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Linux Hardening with OpenVAS

The Open Vulnerability Assessment System (OpenVAS) is a framework of several services and tools offering a comprehensive and powerful vulnerability scanning and management solution.

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    The security scanner is accompanied with a regularly updated feed of Network Vulnerability Tests (NVTs), over 51,000 in total (as of February 2017).

    OpenVAS Features

    The OpenVAS security suite consists of three parts:

    • OpenVAS Scanner
      • The actual scanner that executes the real-time vulnerability tests;
      • It can handle more than one target host at a time;
      • Uses the OpenVAS Transfer Protocol (OTP);
      • OTP supports SSL.
    • OpenVAS Manager
      • Handles the SQL Database where all scanning results and configurations are stored;
      • Controls the scanner via OTP and offers XML based OpenVAS Management Protocol (OMP);
      • It can stop, pause or resume scanning operations;
      • Makes user management possible including group level management and access control management.
    • OpenVAS CLI
      • Command line tool acting as a client for OMP.

    Using OpenVAS 8 in Ubuntu 16.04

    Installing OpenVAS

    Install SQLite for OpenVAS manager.

    sudo apt-get install sqlite3

    Install other required packages

    sudo apt-get -y install python-software-properties

    Add Personal Package Archives repository for OpenVAS

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mrazavi/openvas

    Update your system

    sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

    Install the OpenVAS package

    sudo apt-get install openvas

    Press Yes

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    Upgrade vulnerability and compliance data (this will take some time):

    sudo openvas-nvt-sync

    sudo openvas-scapdata-sync

    sudo openvas-certdata-sync

    Restart services

    sudo /etc/init.d/openvas-scanner restart

    sudo /etc/init.d/openvas-manager restart

    sudo /etc/init.d/openvas-gsa restart

    Create database

    sudo openvasmd --rebuild

    The installation is complete!

    Check installation

    The OpenVAS developers provide a handy tool check the state of your application’s installation. To use the tool simply follow these three steps:

    1. Download the tool’s latest version:

    sudo wget https://svn.wald.intevation.org/svn/openvas/trunk/tools/openvas-check-setup --no-check-certificate

    2. Ensure that the script is executable:

    sudo chmod +x openvas-check-setup

    3. Execute the script:

    sudo ./openvas-check-setup

    The result might look similar to this:

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    Fix the errors

    sudo openvasmd --rebuild

    Running OpenVAS

    Open your browser (Firefox) and type:

    https://localhost/login/login.html

    Confirm security exception, and login with user “admin” and password “admin”:

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    After the successful login, you’ll get to Greenbone’s Security Assistant (GSA) portal:

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    Known vulnerabilities (February 2017)

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    For a scan of the local machine, just insert the loopback address and press Start Scan

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    OpenVAS results in Ubuntu

    Ultimate scan results:

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    The final report will display a list of found vulnerabilities and the possible solutions to mitigate or override them.

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    OpenVAS 9 Beta

    A set of new packages for OpenVAS 9 beta is also available. If you want to try it, after installing SQLite and the other packages, just install "openvas9" package instead of "openvas".

    Installing in Ubuntu

    sudo apt-get install openvas9

    Then, update vulnerabilities and compliance data with the following commands:

    sudo greenbone-nvt-sync

    sudo greenbone-scapdata-sync

    sudo greenbone-certdata-sync

    Restart services and set database:

    sudo service openvas-scanner restart

    sudo service openvas-manager restart

    sudo openvasmd --rebuild

    Please note that the default port number of the GSA has changed to 4000. So, to access the web interface for version 9, go to https://localhost:4000

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    You can change GSA port number by modifying /etc/default/openvas-gsa file. Then, restart its service by issuing the command:

    sudo service openvas-gsa restart

    New interface and added features:

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    Remote scan with OpenVAS 9

    Results of a full remote scan on a CentOS 7:

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    Results of remote full scan on a Fedora 25:

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    The remote system was identified simply as Linux Kernel

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    Network scan with OpenVAS 9

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    The scanner correctly identified Windows Server 2012/10 machines and Ubuntu/CentOS:

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    This means OpenVAS can also be used to harden Windows machines Smile

     

    Using OpenVAS 8 in Fedora 25

    In Fedora, OpenVAS can be installed either from the official repository or from the Atomic repository.  

    Installing OpenVAs

    Install from the official repository

    sudo su

    Disable SELinux

    vi /etc/selinux/config

    Change the line SELINUX=disabled

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    Reboot your system

    Install the application

    sudo su

    dnf install openvas-gsa openvas-manager openvas-scanner openvas-cli

    Install additional packages

    dnf install texlive-latex nmap alien mingw32-nsis

    Start service

    systemctl start openvas-manager

    Create certificate

    openvas-mkcert

    Install REDIS service

    dnf install redis -y

    Configure the REDIS service

    vi /etc/redis.conf

    Uncomment lines:

    • unixsocket /tmp/redis.sock
    • unixsocketperm 700

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    Update vulnerabilities and compliance data

    openvas-nvt-sync

    openvas-scapdata-sync

    openvas-certdata-sync

    Create client certificate

    openvas-mkcert-client -n -i

    Set database

    systemctl start openvas-scanner

    openvasmd --rebuild

    Create OpenVAS Manager Admin user

    openvasmd --create-user=admin --role=Admin && openvasmd --user=admin --new-password=admin

    Start services

    systemctl start redis

    systemctl start openvas-manager

    systemctl start openvas-scanner

    systemctl start openvas-gsa

    Check installation

    openvas-check-setup

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    Running OpenVAS

    Open Firefox and go to:

    http://127.0.0.1

    Start a local scan:

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    OpenVAS results in Fedora:

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    Network scan:

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    Like in Ubuntu, you’ll get a list of specific items that were found and the threats will be color-coded. For instance, this is one of the high threats:

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    As you can see, the report also includes information about how to address the issue.

    Besides, the application will recognize and scan Windows machines!

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    Conclusion

    OpenVAS is a magnificent tool to spot vulnerabilities and highlight areas to focus on when you are hardening your system.

    This was just a quick introduction, showing a bare minimum of the functionality of the OpenVAS security suite. Explore the Greenbone Security Assistant interface and take advantage of the great built-in help system to learn more about your options.

    For instance, using the application with the proper credentials to logon to remote machines will allow it to make better scanning.

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    Besides, among other tasks, you can easily schedule scans, automatically generate reports, and email alerts when certain threat levels are generated.

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