Plugin Updates

The following table describes the behavior of differential plugin updates for agents linked to Tenable Vulnerability Management:

Linked	Differential Update	Full Update
Tenable Vulnerability Management	The agent requests differential updates from Tenable Vulnerability Management once every 24 hours.	The agent performs a full plugin update at scan time whenever the agent needs all plugin sets for certain scan policies. The agent also deletes unused plugin sets after a configurable amount of time. After the amount of time passes, the agent performs a full update and deletes the unused plugin sets. For more information, see the days_to_keep_unused_plugins advanced setting.

Linked

Differential Update

Full Update

Tenable Vulnerability Management

The agent requests differential updates from Tenable Vulnerability Management once every 24 hours.

The agent performs a full plugin update at scan time whenever the agent needs all plugin sets for certain scan policies.

The agent also deletes unused plugin sets after a configurable amount of time. After the amount of time passes, the agent performs a full update and deletes the unused plugin sets. For more information, see the days_to_keep_unused_plugins advanced setting.

Copyright © 2025 Tenable, Inc. All rights reserved. Tenable, Tenable Nessus, Tenable Lumin, Assure, and the Tenable logo are registered trademarks of Tenable, Inc. or its affiliates. All other products or services are trademarks of their respective owners.