Linux/macOS/Unix OS Field Normalization (English)

Summary

Tenable’s OS identification plugins will now normalize the OS details for Linux, macOS and UNIX scan targets.

Change

Before this update, different Linux, macOS and UNIX variants and distributions would present different data points about its release and kernel versions when queried by Nessus and Nessus Agents. The query results may occasionally present differently based on the different functions used by Nessus and Nessus Agent. 

After the update, Nessus and Nessus Agent will now use a single function to normalize English-language results and present more consistent information about an asset’s operating system to the user.

The following operating systems will see updated results:

• Amazon Linux
  • Before: 
    • Linux Kernel 5.4.219-126.411.amzn2.x86_64 on Amazon Linux 2
  • After: 
    • Amazon Linux 2
• CentOS and CentOS Stream
  • Before: 
    • Linux Kernel 3.10.0-1160.21.1.el7.centos.plus.x86_64 on CentOS Linux release 7.9.2009 (Core)
  • After: 
    • CentOS Linux 7.9.2009
• Debian
  • Before: 
    • Linux Kernel 4.19.0-21-cloud-amd64 on Debian 10.13
  • After: 
    • Debian Linux 10.13
• Fedora
  • Before: 
    • Linux Kernel 5.11.12-300.fc34.x86_64 on Fedora release 34 (Thirty Four)
  • After: 
    • Fedora Linux 34
• macOS
  • Before: 
    • Mac OS X 10.15.7
  • After: 
    • macOS 10.15.7
• OpenSUSE
  • Before: 
    • Linux Kernel 5.3.18-150300.59.49-default on openSUSE 15.3
  • After: 
    • openSUSE Linux 15.3
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
  • Before: 
    • Linux Kernel 2.6.32-754.47.1.el6.x86_64 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.10 (Santiago)
  • After: 
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6.10
• Ubuntu
  • Before: 
    • Linux Kernel 5.15.0-1020-aws on Ubuntu 20.04
  • After: 
    • Ubuntu Linux 20.04

Impact

Linux, macOS and UNIX assets whose English-language Operating System field value changed between scans using Nessus and Nessus Agent will now present a consistent value. Dashboards or Reports that use the “Operating System” field in the Asset data set, and search for a specific kernel or distribution string in that field, may need to be updated.

Future updates will add this functionality where necessary for other operating systems as well as other languages.

Plugin

11936 - OS Identification

Target Release Date

October 1, 2024