SECURITY NEWS |

Install OpenVAS (GVM) on Kali 2019

In this setup guide, we step through the process of getting OpenVAS (GVM) running on Kali 2019. Installing OpenVAS into a Kali-based system is made much easier by the inclusion of a quick setup script.

When using Kali Linux for OpenVAS scanning, resource usage should always be taken into account. Whether running Kali in a virtual machine or on bare metal, you will want to have sufficient memory and cpu available for the scanner to be optimised for speed (4 cores & 8GB should be a minimum). If you are hoping to run large numbers of parallel scans, then you will need more resources. Several performance tuning options are available in the OpenVAS scanner configuration file to better use the resources you have available. See our OpenVAS tutorial for details on modifying the configuration file.

Install

First step is to install the packages through apt install openvas.

root@kali:~# apt update
root@kali:~# apt upgrade
root@kali:~# apt install openvas

Config

It is then a simple matter of running the configuration script to get OpenVAS configured with required services, user accounts and the latest NVT updates from the Greenbone Community Feed.

root@kali:~# openvas-setup

The output shown here is a bit daunting, however it is all automated. Assuming all goes well you should soon have a working and up to date OpenVAS installation. The actual time taken for this script will vary depending on download speeds as it is grabbing a fair amount of data for the signatures and CVE data.

[>] Updating OpenVAS feeds
[*] [1/3] Updating: NVT
--2019-03-13 19:08:49--  http://dl.greenbone.net/community-nvt-feed-current.tar.bz2
Resolving dl.greenbone.net (dl.greenbone.net)... 89.146.224.58, 2a01:130:2000:127::d1
Connecting to dl.greenbone.net (dl.greenbone.net)|89.146.224.58|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 23071344 (22M) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘/tmp/greenbone-nvt-sync.FNJU7dvf1u/openvas-feed-2019-03-13-126973.tar.bz2’

/tmp/greenbone-nvt-sync.FNJU7dvf1u/o 100%[=============================================>]  22.00M  2.76MB/s    in 9.5s    

2019-03-13 19:09:00 (2.32 MB/s) - ‘/tmp/greenbone-nvt-sync.FNJU7dvf1u/openvas-feed-2019-03-13-126973.tar.bz2’ saved [23071344/23071344]

2008/
2008/secpod_ms08-054_900045.nasl
2008/secpod_goodtech_ssh_sftp_mul_bof_vuln_900166.nasl
2008/secpod_pi3web_isapi_request_dos_vuln_900402.nasl
2008/secpod_rhinosoft_serv-u_sftp_dos_vuln_900113.nasl
2008/secpod_ms08-068_900057.nasl
2008/gb_opera_file_heap_bof_vuln_win.nasl

....

[*] [2/3] Updating: Scap Data
Greenbone community feed server - http://feed.community.greenbone.net/
This service is hosted by Greenbone Networks - http://www.greenbone.net/

All transactions are logged.

If you have any questions, please use the Greenbone community portal. 
See https://community.greenbone.net for details.

By using this service you agree to our terms and conditions.

Only one sync per time, otherwise the source ip will be temporarely blocked.

receiving incremental file list
./
COPYING
      1,719 100%    1.64MB/s    0:00:00 (xfr#1, to-chk=41/43)
nvdcve-2.0-2002.xml
 19,661,072 100%  396.63kB/s    0:00:48 (xfr#2, to-chk=40/43)
nvdcve-2.0-2003.xml
  5,740,888 100%  372.54kB/s    0:00:15 (xfr#3, to-chk=39/43)


....


     10,014 100%   10.57kB/s    0:00:00 (xfr#31, to-chk=2/43)
oval/5.10/org.mitre.oval/v/family/unix.xml
 31,372,831 100%  395.91kB/s    0:01:17 (xfr#32, to-chk=1/43)
oval/5.10/org.mitre.oval/v/family/windows.xml
 51,773,463 100%  396.37kB/s    0:02:07 (xfr#33, to-chk=0/43)

sent 3,061 bytes  received 1,206,268,870 bytes  408,559.50 bytes/sec
total size is 1,205,972,114  speedup is 1.00
/usr/sbin/openvasmd
[*] [3/3] Updating: Cert Data
Greenbone community feed server - http://feed.community.greenbone.net/
This service is hosted by Greenbone Networks - http://www.greenbone.net/

All transactions are logged.

