Greenbone Community Edition (OpenVAS)

What it is

A set of services that run vulnerability tests against hosts, store the results in a database, and present them in a web interface. The scanner is still called OpenVAS, the name the project used before Greenbone renamed the whole suite in 2022.

What it helps with

- Running unauthenticated and authenticated checks against hosts and services
- Comparing installed software against known vulnerable versions during a scan
- Scheduling scans, assigning roles, and exporting reports
- Driving the same actions from scripts through the management protocol

Who it's for

Security and vulnerability management teams scanning networks and hosts they own or are authorized to assess.

Worth knowing

Greenbone's paid appliances, now branded OPENVAS SCAN, use a larger feed with enterprise products and compliance benchmarks the free Community Feed leaves out. Support covers only the paid products; Community Edition questions go to the community forum.

Does the Community Feed update on its own?
Yes, new tests are published daily, and a bundled sync tool pulls them in.

Can components from different releases be mixed?
No, the scanner, manager, and web interface must come from the same release, since their internal interfaces change between releases.