Nessus – finding local vulnerabilities

Now that we have Nessus installed and configured, we will be able to begin testing of our first set of vulnerabilities. Nessus allows us to attack a wide range of vulnerabilities depending on our feed, and we will confine our list of assessing the vulnerabilities of our target to those specific to the type of information we seek to gain from the assessment. In this recipe, we will begin by finding local vulnerabilities. These are vulnerabilities specific to the operating system we are using.

Getting ready

To complete this recipe, you will be testing your local system (Kali Linux).

How to do it...

Let's begin the process of finding local vulnerabilities with Nessus by opening the Mozilla Firefox web browser:

1. Log in to Nessus at https://127.0.0.1:8834.

2. Go to Policies.

3. Click on New Policy.

   

4. On the General Settings tab, perform the following tasks:

   1. Under Settings Type, choose Basic.

   2. Enter a name for your scan. We chose Local Vulnerability Assessment, but you can choose...