If you have any questions, please use the Greenbone community portal. 
See https://community.greenbone.net for details.

By using this service you agree to our terms and conditions.

Only one sync per time, otherwise the source ip will be temporarely blocked.

receiving incremental file list
./
CB-K13.xml
  1,448,830 100%  387.74kB/s    0:00:03 (xfr#1, to-chk=23/25)
CB-K14.xml
  4,787,657 100%  399.75kB/s    0:00:11 (xfr#2, to-chk=22/25)

...

sha256sums.asc
        819 100%    1.02kB/s    0:00:00 (xfr#23, to-chk=1/25)
timestamp
         13 100%    0.02kB/s    0:00:00 (xfr#24, to-chk=0/25)

sent 614 bytes  received 57,604,789 bytes  390,545.11 bytes/sec
total size is 57,589,138  speedup is 1.00
/usr/sbin/openvasmd

[>] Stopping OpenVAS services
? greenbone-security-assistant.service - Greenbone Security Assistant
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/greenbone-security-assistant.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: inactive (dead)
     Docs: man:gsad(8)
           http://www.openvas.org/

? openvas-scanner.service - Open Vulnerability Assessment System Scanner Daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/openvas-scanner.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: signal) since Wed 2019-03-13 20:07:12 EDT; 39ms ago
     Docs: man:openvassd(8)
           http://www.openvas.org/
 Main PID: 124044 (code=killed, signal=KILL)

Mar 13 18:53:12 kali systemd[1]: Starting Open Vulnerability Assessment System Scanner Daemon...
Mar 13 18:53:12 kali systemd[1]: Started Open Vulnerability Assessment System Scanner Daemon.
Mar 13 20:07:09 kali systemd[1]: Stopping Open Vulnerability Assessment System Scanner Daemon...
Mar 13 20:07:12 kali systemd[1]: openvas-scanner.service: Main process exited, code=killed, status=9/KILL
Mar 13 20:07:12 kali systemd[1]: openvas-scanner.service: Failed with result 'signal'.
Mar 13 20:07:12 kali systemd[1]: Stopped Open Vulnerability Assessment System Scanner Daemon.

? openvas-manager.service - Open Vulnerability Assessment System Manager Daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/openvas-manager.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: inactive (dead)
     Docs: man:openvasmd(8)
           http://www.openvas.org/

Mar 13 20:07:09 kali systemd[1]: openvas-manager.service: Main process exited, code=killed, status=15/TERM
Mar 13 20:07:09 kali systemd[1]: openvas-manager.service: Killing process 123944 (gpg-agent) with signal SIGKILL.
Mar 13 20:07:09 kali systemd[1]: openvas-manager.service: Succeeded.
Mar 13 20:07:09 kali systemd[1]: Stopped Open Vulnerability Assessment System Manager Daemon.

[>] Starting openvassd
[>] Migrating openvassd
[>] Rebuilding openvassd
[>] Stopping openvassd

[*] Please wait for the OpenVAS services to start.
[*]
[*] You might need to refresh your browser once it opens.
[*]
[*]  Web UI (Greenbone Security Assistant): https://127.0.0.1:9392

? greenbone-security-assistant.service - Greenbone Security Assistant
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/greenbone-security-assistant.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2019-03-13 20:10:10 EDT; 5s ago
     Docs: man:gsad(8)
           http://www.openvas.org/
 Main PID: 128106 (gsad)
    Tasks: 4 (limit: 14486)
   Memory: 3.3M
   CGroup: /system.slice/greenbone-security-assistant.service
   ??128106 /usr/sbin/gsad --foreground --listen=127.0.0.1 --port=9392 --mlisten=127.0.0.1 --mport=9390
   ??128112 /usr/sbin/gsad --foreground --listen=127.0.0.1 --port=9392 --mlisten=127.0.0.1 --mport=9390

Mar 13 20:10:10 kali systemd[1]: Started Greenbone Security Assistant.

