as well, I imagine, but would be worth it.
Thanks for considering,
Mike
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