GVM/OpenVAS Executor¶

Category: Network and Vulnerability Scanners Script: gvm_openvas.py Integration: python-gvm SDK Faraday Plugin: OpenvasPlugin Website: https://www.greenbone.net/

Description¶

Connects to a Greenbone Vulnerability Management (GVM) / OpenVAS instance via the python-gvm library, creates a scan target and task, executes the scan, waits for completion, exports the XML report, and parses it into Faraday.

This is the modern GVM executor. For legacy OpenVAS installations using the omp CLI, use the OpenVAS Legacy executor.

Prerequisites¶

• GVM/OpenVAS installed and running (Greenbone Community Edition or Enterprise)
• Python package: python-gvm
• One of: Unix socket access, SSH access, or TLS access to the GVM daemon

Configuration¶

Environment Variables (Setup)¶

Execution Arguments¶

YAML Configuration Example¶

executors:
  openvas_scan:
    repo_executor: gvm_openvas.py
    max_size: 65536
    varenvs:
      GVM_USER: admin
      GVM_PASSW: "${GVM_PASSWORD}"
      HOST: gvm.local
      PORT: "9390"
    params:
      SCAN_TARGET:
        mandatory: true
        type: string
        base: string
      CONNECTION_TYPE:
        mandatory: true
        type: string
        base: string

How It Works¶

1. Establishes a connection to GVM using the selected connection type (socket, SSH, or TLS)
2. Authenticates with the GVM Management Protocol (GMP)
3. Creates a target definition for the scan host
4. Creates a scan task using the specified scan configuration and port list
5. Starts the scan and polls for completion
6. Exports the finished report in XML format
7. Parses the XML through OpenvasPlugin and outputs Faraday JSON

Common Scan Configuration UUIDs¶

Exposing the gvmd Socket from Docker¶

To allow the executor to communicate with gvmd, the gvmd.sock socket must be exposed from the Docker container to the host.

1. Stop the Current Deployment¶

First, stop and remove the running containers and volumes:

docker compose -f docker-compose.yml down -v

This ensures the environment is recreated with the correct configuration.

2. Create the Socket Directory on the Host¶

Create a directory that will be used to bind the socket from the container to the host:

sudo mkdir -p /opt/gvm/run
sudo chown 1000:1000 /opt/gvm/run

3. Modify the docker-compose.yml¶

Open docker-compose.yml and locate the volumes section at the bottom of the file. You will see something similar to:

volumes:
  ...
  gvmd_socket_vol:

volumes:
  ...
  gvmd_socket_vol:
    driver: local
    driver_opts:
      type: none
      o: bind
      device: /opt/gvm/run

4. Start the Environment Again¶

After updating the configuration, start the stack:

docker compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d

5. Configure the Executor¶

Once the containers are running, the gvmd socket will be available on the host at:

/opt/gvm/run/gvmd.sock

6. Python Dependency¶

Make sure the Python client library is up to date:

pip install -U python-gvm

python-gvm==26.9.0

Notes¶

• The socket connection type is fastest and recommended when the dispatcher runs on the same host as GVM
• For remote connections, ssh or tls are required
• TLS parameters are only used when CONNECTION_TYPE is tls