Tenable VM Connector

The following is not supported in Tenable FedRAMP Moderate environments. For more information, see the Tenable FedRAMP Product Offering.

The following steps allow you to configure this connector for use with Tenable Exposure Management from start to finish.

Tip: For more information on how third-party integrations work, see Connectors.

Connector Details

Details Description

Supported products

Tenable.io (Tenable Vulnerability Management)

Category

Endpoint Security

Ingested data

Assets and Findings

Ingested Asset Classes

Devices

Integration type

UNI directional (data is transferred from the Connector to Tenable Exposure Management in one direction)

Supported version and type

SaaS (latest)

Prerequisites and User Permissions

Before you begin configuring the connector, make sure to:

  1. Create a Tenable.io user permissions.

  2. Create a Tenable user.

  3. Generate Tenable.io access and secret keys.

Create a Tenable.io User Permissions

  1. Navigate to Tenable.io > Settings > Access Control > Permissions.
  2. Click on +Create Permission.
  3. In Permission Name, insert an indicative name, e.g., "TenableEM".
  4. In Permissions, select the Can View permission.
  5. In Objects, select the All Assets object.
  6. Click Save.

  7. Click on +Create Permission again to create additional permission for fetching tags.

  8. In Permission Name, insert an indicative name, e.g., "All_tags".

  9. In Permissions, select the Can Use permission.
  10. In Objects, select the All Tags object.
  11. Click Save.

Create a Tenable User

  1. Navigate to Tenable.io > Settings > Access Control > Create User.

  2. Fill in the primary user details.

  3. In Role, select Basic User.

  4. Enable the API Key option.

  5. In Permissions, select the permissions you created earlier:
    • Can Use
    • Can View

  6. Click Save.

  7. Logout from Tenable.io.

Generate Tenable.io Access and Secret Keys

  1. Login to Tenable.io using the user you created earlier.

  2. Navigate to Settings > My Account > API Keys.

  3. Click Generate.

  4. Save the credentials securely. You’ll use them to configure the connector in Tenable Exposure Management.

Add a Connector

To add a new connector:

  1. In the left navigation menu, click Connectors.

    The Connectors page appears.

  2. In the upper-right corner, click Add new connector.

    The Connector Library page appears.

  3. In the search box, type the name of the connector.

  4. On the tile for the connector, click Connect.

    The connector configuration options appear.

Configure the Connector

To set up the connector:

  1. (Optional) Edit the default connector name if you need it to be more descriptive.

  2. If a gateway is required, refer to the Tenable On-Prem Connector guide to configure the gateway before proceeding. If not, continue following the steps in this guide.

  3. In the API Access Key and API Secret Key text boxes, enter the credentials you generated earlier

  4. Data pulling configuration: This configuration has dynamic settings tailored to the specific connector and integration type. Below are the configurations relevant to this connector.

    • (Optional) To retrieve informational vulnerabilities in addition to Critical, High, Medium, and Low vulnerabilities, select the Pull informational vulnerabilities from Tenable checkbox.

    • In the Asset Retention text box, type the number of days after which you want assets to be removed from Tenable Exposure Management. If an asset has not been detected or updated within the specified number of days, it is automatically removed from the application, ensuring your asset inventory is current and relevant.

      Tip: For more information, see Asset Retention.

  5. In the Test connectivity section, click the Test Connectivity button to verify that Tenable Exposure Management can connect to your connector instance.

    • A successful connectivity test confirms that the platform can connect to the connector instance. It does not, however, guarantee that the synchronization process will succeed, as additional syncing or processing issues may arise.

    • If the connectivity test fails, an error message with details about the issue appears. Click Show tests for more information about the exact error.

  6. In the Connector scheduling section, configure the time and day(s) on which you want connector syncs to occur.

    Tip: For more information, see Connector Scheduling.

  7. Click Create. Tenable Exposure Management begins syncing the connector. The sync can take some time to complete.

  8. Allow some time for the sync to complete. Then, you can review the sync status on the Connectors main page or under Connector Sync Log on the connector's specific setup page.

  9. To confirm the sync is complete, do the following:

Tenable VM in Tenable Exposure Management

Locate Connector Assets in Tenable Exposure Management

As the connector discovers assets, Tenable Exposure Management ingests those devices for reporting.

To view assets by connector:

  1. In Tenable Exposure Management, navigate to the Assets page.

  2. In the Filters section, under 3rd Party Connectors, click the connector name for which you want to view assets.

    The asset list updates to show only assets from the selected connector.

  3. Click on any asset to view Asset Details.

Locate Connector Weaknesses in Tenable Exposure Management

As the connector discovers weaknesses, Tenable Exposure Management ingests those weaknesses for reporting.

To view weaknesses by connector: 

  1. In Tenable Exposure Management, navigate to the Weaknesses page.

  2. In the Filters section, under 3rd Party Connectors, click the connector name for which you want to view weaknesses.

    The weaknesses list updates to show only weaknesses from the selected connector.

  3. Click on any weakness to view Weakness Details.

Locate Connector Findings in Tenable Exposure Management

As the connector discovers individual findings, Tenable Exposure Management ingests those findings for reporting.

To view findings by connector:

  1. In Tenable Exposure Management, navigate to the Findings page.

  2. In the Filters section, under 3rd Party Connectors, click the connector name for which you want to view findings

    The findings list updates to show only assets from the selected connector.

