FAQs
Active View
What is Active View?
Active View provides a consolidated view of web apps and vulnerabilities drawn from previous scans. Drilling down into web apps will display detailed information regarding the vulnerabilities found. Similarly, reviewing vulnerabilities will display affected web apps.
What are At-Risk web apps?
These are the top-five worst web apps with medium, high, and critical vulnerabilities.
See more: Assets At Risk
What are Vulnerabilities You Should Fix?
These are the top-five worst medium, high, and critical vulnerabilities that exist in your environment.
See more: Vulnerabilities You Should Fix
How can I hide vulnerabilities?
When viewing Vulnerabilities in Active View or the results of a scan, you can select individual vulnerabilities you want to hide.
To open the Hide Vulnerability dialog where you can provide a reason for hiding the vulnerability, select More options > Hide above the table.
Selecting OK hides the vulnerability. You can reveal hidden items by way of the tools menu on the table header bar.
How can I remove a vulnerability triggered incorrectly from my results?
This is done in the same way as hiding vulnerabilities with one exception: Before selecting OK in the Hide Vulnerability dialog, select True, and then select the False positive checkbox. Enter a note, and then select OK.
Where can I learn more about a specific vulnerability?
The Fortra VM Vulnerability Dictionary (Support > Vuln Dictionary) provides information about known vulnerabilities. The list, which is updated frequently, includes high-level information about specific vulnerabilities and, when appropriate, remediation steps. You can link low-level vulnerability information to this page for users who require greater detail.
Why is a vulnerability description unavailable?
Some vulnerability checks are released as rapid-release content before a detailed description is available. For example, the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) may not yet have published a description for a newly assigned CVE.
A missing description alone does not mean the vulnerability was not checked during a scan. The Fortra content team reviews entries with missing descriptions weekly and updates the content as information becomes available. Contact Support if you need help understanding a finding.
What is my Security GPA?
Security GPA is the unique grading system used by Fortra VM.
See more: Security GPA
What are vulnerability classes and severities?
These two concepts comprise the most important aspects of a discovered vulnerability. The "class" is based on the type of threat presented and how it is discovered; "severity" describes the potential of immediate threat. For more information on classes, see Active View - Vulnerabilities.
How do I manage large tables of data?
Fortra VM provides a variety of ways to search and filter data.
See more: Finding Information in Fortra VM
Scanning
Why did my penetration test scan have fewer vulnerability results than my VM scan?
The “Full Scan” scan policy, the default scan policy for VM scans, contains checks for potential CVCs. The “Penetration Test” scan policy does not check for potential CVCs because the focus of a penetration test is on vulnerabilities with exploits.
System Administration
Why am I receiving scan completion or report emails when my email notifications are OFF?
Your user email notification settings control automatic notifications. If someone explicitly adds you to a scan’s Email Notifications list or a report’s Additional Users list, Fortra VM sends those emails even when your email notification settings are OFF. Your saved preferences remain unchanged.
To stop these emails, remove your address from the applicable recipient list, or ask someone with permission to edit it. For recurring scans or reports, update the saved configuration so future runs no longer include you.
See more: Users and Roles, Create and Run Scans, and Reports.
How do I configure settings for my account?
In the Account section of Fortra VM, the Account Profile page has the settings most directly related to your account. Begin here by reviewing the settings your account was set up with.
In the General section, verify your Account name, Time zone, and the other information is accurate.
From the Account page, review the security settings and update if needed. Select Save after you make updates.
Where do I find the status of my scanner?
Your scanners are listed in the Scan Settings section of Fortra VM on the Scanners page. The status of each scanner is shown beside the scanner’s name as a colored disc. A green disc indicates the scanner is online, orange is pending, and red is offline.
What is a scanner profile?
A scanner profile manages how a scanner interacts with a network. It uses asset rules to limit which IP addresses and ports are available to scan. Additionally, you can designate blackout times that prevent the scanner from beginning a scan during certain hours when network traffic, for example, might already be high. Blackout times are enforced based on the timezone of the assigned scanners. If a scan is triggered during a blackout time, it will delay scanning until the next available time.
Why does the scanner profile show an IP range as "pending"?
Any externally routable IP addresses are reviewed by Fortra VM support to protect against accidental scanning of another network. Pending ranges are automatically flagged for speedy review. Once they are approved, they are active immediately.
You do not need to wait on approval to begin configuring asset groups or even scans. Any target rules created for pending ranges will initially show that range as excluded, but this changes as soon as the range is approved without further action on your part.
What is an asset?
An asset is any network resource with an IP address that can be communicated with over various network protocols and scanned. Printers, routers, servers, desktops, laptops, and network appliances are examples of common assets found in a typical environment.
What is an asset group?
An asset group is a predefined set of assets that can be used as a target for a scan. These are created by specifying rules that describe included assets.
Standard asset groups are defined by IP addresses and hostnames, and associated ports. Dynamic asset groups are built with filter rules that define assets by attributes (for example, All domain controllers).
See more:Asset Groups
What is the Preferred Hostname setting?
The Preferred Hostname setting lets you control how discovered assets display in Fortra VM. Options for preferred hostname include IP address, DNS hostname, and NetBIOS name.
What is the Asset Smart ID?
Asset Smart ID allows Fortra VM to automatically assign a universally unique identifier (UUID) to an asset for endpoint correlation.
What is the difference between IP fallback and exclusive IP matching?
IP fallback uses identity matching first, then permits an IP-based match when the matching safeguards allow it. The same IP address does not guarantee a match.
Exclusive IP matching uses IP as the matching basis within the applicable account/profile scope and named-target context. A previously unseen IP address starts a new asset history. Reusing an IP address can associate a different machine with that IP’s existing history.
Configure internal and external matching separately under Scan Settings > Settings > Matching and Trending. IP fallback is ON by default, and exclusive IP matching is OFF. To change modes, turn OFF the active option before enabling its paired option, then select Save.
See more: Configure Scan Results Settings.
Does an IP address change always create a new asset history?
In exclusive mode, a previously unseen IP address starts a new asset history. With identity matching, an asset can retain its history after an IP address change if the available identity evidence establishes a match.
Why are assets with the same IP address still separate?
IP fallback does not override conflicting identity information or ambiguous results. Different explicit named targets also remain separate solely on the basis of a shared IP address.
Why can’t I enable both matching options?
IP fallback and exclusive IP matching are mutually exclusive for each scope. Turn OFF the active option before enabling its paired option.
To use identity matching without IP fallback, leave both options OFF for that scope.
Why can’t I see Automatically merge duplicate assets?
Automatic merging is available only for eligible accounts. If the control is unavailable, contact your account administrator or Fortra Support to verify availability.
Why didn’t saving the settings combine existing duplicates?
Saving matching or automatic merging settings does not immediately rebuild asset histories or clean up existing duplicates. The settings apply during subsequent eligible scan processing.
Automatic merging also requires corroborating identity and name information. A shared IP address or a shared or cloned identifier alone is insufficient.
See more: Active View - Assets.
What is the RNA?
The RNA is a virtual appliance installed on your network for the purpose of running vulnerability scans against your assets. The comprehensive data gathered by the RNA is presented to you on Fortra VM, a web portal that helps you understand and manage your vulnerabilities.
What is a web application?
A web application or web app is a computer program or website that runs in a web browser.