Configure credentialed scanning for VMware ESXi systems

You can provide credentials to a Managed Risk Scanner to allow the scanner to scan your environment with elevated permissions.

Note: To configure credentialed scanning in the Risk Dashboard, see Configure credentialed scanning for VMware ESXi in the Risk Dashboard.

On ESXi, credentialed scans use SSH on port 22 to authenticate with a username and password.

Note:
  • If you rotate your credentials, you must reset them on the scanner as well.
  • To minimize security risks, Arctic Wolf recommends that you use these credentials for scanning only. Do not provide more permissions to these credentials or use them with systems other than the scanner.

These resources are required:

  • A valid username, which can contain these characters:
    • Any alphanumeric character
    • -
    • _
    • @
    • .
    • \

These actions are required:

  • Make sure that the scanner can sign into scan targets without access policy restrictions on targets.
  1. Sign in to the Arctic Wolf Unified Portal.
  2. In the navigation menu, click Data Collection > Scanners.
  3. Find the scanner to view, and then click View Scanner.
  4. Click the Credentialed Scanning tab.
  5. Do one of these options:
    • If you are adding new scan credentials — Click Create New Scan Credentials.
    • If you are updating existing scan credentials — Next to the existing credentials, click Edit.
  6. Configure these settings:
    • Name — Enter a name for the credential.
      Note: This name cannot be the same as another credential.
    • Description — (Optional) Enter a description for the credential.
    • Add Targets — Enter the IP addresses of the target hosts in a comma-separated list.
      Tip: This field accepts these formats:

      • To specify a range of IP addresses, use a dash (-). For example, 10.0.0.1-3 expands to 10.0.0.1, 10.0.0.2, 10.0.0.3.

      • To specify a CIDR block, use this format: X.X.X.X/Y. For example, 10.0.0.0/24.

      Note: These IP addresses cannot overlap with the targets of another scan credential.
  7. In the Type list, select Username/Password, and then enter the Username and Password.
  8. Do one of these actions:
    • To create new scan credentials — Click Create Credentialed Scanning.
    • To update existing scan credentials — Beside the existing credentials, click Update Credentialed Scanning.