Configure Tenable Nessus with ARCON (SSH)

In Tenable Nessus Manager, you can integrate with Arcon using SSH credentials. Complete the following steps to configure Tenable Nessus with ARCON using SSH.

Required User Role: Standard, Administrator, or System administrator

To integrate Tenable Nessus with ARCON using SSH credentials:

  1. Log in to your Tenable user interface.

  2. In the upper-left corner, click the Menu button.

    The left navigation plane appears.

  3. In the left navigation plane, click Scans.

    The Scans page appears.

  4. In the upper-right corner of the page, click the Create a Scan button.

    The Select a Scan Template page appears.

  5. Select a scan template.

    The scan configuration page appears.

  6. In the Name box, type a name for the scan.

  7. In the Targets box, type an IP address, hostname, or range of IP addresses.
  8. (Optional) Add a description, folder location, scanner location, and specify target groups.

  9. Click the Credentials tab.

    The Credentials pane appears.

  10. In the Select a Credential menu, select the Host drop-down.

  11. Select SSH.

    The Settings pane appears.

  12. In the Auth Type drop-down box, click ARCON.

    The ARCON options appear.

  13. Configure each option for the SSH authentication.

    Option Default Value

    Arcon host

    (Required) The Arcon IP address or DNS address.

    Note: If your Arcon installation is in a subdirectory, you must include the subdirectory path. For example, type IP address or hostname/subdirectory path.

    Arcon port

    The port on which Arcon listens.
    API User

    (Required) The API user provided by Arcon.
    API Key

    (Required) The API key provided by Arcon.
    Authentication URL The URL Tenable Nessus Manager uses to access Arcon.

    Password Engine URL

    The URL Tenable Nessus Manager uses to access the passwords in Arcon.
    Username (Required) The username to log in to the hosts you want to scan.
    Arcon Target Type (Optional) The name of the target type. . Depending on the Arcon PAM version you are using and the system type the SSH credential has been created with, this is set to linux by default. Refer to the Arcon PAM Specifications document (provided by Arcon) for target type/system type mapping for the correct target type value.
    Checkout Duration

    (Required) The length of time, in hours, that you want to keep credentials checked out in Arcon.

    Configure the Checkout Duration to exceed the typical duration of your Tenable Vulnerability Management scans. If a password from a previous scan is still checked out when a new scan begins, the new scan fails.

    Note: Configure the password change interval in Arcon so that password changes do not disrupt your Tenable Vulnerability Management scans. If Arcon changes a password during a scan, the scan fails.
    Use SSL When enabled, Tenable Nessus Manager uses SSL through IIS for secure communications. You must configure SSL through IIS in Arcon before enabling this option.
    Verify SSL When enabled, Tenable Nessus Manager validates the SSL certificate. You must configure SSL through IIS in Arcon before enabling this option.
    Targets to Prioritize Credentials

    Specify IPs or CIDR blocks on which this credential is attempted before any other credential. To specify multiple IPs or CIDR blocks, use a comma or space-separated list.

    Using this setting can decrease scan times by prioritizing a credential that you know works against your selected targets. For example, if your scan specifies 100 credentials, and the successful credential is the 59th credential out of 100, the first 58 credentials have to fail before the 59th credential succeeds. If you use Targets To Prioritize Credentials, you configure the scan to use the successful credential first, which allows the scan to access the target faster.

  14. Do one of the following:

    • If you want to save without launching the scan, click Save.

    • If you want to save and launch the scan immediately, click Save & Launch.

      Note: If you scheduled the scan to run at a later time, the Save & Launch option is not available.

What to do next:

To verify the integration is working:

  1. On the Scans page, click the Launch button to initiate an on-demand scan.

  2. Once the scan completes, select the completed scan and look for Plugin ID 97993 and the corresponding message - It was possible to log into the remote host via SSH using 'password' authentication. This result validates that authentication was successful.