How do I ignore or disable vulnerabilities?

Overview

Security Center allows you to ignore or disable vulnerabilities. These options are useful when:

• A vulnerability is a false positive

• The issue is already known and accepted

• You need to temporarily remove a vulnerability from view

It is important to understand the difference between ignoring and disabling.

Ignore vs. disable. What’s the difference?

Ignore a vulnerability

• Applies only to selected hosts or web applications

• The vulnerability is hidden for those selected assets only

• You can set an expiration date

• When the expiration date is reached, you will be reminded to:

  • Fix the vulnerability, or

  • Extend the expiration

Recommended for temporary exceptions.

Disable a vulnerability

• Applies to all hosts and web applications

• The vulnerability is hidden globally

• No expiration option

Recommended only when the vulnerability should never appear in your environment (for example, confirmed false positives).

Important notes

• Ignored or disabled vulnerabilities are still tested during scans.

• To completely stop a test from running, you must modify the scan profile for network or web application scanning.

How to ignore a vulnerability (specific hosts)

Follow these steps to ignore a vulnerability for one or more hosts:

1. Log in to Security Center.

2. Go to Vulnerabilities.

3. Click Network & Web.

4. Open the vulnerability you want to ignore.

5. Select one or more hosts:

   • Check the box next to each host.

   • To select all hosts, check the top checkbox.

6. Click Ignore.

7. Select Ignore selected vuln(s).

8. Choose a reason.

9. (Optional) Set an expiration time.

10. (Optional) Place a comment.

11. Click Ignore to confirm.

The vulnerability is now ignored for the selected hosts.

How to disable a vulnerability (all hosts)

Follow these steps to disable a vulnerability globally:

1. Log in to Security Center.

2. Go to Vulnerabilities.

3. Click Network & Web.

4. Select one or more vulnerabilities from the list:

   • Check the box next to the vulnerability name.

5. Click Ignore.

6. Select Disable this vuln for all assets.

7. Choose a reason.

8. Click Disable to confirm.

The vulnerability is now disabled for all hosts and web applications.