nessus

This Nessus MCP Server provides an interface to interact with a Tenable Nessus vulnerability scanner via the MCP protocol. It exposes tools to list scan templates, start scans, monitor progress, retrieve results, list all scans, and fetch vulnerability details or perform keyword-based vulnerability searches. In mock mode, the server can be tested without requiring a Nessus API key, allowing you to validate tool integration and MCP workflow. To use the real Nessus integration, configure the Nessus connection details via environment variables and run the server to connect to your Nessus instance. The available tools enable you to programmatically manage scans and pull vulnerability data for AI-assisted analysis or integration with other systems.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 16 or higher
• TypeScript (for development, optional if you’re just running the built server)

Installation steps:

1. Clone the repository: git clone https://github.com/Cyreslab-AI/nessus-mcp-server.git cd nessus-mcp-server

2. Install dependencies: npm install

3. Build the server (if you’re running from source): npm run build

4. Run the server (mock mode by default): node build/index.js

5. For real Nessus integration, set the Nessus environment variables before starting: export NESSUS_URL=https://your-nessus-instance:8834 export NESSUS_ACCESS_KEY=your-access-key export NESSUS_SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key node build/index.js

Tips and notes:

• Mock mode lets you test tool interactions without a Nessus API key. Omit the Nessus env vars when running in mock mode.
• If you plan to connect to a real Nessus instance, ensure your Nessus URL uses HTTPS and that the API keys have appropriate permissions.
• The MCP tools include: list_scan_templates, start_scan, get_scan_status, get_scan_results, list_scans, get_vulnerability_details, and search_vulnerabilities. Use them to orchestrate scans and fetch vulnerability information programmatically.
• When integrating with Claude for Desktop, provide the path to the built server entry (build/index.js) and, if using real Nessus, supply the necessary Nessus credentials via env vars in the config.
• If you modify source, re-run npm run build to generate the updated build/index.js used by the MCP server.