Vulners agent¶

Vulners agent for Linux is an open source solution, which provides vulnerability assessment for Linux-based systems. The agent performs scans with minimum execution commands and, as a result, achieves extremely fast scanning speed. You will need the Python 3 to install the agent.

The agent gathers information about your operating system, its version, and any installed packages and patches. This information is then sent to Vulners API to find out which software is vulnerable. You can check how it works in manual mode to evaluate the results.

Vulners Audit IP Summary

Installation¶

Configure a repository for RHEL-based Linux:¶

Create file /etc/yum.repos.d/vulners.repo

For rhel6:

[vulners]
name=Vulners Agent
baseurl=https://repo.vulners.com/redhat/el6/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://repo.vulners.com/pubkey.txt

For rhel7:

[vulners]
name=Vulners Agent
baseurl=https://repo.vulners.com/redhat/el7/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://repo.vulners.com/pubkey.txt

Configure a repository for Debian-based Linux:¶

First, add vulners.com pubkey:

wget -O- https://repo.vulners.com/pubkey.txt | apt-key add -

Then, create file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vulners.list

deb http://repo.vulners.com/debian focal main

Install packet:¶

RHEL¶

yum install vulners-agent

Debian¶

apt-get update && apt-get install vulners-agent

Source code (NOT recommended)¶

You could clone the source code of a package and perform scans using Python. According to best practices, this should be done in a virtual environment:

install requirements.txt with pip3 install -r vulners-agent/requirements.txt,
configure the agent as described below,
run python3 vulners-agent/application --app Scanner.

Configuration¶

Now, you have to generate an API key to register the agent. Log in to Vulners, go to the userinfo space and click on the API KEYS tab. In the "Scope" field, select "scan", click SAVE and then copy the generated key. The result should look something like this:

RGB9YPJG7CFAXP35PMDVYFFJPGZ9ZIRO1VGO9K9269B0K86K6XQQQR32O6007NUK

Now, you can embed the generated key into the agent. The agent configuration file is located at /etc/vulners/vulners_agent.conf.

Example of the config file:

[DEFAULT]
api_key = RGB9YPJG7CFAXP35PMDVYFFJPGZ9ZIRO1VGO9K9269B0K86K6XQQQR32O6007NUK

You can use one API key for all your agents.

Advanced configuration¶

Using /etc/vulners/vulners_agent.conf you can override part of the identification parameters.

[DEFAULT]
api_key = RGB9YPJG7CFAXP35PMDVYFFJPGZ9ZIRO1VGO9K9269B0K86K6XQQQR32O6007NUK

[Ticker]
ip_address = 10.0.0.1
fqdn = my.host.example.com
mac_address = 00:01:02:03:04:06

Execution¶

During the first run, the agent will be automatically registered with the configured API key.

Perform a system scan by running vulners-agent --app Scanner.

Once finished, you can view agent status and scan results in the Audit section of your personal account.