SP2 and Vulnerability Scanners

[Nancy Kafer]

I'm not sure which group to post this to, thus the cross-posting.

I am getting ready to upgrade my laptop to Windows XP (from Win 2K
Professional). However, one thing that is keeping me from performing the
upgrade is the fact that from everything I've read SP2 breaks vulnerability
scanners because of the Internet Firewall. We have contacted one of our
vendors and they have told us that vulnerability scanners will not work with
SP2 because the Internet Firewall closes ports necessary for scanners to
run. We have tried turning off the firewall to test but the scanner still
won't work.

Has anyone successfully used a vulnerability scanner with SP2? If so, what
scanner are you using and what tweaks (if any) did you have to do perform to
get the scanner to work?

Thanks.

Nancy

[Matt Gibson]

I've used nmap and retina with no problems.

Which scanner are you having a problem with?

Remember, the XP2 firewall does NOT block outbound packets.

Matt Gibson - GSEC

"Nancy Kafer" > wrote in message
...
> I'm not sure which group to post this to, thus the cross-posting.
>
> I am getting ready to upgrade my laptop to Windows XP (from Win 2K
> Professional). However, one thing that is keeping me from performing the
> upgrade is the fact that from everything I've read SP2 breaks
> vulnerability
> scanners because of the Internet Firewall. We have contacted one of our
> vendors and they have told us that vulnerability scanners will not work
> with
> SP2 because the Internet Firewall closes ports necessary for scanners to
> run. We have tried turning off the firewall to test but the scanner still
> won't work.
>
> Has anyone successfully used a vulnerability scanner with SP2? If so, what
> scanner are you using and what tweaks (if any) did you have to do perform
> to
> get the scanner to work?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Nancy
>
>

[Nancy Kafer]

We have Foundstone's scanner on one machine. I use Nessus (installed on a
Linux VMWare machine), N-Stealth and nmap.

"Matt Gibson" > wrote in message
...
> I've used nmap and retina with no problems.
>
> Which scanner are you having a problem with?
>
> Remember, the XP2 firewall does NOT block outbound packets.
>
> Matt Gibson - GSEC
>
> "Nancy Kafer" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I'm not sure which group to post this to, thus the cross-posting.
> >
> > I am getting ready to upgrade my laptop to Windows XP (from Win 2K
> > Professional). However, one thing that is keeping me from performing the
> > upgrade is the fact that from everything I've read SP2 breaks
> > vulnerability
> > scanners because of the Internet Firewall. We have contacted one of our
> > vendors and they have told us that vulnerability scanners will not work
> > with
> > SP2 because the Internet Firewall closes ports necessary for scanners to
> > run. We have tried turning off the firewall to test but the scanner
still
> > won't work.
> >
> > Has anyone successfully used a vulnerability scanner with SP2? If so,
what
> > scanner are you using and what tweaks (if any) did you have to do
perform
> > to
> > get the scanner to work?
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Nancy
> >
> >
>
>

[Matt Gibson]

And all those are having problems?

Matt Gibson - GSEC

"Nancy Kafer" > wrote in message
...
> We have Foundstone's scanner on one machine. I use Nessus (installed on a
> Linux VMWare machine), N-Stealth and nmap.
>
> "Matt Gibson" > wrote in message
> ...
>> I've used nmap and retina with no problems.
>>
>> Which scanner are you having a problem with?
>>
>> Remember, the XP2 firewall does NOT block outbound packets.
>>
>> Matt Gibson - GSEC
>>
>> "Nancy Kafer" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > I'm not sure which group to post this to, thus the cross-posting.
>> >
>> > I am getting ready to upgrade my laptop to Windows XP (from Win 2K
>> > Professional). However, one thing that is keeping me from performing
>> > the
>> > upgrade is the fact that from everything I've read SP2 breaks
>> > vulnerability
>> > scanners because of the Internet Firewall. We have contacted one of our
>> > vendors and they have told us that vulnerability scanners will not work
>> > with
>> > SP2 because the Internet Firewall closes ports necessary for scanners
>> > to
>> > run. We have tried turning off the firewall to test but the scanner
> still
>> > won't work.
>> >
>> > Has anyone successfully used a vulnerability scanner with SP2? If so,
> what
>> > scanner are you using and what tweaks (if any) did you have to do
> perform
>> > to
>> > get the scanner to work?
>> >
>> > Thanks.
>> >
>> > Nancy
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
>

[Sean Massey]

Nancy Kafer wrote:
> I'm not sure which group to post this to, thus the cross-posting.
>
> I am getting ready to upgrade my laptop to Windows XP (from Win 2K
> Professional). However, one thing that is keeping me from performing the
> upgrade is the fact that from everything I've read SP2 breaks vulnerability
> scanners because of the Internet Firewall. We have contacted one of our
> vendors and they have told us that vulnerability scanners will not work with
> SP2 because the Internet Firewall closes ports necessary for scanners to
> run. We have tried turning off the firewall to test but the scanner still
> won't work.

