How to Install OpenVAS on Ubuntu 16.04 / Ubuntu 14.04

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OpenVASOpenVAS known as Open Vulnerability Assessment System is an open source vulnerability suite to run the test against servers for known vulnerabilities using the database (Network Vulnerability Tests), OpenVAS is a free software, its components are released under GNU General Public License (GNU GPL). Here is the small guide to install OpenVAS on Ubuntu 16.04 / Ubuntu 14.04.

Setup Repository:

Offical OpenVAS packages are available on launchpad. Issue the following command to add OpenVAS PPA on your machine.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mrazavi/openvas

Update your system repository cache.

sudo apt-get update

Install & Setup OpenVAS:

OpenVAS repository includes newer packages for OpenVAS 9. If you do not mention the version name in apt-get install command, you may end up installing OpenVAS 8 instead of OpenVAS 9 on your system.

### OpenVAS 9 ###

sudo apt-get install -y openvas9

### OpenVAS 8 ###

sudo apt-get install -y openvas
OpenVAS 8 is only tested on Ubuntu 16.04  and Ubuntu 14.04.

During the package installation, let the installer automatically configure Redis database for OpenVAS scanner.

How to Install OpenVAS on Ubuntu 16.04 - Configuring OpenVAS Scanner
How to Install OpenVAS on Ubuntu 16.04 – Configuring OpenVAS Scanner

Upon completion of installation. You would need to download a set of NVT’s (Network Vulnerability Tests) from OpenVAS Feed service. To begin the download, execute the following command.

### OpenVAS 9 ###

sudo greenbone-nvt-sync

### OpenVAS 8 ###

sudo openvas-nvt-sync

Upon completion, run following command to download and update our security content automation protocol data (SCAP).

### OpenVAS 9 ###

sudo greenbone-scapdata-sync

### OpenVAS 8 ###

sudo openvas-scapdata-sync

This will take longer time, but not more than 30 minutes (Depends on your internet connection).

Download certdata as well.

### OpenVAS 9 ###

sudo greenbone-certdata-sync

### OpenVAS 8 ###

sudo openvas-certdata-sync

This will also take some time to complete, but lesser than what it takes for downloading SCAP data.

Restart the OpenVAS scanner and OpenVAS Manager.

sudo service openvas-scanner restart
sudo service openvas-manager restart

Now Rebuild the OpenVAS database.

sudo openvasmd --rebuild --progress

Working with OpenVAS Web Interface:

In OpenVAS 9, default port number of the web interface is 4000. So, to access the web interface for version 9, go to,

https://your-ip-addr-ess:4000

To access the web interface of OpenVAS 8, go to

https://your-ip-addr-ess

Change Interface Port Number (Optional) – Ubuntu 16.04:

You can change the port number of web interface by editing /etc/default/openvas-gsa.

PORT_NUMBER=4000

Restart the openvas-gsa service to take an effect of the port number change.

sudo service openvas-gsa restart

Once Completed, Start the OpenVAS Manager.

openvasmd

Run the first security scan:

OpenVAS 9:

OpenVAS 8:

That’s All, Place your valuable comments below.

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