E-OPE
OpenVAS
Open-source vulnerability scanner from Greenbone, driven by a continuously updated feed of network vulnerability tests.
OVERVIEW
OpenVAS (openvas.org, github.com/greenbone/openvas-scanner) is the open-source scanner engine at the core of Greenbone's vulnerability management stack: it runs Network Vulnerability Tests (NVTs) written in Greenbone's own scripting language against a target, using a feed with a long history and daily updates to detect missing patches, misconfigurations, and known CVEs across a huge range of services and devices.
It ships as part of Greenbone Community Edition, together with a scan manager, a web UI (Greenbone Security Assistant), and a reporting layer — unlike Nessus, it is fully open source (GPL-2.0) and free to self-host with no IP cap, at the cost of having to run and maintain the scanner, feed sync, and supporting services yourself instead of using a vendor-hosted product.
USE CASES
Practical use cases
- 01
Running feed-driven vulnerability scans against a range without a commercial license cost.
- 02
Self-hosting a vulnerability management stack inside a client's own environment for data-residency reasons.
- 03
Cross-checking findings from a commercial scanner against an independent, differently sourced feed.
- 04
Running scheduled, repeatable scans across an engagement to track remediation over time.
QUICK START
When a free, self-hosted alternative to a commercial scanner is needed, to run feed-driven vulnerability tests against enumerated hosts.
- Confirm the host range and scan intensity are within the agreed scope.
- Deploy Greenbone Community Edition (Docker Compose is the fastest path) and let the NVT feed finish its initial sync.
- Log into the Greenbone Security Assistant web UI and create a target with the scan range.
- Pick a scan config (e.g. Full and fast) and launch the task against that target.
- Review the generated report and triage results by severity before it goes in the deliverable.
BEFORE YOU RUN IT
What to check before running it
The NVT feed sync alone can take hours and multiple GB on first run — plan that into setup time before an engagement, not during it.
Running your own scanner means you own patching and securing the scanner stack itself; an unpatched OpenVAS instance is its own risk on a client network.
Like any authenticated/unauthenticated scanner, its scan traffic is IDS/IPS-visible — coordinate timing and get sign-off before scanning fragile or production infrastructure.