Scan Targets
You can specify the targets of a scan using several different formats. The following table explains target types, examples, and a short explanation of what occurs when that Tenable Nessus scans that target type.
|
Target Description |
Example |
Explanation |
|---|---|---|
|
A single IPv4 address |
192.168.0.1 |
Tenable Nessus scans the single IPv4 address. |
|
A single IPv6 address |
2001:db8::2120:17ff:fe56:333b |
Tenable Nessus scans the single IPv6 address. |
|
A single link local IPv6 address with a scope identifier |
fe80:0:0:0:216:cbff:fe92:88d0%eth0 |
Tenable Nessus scans the single IPv6 address. Tenable Nessus does not support using the interface names instead of interface indexes for the scope identifier on Windows platforms. |
| A small list of IPv4 or IPv6 addresses | 192.168.0.1, 192.169.1.1 | Tenable Nessus scans the list of addresses. Separate each address with a comma or a new line; otherwise, Nessus cannot read the list. |
|
An IPv4 range with a start and end address |
192.168.0.1-192.168.0.255 |
Tenable Nessus scans all IPv4 addresses between the start address and end address, including both addresses. |
|
An IPv4 address with one or more octets replaced with numeric ranges |
192.168.0-1.3-5 |
The example expands to all combinations of the values given in the octet ranges: 192.168.0.3, 192.168.0.4, 192.168.0.5, 192.168.1.3, 192.168.1.4 and 192.168.1.5. |
|
An IPv4 subnet with CIDR notation |
192.168.0.0/24 |
Tenable Nessus scans all addresses within the specified subnet. The address given is not the start address. Specifying any address within the subnet with the same CIDR scans the same set of hosts. |
|
An IPv4 subnet with netmask notation |
192.168.0.0/255.255.255.128 |
Tenable Nessus scans all addresses within the specified subnet. The address is not a start address. Specifying any address within the subnet with the same netmask scans the same hosts. |
|
A host resolvable to either an IPv4 or an IPv6 address |
www.yourdomain.com |
Tenable Nessus scans the single host. If the hostname resolves to multiple addresses the address to scan is the first IPv4 address or if it did not resolve to an IPv4 address, the first IPv6 address. |
|
A host resolvable to an IPv4 address with CIDR notation |
www.yourdomain.com/24 |
Tenable Nessus resolves the hostname to an IPv4 address and then treats it like any other IPv4 address with CIDR target. |
|
A host resolvable to an IPv4 address with netmask notation |
www.yourdomain.com/255.255.252.0 |
Tenable Nessus resolves the hostname to an IPv4 address and then treats it like any other IPv4 address with netmask notation. |
|
The text 'link6' optionally followed by an IPv6 scope identifier |
link6 or link6%16 |
Tenable Nessus sends out multicast ICMPv6 echo requests on the interface specified by the scope identifier to the ff02::1 address. Tenable Nessus scans all hosts that respond to the request. If you do not provide a IPv6 scope identifier, Tenable Nessus sends out the requests on all interfaces. Tenable Nessus does not support using the interface names instead of interface indexes for the scope identifier on Windows platforms. |
|
Some text with either a single IPv4 or IPv6 address within square brackets |
"Test Host 1[10.0.1.1]" or "Test Host 2[2001:db8::abcd]" |
Tenable Nessus scans the IPv4 or IPv6 address within the brackets like a normal single target. |
Tip: You can process hostname targets that look like either a link6 target (start with the text "link6") or like one of the two IPv6 range forms as a hostname by putting single quotes around the target.