? openvas-scanner.service - Open Vulnerability Assessment System Scanner Daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/openvas-scanner.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2019-03-13 20:10:10 EDT; 5s ago
     Docs: man:openvassd(8)
           http://www.openvas.org/
  Process: 128105 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/openvassd --unix-socket=/var/run/openvassd.sock (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 128109 (openvassd)
    Tasks: 3 (limit: 14486)
   Memory: 7.7M
   CGroup: /system.slice/openvas-scanner.service
           ??128109 /usr/sbin/openvassd --unix-socket=/var/run/openvassd.sock
           ??128110 openvassd (Loading Handler)
           ??128111 openvassd: Reloaded 48300 of 49576 NVTs (97% / ETA: 00:00)

Mar 13 20:10:10 kali systemd[1]: Starting Open Vulnerability Assessment System Scanner Daemon...
Mar 13 20:10:10 kali systemd[1]: Started Open Vulnerability Assessment System Scanner Daemon.

? openvas-manager.service - Open Vulnerability Assessment System Manager Daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/openvas-manager.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2019-03-13 20:10:10 EDT; 5s ago
     Docs: man:openvasmd(8)
           http://www.openvas.org/
  Process: 128107 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/openvasmd --listen=127.0.0.1 --port=9390 --database=/var/lib/openvas/mgr/tasks.db (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 128108 (openvasmd)
    Tasks: 1 (limit: 14486)
   Memory: 74.4M
   CGroup: /system.slice/openvas-manager.service
           ??128108 openvasmd

Mar 13 20:10:10 kali systemd[1]: Starting Open Vulnerability Assessment System Manager Daemon...
Mar 13 20:10:10 kali systemd[1]: Started Open Vulnerability Assessment System Manager Daemon.

[*] Opening Web UI (https://127.0.0.1:9392) in: 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... 

[>] Checking for admin user
[*] Creating admin user
User created with password '450cbcd2-9999-405f-2222-951055a5e938'.

[+] Done

By utilising the prebuilt configuration script we can get up and running with OpenVAS in a very short amount of time.

OpenVAS Web Client (Green Security Assistant)

Access the Greenbone Web Client using your web browser. Login with admin and the password in the script output and you will be launching a scan of your target systems within a few minutes.

gsad

Lets first check that gsad is running and listening.

root@kali:~# netstat -apn | grep LISTEN
tcp    0  0 127.0.0.1:9390      0.0.0.0:*           LISTEN      128108/openvasmd    
tcp    0  0 127.0.0.1:80        0.0.0.0:*           LISTEN      128112/gsad         
tcp    0  0 127.0.0.1:9392      0.0.0.0:*           LISTEN      128106/gsad

Now browse to https://localhost:9392/. The Greenbone Security Assistant is a web portal front end to the GVM and OpenVAS scanner.

Task Wizard

The quickest way to fire off a scan is using the Task Wizard.

Enter the target and scan profile. Launch. Results are available under the reports option.

Modify gsad to listen on all interfaces

In the netstat output above, we can see that gsad is only listening on localhost. Here is how to change it so you can access the web interface over your local network.

Kali 2019 is using systemd for its services so we have to edit the following file to make the web interface listen on all interfaces.

root@kali:~# vi /lib/systemd/system/greenbone-security-assistant.service

Now change the 127.0.0.1 to 0.0.0.0, we also need to add a new parameter to the ExecStart line. This allows remote hosts to connect to our IP address (or hostname). Otherwise, we will get the following error in the browser:

The request contained an unknown or invalid Host header. If you are trying to access GSA via its hostname or a proxy, make sure GSA is set up to allow it.

If your IP address is 192.168.1.100 then make the changes as shown below.

