What is OpenVAS?
OpenVAS is an open-source vulnerability scanner developed by Greenbone for assessing network-accessible systems and services. The OpenVAS vulnerability scanning tool supports authenticated and unauthenticated testing across multiple protocols, using a regularly updated feed of vulnerability tests to identify potential vulnerabilities and map findings to records such as CVE entries. Results may include CVSS data that helps teams interpret technical severity.
OpenVAS is the scanner component – not the entire Greenbone Vulnerability Management stack, which also includes services for feed handling, scan orchestration, result management, and user interaction. Greenbone documents that broader Community Edition architecture in its official documentation.
What is OpenVAS used for?
Security teams use OpenVAS to discover reachable assets, detect known weaknesses, assess configuration exposure, and confirm whether remediation has reduced observed risk. Scan scope should be reconciled with an accurate asset inventory, while credentials and safe scan settings are governed to avoid disruption. Findings can inform patch management and remediation prioritization, but scanner output requires validation: detection quality depends on feed currency, network reachability, credentials, and target behavior.
OpenVAS can support recurring exposure reviews and provide evidence for a broader risk assessment. It does not by itself establish business impact, prove exploitability, or replace penetration testing. Teams should combine scan results with asset criticality, threat context, compensating controls, and remediation verification to reach defensible decisions. Technical teams can inspect the maintained open-source scanner repository when evaluating implementation details or integration options.
