Rapid7

module

Tenable Security Center

Disclosed
N/A
Created
May 15, 2026

Description

This module collects credentials and setup information
from Tenable Security Center. root or TNS user permissions
are required. We don't utilize SC's builtin backup
functionality as that requires SC to be shut down.
The module works in 2 phases:

Phase 1: gather all passwords which can be decrypted. These
are non-user ones such as credentials used for scans, creds
for the Nessus servers, SMTP, etc.

Phase 2: handle hashed passwords processing. SC uses SHA-512
and PBKDF2 according to the documentation, but the implementation
(salt+hash vs hash+salt) is unknown due to the source code being
protected by SourceGuardian. To get around this, we use a php
script on server to brute force the passwords. Note this will
use SC's resources. The crack attempt rate is ~6/sec on a test
instance, so you'll want a small password list.

Tested against SC 6.7.2 on RHEL9

Author

h00die

Platform

Linux

Module Options

To display the available options, load the module within the Metasploit console and run the commands 'show options' or 'show advanced':


msf > use post/linux/gather/tenable_security_center
msf post(tenable_security_center) > show actions
...actions...
msf post(tenable_security_center) > set ACTION < action-name >
msf post(tenable_security_center) > show options
...show and set options...
msf post(tenable_security_center) > run

Title
Rapid7 Labs

2026 Global Threat Landscape Report

The predictive window has collapsed. Exploitation follows disclosure in days. See how attackers are accelerating and how to stay ahead.