Component Installs Require Paranoid Checks
Summary With this update, products that are deemed to be components of another application, will now require the scan to be run in paranoid mode to trigger generic vulnerability detection plugins. In this context, “generic vulnerability detection plugins” refers to plugins that cover advisories published by the component vendor (e.g., plugin ID 242325, SQLite < 3.50.2 Memory Corruption) rather than the operating system or “parent” application that distributes the component, either as a part of the operating system or a dependent tool of the parent application. Overview Tenable covers software that can be either installed as base level software, or be included as component software of a larger product installation. Base level software can be updated without any impact to the base product functionality. Component software is typically updated as part of the vendor update for the larger packaged product, and the individual components are not updatable. Non-paranoid scans will report base software vulnerabilities that are actionable. Paranoid scans will report on base software vulnerabilities as well component software vulnerabilities that are not actionable, but still package a potentially vulnerable version of the component. To enhance the accuracy of our vulnerability detection and provide users with greater control over scan results, we are implementing an update affecting how we flag vulnerabilities in software components. Our detection plugins for OpenSSL, Curl, LibCurl, Apache HTTPD, Apache Tomcat, SQLite, PHP, Python packages and Node.js modules can now identify when these packages are installed as components of another parent application (e.g., SQLite bundled with Trend Micro’s Deep Security Agent), rather than as standalone installs. Key Changes: Non-Paranoid Scans: Scans running in the default mode will no longer flag generic vulnerability detection plugins for these component installs. This is because vulnerabilities in components generally cannot be patched directly; users must wait for the parent application's vendor to issue an update. OS Vendor Advisories Unaffected: This change does not affect plugins for OS vendor security advisories that cover the same vulnerabilities (e.g., plugin ID 243452, RHEL 9 : sqlite (RHSA-2025:12522)). Paranoid Scans: For scans running in paranoid mode, generic vulnerability detection plugins will still trigger for component installs if the detected version is lower than the expected fixed version. Expected Impact: Customers running non-paranoid scans should anticipate seeing a reduction in potential vulnerability findings for OpenSSL, Curl, LibCurl, Apache HTTPD, Apache Tomcat, SQLite, PHP, Python packages and Node.js modules that are installed as components. Technical Details: The changes are entirely contained within two shared libraries, vcf.inc and vdf.inc, utilized by the affected plugins. This update impacts approximately 750 plugins specific to OpenSSL, Curl, LibCurl, Apache HTTPD, Apache Tomcat, and SQLite. Targeted Release Date: Friday, February 6, 2026
Compliance Windows Command Execution Enhancement
Summary The Windows Compliance Check plugin is implementing an updated library to run commands on Windows targets. The enhancements will include the following benefits. The plugin will improve on its handling of command timeouts. There were issues when long running commands would timeout on the scanner but leave temporary files on the target. This update will force long running checks to close when timing out and remove temporary files. The recently released improved resource management controls for Windows plugins on agents will now be extended to running audits. Potential Impacts: Tenable has gone to great lengths to ensure that the content that it publishes will operate and produce the same results that it always has. Customized audits may exhibit some changes due to the introduced job control of the command execution. These changes tend to be compliance checks that generate different results (failure instead of passing), or the actual values of the check have different text that would affect baseline scans. If custom content does exhibit these issues, strategies to work with the new library can be found in Compliance WMI Library Enhancement. Tenable Plugins 21156 - Windows Compliance Checks Target Release Date February 9, 2026
Ruby Gem Enumeration Detection Updates
Summary Tenable has updated the Ruby gem enumeration plugins to reduce false positives and to better identify vulnerabilities when multiple packages are present on the scan target. Change Before this update, the Ruby gem enumeration plugins did not attempt to associate detected packages with an RPM or DEB package managed by the Linux distribution. This would cause some packages to report vulnerabilities both based on a Linux distribution vendor’s advisory and a CVE advisory from the Ruby gem maintainer. Some gems that are symbolically linked across the filesystem could be detected multiple times. After this update, these issues have been addressed. Vulnerable Ruby gems on Linux assets will be assessed to determine if they are managed by a Linux distribution’s package manager, and if so, will be marked as “Managed” and will not report a vulnerability, unless the [Override normal Accuracy] setting to Show potential false alarms setting is enabled for the scan. Gems that are symbolically linked will be followed to the source file; duplicate detections will be eliminated. The gem enumeration plugins will no longer report the list of detected gems in plugin output; rather, they will use only internal storage mechanisms to record the detected gems, so that Ruby vulnerability plugins can continue to use that data for version checks. Impact Most customers will notice a reduction in the volume of Ruby gem vulnerabilities reported. Detection plugins 240646 - Ruby Gem Modules Installed (macOS) 207584 - Ruby Gem Modules Installed (Linux) 207585 - Ruby Gem Modules Installed (Windows) Target Release Date March 2, 2026Improved Resource Management Control
