Vulnerability Assessment & Patch Management Lab

A hands-on cybersecurity home lab demonstrating vulnerability assessment, basic remediation, and technical documentation using Nessus Essentials, Ubuntu Linux, Apache HTTP Server, and VMware Fusion.

Project Overview

This project simulates a basic vulnerability management workflow by deploying a Linux virtual machine, scanning it with Nessus Essentials, analyzing the results, enabling an Apache web server, and documenting the findings.

The goal was to gain practical experience with vulnerability scanning, Linux system administration, service management, and professional security documentation.

Skills Demonstrated

Vulnerability Assessment
Patch Management
Nessus Essentials
Linux Administration
Apache HTTP Server
VMware Fusion
Network Scanning
Security Documentation
Service Management
Basic Vulnerability Analysis

Technologies Used

Category	Technology
Operating System	Ubuntu 26.04 LTS
Scanner	Nessus Essentials
Virtualization	VMware Fusion
Web Server	Apache HTTP Server (Apache2)
Terminal	Linux Bash
Network	Private Virtual Network

Lab Architecture

                 VMware Fusion

        ┌─────────────────────────┐
        │ Ubuntu Scanner VM       │
        │ Nessus Essentials       │
        │ 172.16.151.133          │
        └──────────┬──────────────┘
                   │
         Private Virtual Network
                   │
        ┌──────────┴──────────────┐
        │ Ubuntu Target VM        │
        │ Apache HTTP Server      │
        │ 172.16.151.131          │
        └─────────────────────────┘

Objectives

Build a virtual cybersecurity lab.
Configure Nessus Essentials.
Perform a vulnerability scan against a Linux target.
Analyze identified findings.
Configure and validate an Apache HTTP Server.
Review available operating system updates.
Document the complete vulnerability assessment process.

Methodology

Created two Ubuntu virtual machines in VMware Fusion.
Installed and configured Nessus Essentials on the scanner VM.
Verified network connectivity between both systems.
Performed an initial vulnerability assessment.
Reviewed discovered vulnerabilities and informational findings.
Installed and verified Apache HTTP Server on the target VM.
Checked for available operating system updates.
Performed an additional validation scan.
Documented the environment, commands, and results.

Scan Summary

Item	Value
Scanner	Nessus Essentials
Scan Policy	Basic Network Scan
Target	Ubuntu Linux (172.16.151.131)
Hosts Scanned	1
Total Findings	24

Severity Breakdown

Severity	Count
Critical	0
High	0
Medium	0
Low	1
Informational	23

The assessment primarily identified informational findings related to operating system fingerprinting, network services, Apache detection, and SSH detection, along with one low-severity ICMP timestamp disclosure.

Key Finding

ICMP Timestamp Request Remote Date Disclosure

Severity: Low

CVE: CVE-1999-0524

Description

The target system responded to ICMP timestamp requests, allowing remote systems to estimate the system clock.

Although this represents a low security risk, it is considered a security best practice to disable unnecessary ICMP timestamp responses.

Recommended Mitigation

Disable ICMP timestamp responses.
Filter ICMP Type 13 and Type 14 packets at the firewall.
Restrict ICMP traffic to trusted networks where appropriate.

Screenshots

VMware Lab

Nessus Dashboard

Host Details

Vulnerability Results

Part 1

Part 2

ICMP Timestamp Finding

Apache HTTP Detection

Apache Service Status

Nessus Service Status

Apache Default Web Page

Lessons Learned

Through this project, I gained practical experience with:

Building and configuring a virtual cybersecurity lab.
Installing and configuring Nessus Essentials.
Performing network vulnerability assessments.
Understanding Nessus severity ratings and CVSS scores.
Distinguishing informational findings from actual vulnerabilities.
Managing Linux services using systemctl.
Deploying and validating Apache HTTP Server.
Producing professional technical documentation suitable for a cybersecurity portfolio.

Future Improvements

Future enhancements for this project include:

Perform credentialed Nessus scans.
Deploy intentionally vulnerable applications such as DVWA or OWASP Juice Shop.
Demonstrate a complete remediation workflow with before-and-after vulnerability scans.
Compare Nessus findings with OpenVAS/Greenbone.
Automate patch verification using Bash scripting.
Integrate scan results into a SIEM platform such as Splunk or Microsoft Sentinel.

Repository Structure

Vulnerability-Assessment-Patch-Management-Lab/
│
├── README.md
├── screenshots/
│   ├── apache-http-version.png
│   ├── apache-status.png
│   ├── apache-webpage.png
│   ├── host-details.png
│   ├── icmp-timestamp.png
│   ├── my-scans.png
│   ├── nessus-status.png
│   ├── vmware-lab.png
│   ├── vulnerabilities-part1.png
│   └── vulnerabilities-part2.png
│
├── commands/
│   └── commands-used.md
│
└── report/
    └── Vulnerability_Assessment_Report.md

References

Nessus Essentials Documentation
Ubuntu Server Documentation
Apache HTTP Server Documentation
CVE-1999-0524
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS)

Author

Divyanshu Goyal

Computer Science Student • George Mason University

Interested in Cybersecurity, Vulnerability Management, Security Operations, and Defensive Security.

Portfolio Project: This repository demonstrates a practical vulnerability assessment workflow using industry-standard tools and serves as part of my cybersecurity portfolio while pursuing Security+ certification and cybersecurity internships.

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