OpenVAS

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title: "OpenVAS" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2005-software", "free-security-software", "network-analyzers", "pentesting-software-toolkits"] description: "Computer vulnerability scanning software" topic_path: "general/2005-software" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenVAS" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Computer vulnerability scanning software ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox software"]

Field	Value
name	OpenVAS
logo	[[File:OpenVAS-Logo-2010.png
developer	Greenbone Networks GmbH
latest_release_version
latest_release_date
operating_system	Cross-platform
programming language	C
genre	Vulnerability scanner
license	GPL
website
::

| name = OpenVAS | logo = [[File:OpenVAS-Logo-2010.png|OpenVAS-Logo-2010]] | developer = Greenbone Networks GmbH | latest_release_version = | latest_release_date = | operating_system = Cross-platform | programming language = C | genre = Vulnerability scanner | license = GPL | website = OpenVAS (Open Vulnerability Assessment Scanner, originally known as GNessUs) is the scanner component of Greenbone Vulnerability Management (GVM), a software framework of several services and tools offering vulnerability scanning and vulnerability management.

All Greenbone Vulnerability Management products are free software, and most components are licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Plugins for Greenbone Vulnerability Management are written in the Nessus Attack Scripting Language, NASL.

History

Greenbone Vulnerability Manager began under the name of OpenVAS, and before that the name GNessUs, as a fork of the previously open source Nessus scanning tool, after its developers Tenable Network Security changed it to a proprietary (closed source) license in October 2005. OpenVAS was originally proposed by pentesters at SecuritySpace, discussed with pentesters at Portcullis Computer Security and then announced by Tim Brown on Slashdot.

Greenbone Vulnerability Manager is a member project of Software in the Public Interest.

Structure

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/OpenVAS-7-Structure.png" caption="The OpenVAS 8 Structure"] ::

There is a daily updated feed of Network Vulnerability Tests (NVTs). , there were over 50,000 NVTs.

Documentation

The OpenVAS protocol structure aims to be well-documented to assist developers. The OpenVAS Compendium is a publication of the OpenVAS Project that delivers documentation on OpenVAS.

References

References

1. (2023-03-22). "GMV tools - Glossary".
2. LeMay, Renai. (2005-10-06). "Nessus security tool closes its source". CNet.
3. "SecuritySpace".
4. "Portcullis Labs".
5. (2005-10-07). "Nessus Closes Source".
6. (2007-07-07). "[Openvas-discuss] Log from SPI board meeting".
7. (2019-01-10). "About Greenbone Community Feed (GCF)".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::