Summary Improved resource management control for plugins leveraging Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) on Nessus Agent 11.1.0 or higher. Impact Customers with Nessus Agent 11.1.0 and later versions will have the ability to granularly control the CPU resources consumed during scans. This update ensures that plugins respect the resource usage setting selected during scan configuration by launching commands as children of the Nessus Agent, rather than invoking them via WMI. The release of these plugins will continue through January, with a phased approach over three weeks. The first release will be January 13th, the second January 20th, and the final planned plugin update on February 9th. Target Release Date Phase 1 plugin set: January 13, 2026 Phase 2 plugin set: January 20, 2026 Phase 3 plugin set: February 9, 2026Research Release Highlight - Backported Vulnerability Detection Improvements
Summary Backporting is the practice of using parts of a newer version of software to patch previous versions of the same software, most commonly to resolve security issues that also affect previous versions. For example, if a vulnerability is patched in version 2.0 of a piece of software, but version 1.0 is also affected by the same security hole, the changes are also provided as a patch to version 1.0 to ensure it remains secure. Tenable Research identifies backported software installs based on the server banners that the service returns. Previously, when a backported install was detected during a non-paranoid scan, downstream vulnerability plugins would not report the install as vulnerable. During a paranoid scan, vulnerability plugins would act upon the version returned in the banner and would flag if a vulnerable version was installed. Exact details of this process were outlined in this article. This approach was false positive prone and was difficult to maintain accurately due to inconsistent & untimely information from vendors detailing their backported fixes. Change As discussed in the above article, Tenable Research previously maintained a list of known backported banners. If a delta existed between the release of a backported fix & an update made by Tenable Research, a false positive result may have occurred in scans during this time. Following this change, any banners which indicate the software is packaged by a Linux distribution will be deemed to be backported by default. These types of banners typically follow the format of <product>/<version> (<Operating System>) ( E.g., Apache/1.2.3 (Ubuntu) ). Impact During non-paranoid scans, customers can expect improved coverage for products which contain backport fixes that are detected remotely. As a result of this, a reduction in false positives being reported is also expected. Enabling paranoia in a scan configuration will continue to cause backported installs to be treated as regular installs by vulnerability checks. For more accurate vulnerability checks which don’t rely upon the content in a server banner, customers can leverage credentialed or agent-based local checks. Target Release Date January 22, 2026
Research Release Highlight - SSH Session Reuse
Summary Nessus scan will support an opt-in feature to reuse SSH sessions during a scan where possible when running Nessus versions 10.9.0 and greater. This update was made in response to numerous customer requests for reducing the number of new SSH connections established during remote network scans and the associated increase in network traffic. Change A new scan configuration template option will be available for customers to actively enable the [Reuse SSH connections] configuration in their scan policies in Advanced Settings under Advanced Performance Options. Customers can return to the classic SSH connection functionality by changing [Reuse SSH connections] to the default “off” setting in their scan policies. Customers must be running a version of Nessus 10.9.0 or greater that supports this feature and have a Plugin Feed that displays the scan configuration policy user interface and NASL plugin set with the SSH session reuse functionality. Impact Customers should see a significant decrease in the total number of SSH sessions established during a Nessus scan as well as a reduction in load on Enterprise authorization, access, and accounting (AAA) tooling such as RADIUS servers and other connection management services. There should be no difference in scan results between scans that leverage SSH Session Reuse and scans that do not. If customers experience any such issues, the feature can easily be toggled off to return SSH connections during scans to the classic connection functionality. Target Release Date January 15, 2026Distinct Agent Plugin Databases for RPM-Based Distributions
Summary Tenable will now provide separate agent plugin databases for RPM-based Linux distributions. Impact Historically, the majority of plugins for RPM-based Linux distributions have all been distributed via a single artifact. Starting with Nessus Agent 11.1.0, Tenable will now publish separate artifacts based on the following plugin families: Alma Linux Local Security Checks CentOS Local Security Checks Miracle Linux Local Security Checks Oracle Linux Local Security Checks Red Hat Enterprise Linux Local Security Checks Rocky Linux Local Security Checks As a result, customers will see a reduction in the overall size of the agent database (15-31% reduction at rest, 7-14% downloaded), directly leading to smaller updates and reduced resource consumption during the update process. This improvement will be available to all customers using Agent 11.1.0 or later versions. Target Release Date January 13, 2026Research Highlight - New Plugin Family: Miracle Linux Local Security Checks
