This project demonstrates hands-on experience with vulnerability assessment and management using Tenable Nessus Essentials.
The lab focuses on identifying, analyzing, and documenting security vulnerabilities across both local and virtualized Windows environments.
- Install and configure Nessus Essentials
- Perform baseline (unauthenticated) vulnerability scans
- Perform credentialed vulnerability scans on Windows systems
- Analyze vulnerability severity using CVSS v3
- Document findings and scanning limitations
- Host OS: Windows 10
- Virtualization: Oracle VirtualBox
- Target System: Windows 10 Virtual Machine
- Scanner: Nessus Essentials (Local Scanner)
- Unauthenticated scan against localhost
- Identified open ports, services, and informational findings
- Established a baseline security posture
- Credentialed scan against Windows 10 VM
- Attempted authenticated checks using administrative credentials
- Authentication failed due to system security controls (realistic enterprise scenario)
- Still produced meaningful vulnerability and service-level findings
- Informational and medium-severity vulnerabilities detected
- Service discovery and port scanning results analyzed
- Demonstrates realistic challenges with credentialed scanning in secured environments
- Nessus installation & plugin management
- Vulnerability scanning methodologies
- CVSS v3 severity analysis
- Windows security configuration awareness
- Vulnerability management documentation
Credentialed scan authentication failures are common in real-world environments due to firewall rules, SMB/RPC restrictions, and Group Policy settings.
This project documents those limitations transparently, reflecting real operational conditions.
All screenshots of installation, scan execution, and results are included in the /screenshots directory.
Krish