  3. Click on any asset to view Finding Details.

Data Mapping

Exposure Management integrates with the connector via API to retrieve relevant weakness and asset data, which is then mapped into the Exposure Management system. The following tables outline how fields and their values are mapped from the connector to Exposure Management.

Device Mapping

Tenable Exposure Management UI Field

Tenable VM Field
Unique Identifier id
Asset - Name

hostnames

netbios_names

fqdns

ipv4s
Asset - Operating Systems operating_systems

Asset - IPv4 Adresses

Asset - IPv6 Adresses

ipv4s
Asset - MAC Addresses mac_addresses
Asset - Host Fully Qualified DNS fqdns
Asset - First Observation Date first_seen
Asset - Last Observed At last_seen

Asset - External Tags

tags

Cloud source

aws_owner_id

azure_resource_id

Asset Custom Attributes

state

Finding Mapping

Tenable Exposure Management UI Field

Tenable VM Field
Unique Identifier

asset id + port.port + port.protocol + unique vulnerability id
Finding Name plugin.name
CVEs plugin.id
Severity Driver cvss3_base_score or cvss_base_score
Description plugin.description
First Seen first_found
Last seen (Observed) last_found
Finding Custom Attributes

state

port.port

port.protocol

plugin.cpe

first_found

plugin.family

plugin.solution

plugin.vpr.score

plugin.cpe

plugin.cvss3_temporal_vector

plugin.publication_date

plugin.modification_date

plugin.cvss3_temporal_score

plugin.cvss3_vector.raw

plugin.cpe

plugin.solution

plugin.see_also

Finding Status Mapping

Tenable Exposure Management Status

Tenable VM Status

Active

Vulnerable

Fixed

Fixed

Finding Severity Mapping

Tenable Exposure Management Severity

Tenable VM Score

0-10

0-10

Note:For Tenable VM, Tenable Exposure Management uses the cvss_base_score field to determine severity.

Status Update Mechanisms

Every day, Tenable Exposure Management syncs with the vendor's platform to receive updates on existing findings and assets and to retrieve new ones (if any were added).

The table below describes how the status update mechanism works in the connector for findings and assets ingested into Tenable Exposure Management.

Update Type in Tenable Exposure Management

Mechanism (When?)

Archiving Assets

  • Asset that appears in Tenable Exposure Management and is not returned on the next connector sync

  • Asset not seen for X days according to "Last Seen". See Asset Retention

Change a Finding status from "Active" to "Fixed"

  • Finding status changes to Fixed on Tenable VM.
Note: Updates on the vendor side are reflected in Tenable Exposure Management only when the next scheduled connector sync time is complete (once a day).

Uniqueness Criteria

Tenable Exposure Management uses defined uniqueness criteria to determine whether an ingested asset or finding should be recognized as a distinct record. These criteria help define how assets and findings are identified and counted from each connector.

Tip:  Read all about Third-Party Data Deduplication in Tenable Exposure Management

The uniqueness criteria for this connector are as follows:

Data

Uniqueness Criteria

Asset

id

Finding

asset id + port.port + port.protocol + unique vulnerability id

API Endpoints in Use

API version: 1.0

API

Use in Tenable Exposure Management

Required Permissions

/assets/export

 

Assets report

Basic User

/assets/export/{{uuid}}/status

Assets report status

Basic User

/assets/export/{{uuid}}/chunks/{{chunk}}

Assets chunk

Basic User

/vulns/export

Findings report

Basic User
/vulns/export/{{uuid}}/status Findings status Basic User
/vulns/export/{{uuid}}/chunks/{{chunk}} Findings chunk Basic User

Data Validation

This section shows how to validate and compare data between Tenable Exposure Management and the Tenable VM platform.

Asset Data Validation

Objective: Ensure the number of endpoints (devices) in Tenable VM aligns with the number of devices displayed in Tenable Exposure Management.

In Tenable VM:

  1. Navigate to Explore > Assets.

    The Assets page appears, showing licensed Host assets from the past 30 days.

  2. Take note of the Hosts count.

In Tenable Exposure Management:

  1. Locate your connector assets.

  2. Compare the total number of assets between Tenable VM and Tenable Exposure Management.

Expected outcome: The total numbers returned in Tenable VM and Tenable Exposure Management should match.

If an asset is not visible in Tenable Exposure Management, check the following conditions:

  • The asset status changed to one of the selected statuses defined in the Asset Retention configuration.

  • The asset was archived based on the last observed date (last seen).

  • The asset was archived based on its status.

  • The asset was archived because it did not return in the connector's next sync.

    Tip: To learn more on how assets and findings change status, see Tenable VM Connector.

Finding Data Validation

Objective: Ensure that the total number of findings between Tenable VM and Tenable Exposure Management is consistent.

In Tenable VM:

  1. Navigate to Explore > Findings.

    The Findings page appears, showing Vulnerabilities from the past 30 days.

  2. Take note of the Vulnerabilities count.

In Tenable Exposure Management:

  1. Locate your connector findings.

  2. Compare the total number of findings between Tenable VM and Tenable Exposure Management.

Expected outcome: The total numbers returned in Tenable VM and Tenable Exposure Management should match

If a finding is missing from Tenable Exposure Management or no longer active, check the following conditions:

  • The finding no longer appears in the scan findings.

  • The finding is marked as Fixed and appears under the Fixed state on the Findings screen

  • The finding no longer appears because its related asset was archived.

    Tip: To learn more on how assets and findings are archived or change status, see Tenable VM Connector.