Setting up OpenVAS9

Introduction

OpenVAS9 is described as "The world's most advanced Open Source vulnerability scanner and manager".

OpenVAS in Alpine Linux is available in Community repository.

This How-To will guide you to install a complete server solution for vulnerability scanning and vulnerability management solution.

Install

Enable/Add Community repository:

echo http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community >> /etc/apk/repositories && apk update

apk add openvas-manager gnutls-utils openvas-cli openvas-scanner greenbone-security-assistant python2 redis

Configuration

Redis

OpenVAS relies on Redis. Redis should be configured to listen to a socket.

Modify /etc/redis.conf by uncommenting :

unixsocket /tmp/redis.sock
unixsocketperm 700

Or do it in one shot with:

sed -i -e "s/# \(unix.*\)/\1/" /etc/redis.conf

Then start redis and add it to default runlevel:

rc-service redis start
rc-update add redis

OpenVAS Manager

Upgrade the NVT (Network Vulnerability Tests) archives:

greenbone-nvt-sync
greenbone-scapdata-sync
greenbone-certdata-sync

Be patient...it will take a while.

Generate the certificate for openvas-manager.

The certificate infrastructure enables OpenVAS daemons to communicate in a secure manner and is used for authentication and authorization before establishing TLS connections between the daemons. You can setup the certificate automatically with:

openvas-manage-certs -a

Create a new user with Admin role, and take note of the generated password:

openvasmd --create-user=admin --role=Admin

User created with password '18664575-7101-4ceb-8a94-429a376824e6

Note: if you want to change the password you can run:

openvasmd --user=admin --new-password=MyNewVeryStrongPassword

Start OpenVAS Manager, rebuild the cache,restart it and add it to default runlevel:

rc-service openvasmd start
openvasmd --rebuild --progress

This will take a while, since OpenVAS here is rebuilding his database with all NVT definition downloaded.

rc-service openvasmd restart
rc-update add openvasmd

OpenVAS Scanner

Generate the OpenVAS Scanner cache:

rc-service openvassd stop
rc-service openvassd create_cache
rc-service openvassd start

Add the OpenVAS services to default runlevel:

rc-update add openvassd

Greenbone Security Assistant (GSAD)

Configure Greenbone Security Assistant (GSAD) to listen to other interfaces rather than localhost only, so it is reachable from other hosts.

Modify /etc/conf.d/gsad: with:

GSAD_LISTEN="--listen=0.0.0.0" 

Or, in one shot:

sed -i -e "s/127\.0\.0\.1/0\.0\.0\.0/g" /etc/conf.d/gsad

Start GSAD and add it to default runlevel:

rc-service gsad start
rc-update add gsad

Check

If you want to check if OpenVAS is correctly installed and configured, you can use the following script: openvas-alpine-check-setup

You can download and run it with:

 wget https://gist.githubusercontent.com/fcolista/185a1e392bbea3d3dc0b7861408a2b74/raw/7ee1074f86e5856ee3bc6446ce5b79c7cf217a7a/openvas-alpine-check-setup && chmod +x openvas-alpine-check-setup && sh openvas-alpine-check-setup

Probably, you'll get several "WARNING:".

This because out-of-the-box OpenVAS is not shipped with some optional packages,and is not configured to listen to other interfaces beside localhost.

Read what is suggested from the script to get the WARNING going away.

Note: GSAD's reports relies on LaTex package, which is not yet complete in Alpine Linux. You can use this script to get the latest LaTex version available and working: fix-latex.sh

Misc

Configure Trusted NVTs

Sum-up from http://www.openvas.org/trusted-nvts.html :

"Signed NVTs are usually provided by NVT Feed Services. For example, the NVTs contained in the OpenVAS NVT Feed are signed by the "OpenVAS Transfer Integrity" key which you can find at the bottom of this page. If you have already installed OpenVAS, you can use the "greenbone-nvt-sync" command to synchronize your NVT collection with the OpenVAS NVT Feed and receive signatures for all NVTs."

Create key

{{{1}}}

You need to choose Realname, Email and a Password. Example:

Realname: openvas
Email: openvas@localhost
Password: admin

Add a certificate to OpenVAS Scanner Keyring

Add the OpenVAS scanner Integrity Key:

wget http://www.openvas.org/OpenVAS_TI.asc
gpg --homedir=/etc/openvas/gnupg --import OpenVAS_TI.asc

Set trust

To mark a certificate as trusted for your purpose, you have to sign it. The preferred way is to use local signatures that remain only in the keyring of your OpenVAS Scanner installation.

To finally sign a certificate you need to know its KEY_ID.

You either get it from the table at the bottom or via a "list-keys" command.

Then you can locally sign:

gpg --homedir=/etc/openvas/gnupg --list-keys
gpg --homedir=/etc/openvas/gnupg --lsign-key KEY_ID

For example, to express your trust in the OpenVAS Transfer Integrity you imported above, you could use the following command:

gpg --homedir=/etc/openvas/gnupg --lsign-key 48DB4530

Before signing you should be absolutely sure that you are signing the correct certificate. You may use its fingerprint and other methods to convince yourself.

To enable NVT signing on openvassd:

sed -i -e "s/nasl_no_signature_check.*/nasl_no_signature_check = no/g" /etc/openvas/openvassd.conf

As last step, restart openvassd service:

rc-service openvassd restart

Support HTTPS for GSAD

You need to create a certificate for SSL (see [1])

This suppose that the cert is called cert.pem and private key is cert.key, both in /etc/openvas :

GSAD_EXTRA_ARGS="--ssl-private-key=/etc/openvas/cert.key --ssl-certificate=/etc/openvas/cert.pem --timeout=90" 

Or, in one shot:

sed -i -e "s/GSAD_EXTRA_ARGS=.*/GSAD_EXTRA_ARGS=\"--ssl-private-key=\/etc\/openvas\/cert.key --ssl-certificate=\/etc\/openvas\/cert.pem --timeout=90 -R\"/g" /etc/conf.d/gsad