Summary Tenable will now provide vulnerability check plugins for Miracle Linux. Impact Customers with Miracle Linux systems in their environments will be able to scan them for vulnerabilities. These plugins will belong to the “Miracle Linux Local Security Checks” family. At initial release, there will be approximately 1,500 new plugins for Miracle Linux. Use of these plugins will require Agent 11.1.0 and above. Target Release Date January 13, 2026Node.js Module Enumeration Detection Updates
Summary Tenable has updated the Node.js module enumeration plugins to reduce false positives and to better identify vulnerabilities when multiple packages are present on the scan target. Change Before this update, the Node.js module enumeration plugins did not attempt to associate detected packages with an RPM or DEB package managed by the Linux distribution. This would cause some packages to report vulnerabilities both based on a Linux distribution vendor’s advisory and a CVE advisory from the Node.js module maintainer. In addition, some Node.js installations on macOS that originated from third-party package managers, or from source, were not detected by the Node.js detection plugin. This would prevent the Node.js module enumeration plugin from running on those macOS assets. In some cases, a large volume of Node.js modules detected would cause the enumeration plugin to crash when attempting to report the list of modules in plugin output. After this update, these issues have been addressed. Vulnerable Node.js modules on Linux assets will be assessed to determine if they are managed by a Linux distribution’s package manager, and if so, will be marked as “Managed” and will not report a vulnerability, unless the Show potential false alarms setting is enabled for the scan. Node.js installs on Windows and macOS that were not previously detected due to the installation method will now be detected, and their installed modules will be enumerated. The module enumeration plugins will no longer report the list of detected modules in plugin output; rather, they will use only internal storage mechanisms to record the detected modules, so that Node.js vulnerability plugins can continue to use that data for version checks. Impact Most customers will notice a reduction in the volume of Node.js module vulnerabilities reported. Some Windows and macOS scan results may show an increase in detected vulnerabilities if Node.js was not previously detected based on the installation method. If a large number of modules is present on a scan target and had previously caused the plugin to malfunction and report no vulnerabilities, those targets may show previously unreported vulnerabilities, as the module enumeration plugin would now complete and allow the vulnerability plugins to execute. Plugins affected 200172 - Node.js Modules Installed (Windows) 179440 - Node.js Modules Installed (macOS) 178772 - Node.js Modules Installed (Linux) 110839 - Node.js Installed (Windows) 142903 - Node.js Installed (macOS) Target Release Date January 5, 2026Various Oracle Products: Patch Mapping Improvements
Summary Improvements have been made to how Nessus plugins determine the installed version of the following Oracle products: Oracle Business Process Management Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Oracle Analytics Server Oracle GoldenGate How Patch Mapping Works for these Oracle products Prior to these improvements, the product version was determined by mapping installed patch IDs to a version number based on a lookup/mapping table that we maintain and ship to scanners as part of the feed. Installed patches for most Oracle products, including Enterprise Manager Cloud Control and Agent, are enumerated in one of two possible ways: Linux Local Detections: oracle_enum_products_nix.nbin (plugin ID 71642, requires SSH credentials) Windows Local Detections: oracle_enum_products_win.nbin (plugin ID 71643, requires SMB credentials) Problem This process alone is sometimes problematic, as Oracle releases their patches in stages or sometimes outside of the regular CPU cadence. As our mapping table is manually maintained, some patches are not mapped in time for vulnerability plugin releases, which is a semi-automated process. We have had several instances where our mapping table was not updated in a timely manner - either because Oracle released a new patch ID in an out of band cycle or they released a patch ID that we do not have visibility on. If our scan fails to identify a patch ID that exists in our mapping table, only the base version is reported (e.g. 13.5.0.0.0), possibly resulting in False Positive findings. Improvements We have identified additional methods of determining the version number, including the patch level, without depending solely on the mapping tables. These Oracle detection plugins (see “Impacted Plugins” section below) will now attempt to determine the current patch version based on the Tenable managed static mapping table and also by parsing the description of the patches. Expected Impact Improved accuracy in version detections for these Oracle products, resulting in fewer false positives in downstream vulnerability detection plugins. Impacted Plugins 172516 - oracle_analytics_server_installed.nbin 123684 - oracle_goldengate_installed.nbin 76708 - oracle_bi_publisher_installed.nbin 136765 - oracle_bpm_installed.nbin 170905 - oracle_business_intelligence_enterprise_edition_installed.nbin All Oracle vulnerability plugins dependant upon the individual plugins listed above. Targeted Release Date Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 November 2025.