[Unit]
Description=Greenbone Security Assistant
Documentation=man:gsad(8) http://www.openvas.org/
Wants=openvas-manager.service

[Service]
Type=simple
PIDFile=/var/run/gsad.pid
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/gsad --foreground --listen=0.0.0.0 --port=9392 --mlisten=0.0.0.0 --mport=9390 --allow-header-host 192.168.1.100

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Now restart the service and check with netstat or ss.

root@kali:~# systemctl daemon-reload
root@kali:~# systemctl restart greenbone-security-assistant.service 
root@kali:~# netstat -anp | grep gsad
tcp   0  0 0.0.0.0:80        0.0.0.0:*           LISTEN   128654/gsad         
tcp   0  0 0.0.0.0:9392      0.0.0.0:*           LISTEN   128653/gsad

Looks like we are up and running, now you can access the OpenVAS web interface from any system on your network.

OpenVAS Command Line Client (omp or gvm-cli)

Accessing OpenVAS from the command line is a powerful feature that gives you full control over scan tasks, reports and other management tasks. The current client in Kali is the omp client. Newer versions of GVM will use the gvm-cli command that is part of the gvm-tools package.

Both clients use XML to perform actions on the GVM server. The omp client has a number of command line switches, but the XML is where the real power lies.

root@kali:~# omp --help
Usage:
  omp [OPTION…] - OpenVAS OMP Command Line Interface

Help Options:
  -?, --help                       Show help options

Application Options:
  -h, --host=                Connect to manager on host 
  -p, --port=              Use port number 
  -V, --version                    Print version.
  -v, --verbose                    Verbose messages (WARNING: may reveal passwords).
  --use-certs                      Use client certificates to authenticate.
  --client-cert=        Client certificate. Default: /usr/var/lib/openvas/CA/clientcert.pem
  --client-key=          Client key. Default: /usr/var/lib/openvas/private/CA/clientkey.pem
  --client-ca-cert=     Client CA certificate. Default: /usr/var/lib/openvas/CA/cacert.pem
  -u, --username=        OMP username
  -w, --password=        OMP password
  --config-file=      Configuration file for connection parameters.
  -P, --prompt                     Prompt to exit.
  -O, --get-omp-version            Print OMP version.
  -n, --name=                Name for create-task.
  -C, --create-task                Create a task.
  -m, --comment=             Comment for create-task.
  -c, --config=            Config for create-task.
  -t, --target=            Target for create-task.
  -E, --delete-report              Delete one or more reports.
  -D, --delete-task                Delete one or more tasks.
  -R, --get-report                 Get report of one task.
  -F, --get-report-formats         Get report formats. (OMP 2.0 only)
  -f, --format=            Format for get-report.
  --filter=                Filter string for get-report
  -G, --get-tasks                  Get status of one, many or all tasks.
  -g, --get-configs                Get configs.
  -T, --get-targets                Get targets.
  -i, --pretty-print               In combination with -X, pretty print the response.
  -S, --start-task                 Start one or more tasks.
  -M, --modify-task                Modify a task.
  --ping                           Ping OMP server
  --timeout=               Wait  seconds for OMP ping response
  --file                           Add text in stdin as file on task.
  -X, --xml=              XML command (e.g. "").  "-" to read from stdin.
  --send-file=               Replace SENDFILE in xml with base64 of file.
  --details                        Enable detailed view.

OpenVAS Python Client (python-gvm)

A new feature coming with GVM is the ability to use a python client to manage the system. This is very exciting, particularly for those who like to automate all the things with Python.

Next Steps

OpenVAS (GVM) has a large number of moving parts, services, and configuration items. If you have any issues with the different services, we have an OpenVAS tutorial and guide that includes many tips for keeping an OpenVAS installation running smoothly.

Now that you have a local system ready to scan your internal network, take a look at our hosted solution where we provide the cloud infrastructure so you can check your network perimeter from the attackers' perspective.

Next Level Your Technical Network Intelligence

Use Cases and More Info

  • 13 Vulnerability Scanners
  • 17 Free DNS & Network Tools
  • 4+ Billion Records of DNS / IP data