If you have a different firewall that you already use and you know works
with your vulnerability scanners, you can always turn the Windows
Internet Firewall off.

>
> Has anyone successfully used a vulnerability scanner with SP2? If so, what
> scanner are you using and what tweaks (if any) did you have to do perform to
> get the scanner to work?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Nancy
>
>

[Robert Moir]

Nancy Kafer wrote:
> We have
> contacted one of our vendors and they have told us that vulnerability
> scanners will not work with SP2 because the Internet Firewall closes
> ports necessary for scanners to run. We have tried turning off the
> firewall to test but the scanner still won't work.

If you turn the firewall off then clearly it can't be causing you any
problems. Any problems you encounter after switching off the firewall are
caused by something else.


--
--
Rob Moir
Website - http://www.robertmoir.co.uk
Virtual PC 2004 FAQ - http://www.robertmoir.co.uk/win/VirtualPC2004FAQ.html
Kazaa - Software update services for your Viruses and Spyware.

[Nancy Kafer]

We haven't actually tested Nessus or N-Stealth yet. We talked to Foundstone
and they told us their scanner wouldn't work because of the way SP2 firewall
works. Basically this question came up when our other network administrator
was setting up his new laptop. We didn't have any issues prior to this
because the laptops with these scanners installed were both Win 2000
Professional. I want to make sure we'll still be able to use our
vulnerability scanning software before I upgrade my machine to Win XP SP2.


"Matt Gibson" > wrote in message
...
> And all those are having problems?
>
> Matt Gibson - GSEC
>
> "Nancy Kafer" > wrote in message
> ...
> > We have Foundstone's scanner on one machine. I use Nessus (installed on
a
> > Linux VMWare machine), N-Stealth and nmap.
> >
> > "Matt Gibson" > wrote in message
> > ...
> >> I've used nmap and retina with no problems.
> >>
> >> Which scanner are you having a problem with?
> >>
> >> Remember, the XP2 firewall does NOT block outbound packets.
> >>
> >> Matt Gibson - GSEC
> >>
> >> "Nancy Kafer" > wrote in message
> >> ...
> >> > I'm not sure which group to post this to, thus the cross-posting.
> >> >
> >> > I am getting ready to upgrade my laptop to Windows XP (from Win 2K
> >> > Professional). However, one thing that is keeping me from performing
> >> > the
> >> > upgrade is the fact that from everything I've read SP2 breaks
> >> > vulnerability
> >> > scanners because of the Internet Firewall. We have contacted one of
our
> >> > vendors and they have told us that vulnerability scanners will not
work
> >> > with
> >> > SP2 because the Internet Firewall closes ports necessary for scanners
> >> > to
> >> > run. We have tried turning off the firewall to test but the scanner
> > still
> >> > won't work.
> >> >
> >> > Has anyone successfully used a vulnerability scanner with SP2? If so,
> > what
> >> > scanner are you using and what tweaks (if any) did you have to do
> > perform
> >> > to
> >> > get the scanner to work?
> >> >
> >> > Thanks.
> >> >
> >> > Nancy
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>

[Robert Moir]

Nancy Kafer wrote:
> We haven't actually tested Nessus or N-Stealth yet. We talked to
> Foundstone and they told us their scanner wouldn't work because of
> the way SP2 firewall works. Basically this question came up when our
> other network administrator was setting up his new laptop. We didn't
> have any issues prior to this because the laptops with these scanners
> installed were both Win 2000 Professional. I want to make sure we'll
> still be able to use our vulnerability scanning software before I
> upgrade my machine to Win XP SP2.

Are they the people who are claiming that the firewall still kills their
product even when its switched off?

[Philippe L. Balmanno]

When I tried cox communications security software it had a problem with SP2
firewall. I had kept my previous firewall (sygate), AV etc... and those two
(SP2 & sygate) have no conflicts.

"Nancy Kafer" > wrote in message
...
> I'm not sure which group to post this to, thus the cross-posting.
>
> I am getting ready to upgrade my laptop to Windows XP (from Win 2K
> Professional). However, one thing that is keeping me from performing the
> upgrade is the fact that from everything I've read SP2 breaks
> vulnerability
> scanners because of the Internet Firewall. We have contacted one of our
> vendors and they have told us that vulnerability scanners will not work
> with
> SP2 because the Internet Firewall closes ports necessary for scanners to
> run. We have tried turning off the firewall to test but the scanner still
> won't work.
>
> Has anyone successfully used a vulnerability scanner with SP2? If so, what
> scanner are you using and what tweaks (if any) did you have to do perform
> to
> get the scanner to work?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Nancy
>
>