Nessus Report Remediation Steps: What's Included, What's Missing & How to Fix It

Does Nessus include remediation steps in its reports? Yes, but only in the loosest sense. Nessus plugin output contains a Solution field with one or two generic lines of guidance. What it does not include is anything your team can actually act on without significant additional work: no environment-specific steps, no implementation commands, no validation procedures, no priority based on real exposure.

This is the gap that generates thousands of searches every month for nessus report remediation steps examples, does nessus generate remediation steps, and nessus plugin output example with remediation steps. Security teams run a scan, get thousands of findings, open the report and discover that the "remediation guidance" Nessus provides is a starting point, not an answer.

This guide explains exactly what Nessus gives you, what is missing, and how to build complete, actionable remediation steps from Nessus scan output.

Section I — What Nessus Plugin Output Actually Contains

Every finding in a Nessus report is generated by a plugin a detection script that checks for a specific vulnerability or configuration issue. Each plugin output block contains the following fields:

Synopsis — A one-line description of what was found. Example: "The remote host is running a version of OpenSSL that is affected by multiple vulnerabilities."

Description — A paragraph explaining the technical nature of the vulnerability. Includes CVE references, affected version ranges, and how the issue was discovered. This is the most detailed field in the output, but it describes the problem rather than the fix.

Solution — The remediation field. This is what teams are looking for when they search for nessus remediation steps. Typically one to three lines. Example: "Upgrade to OpenSSL 3.0.8 or later." Or: "Apply the vendor-supplied patch referenced in the advisory." Or: "Disable the affected service if not required."

See Also — External links to vendor advisories, CVE entries, and NVD references. Useful for research but not a remediation step.

Risk Factor — Critical / High / Medium / Low / None, mapped to CVSS score ranges.

CVSS Score — Base score from CVSS v2 or v3. Does not account for your environment.

CVE / BID — Vulnerability identifiers cross-referencing public databases.

Plugin Output — Raw scanner output showing exactly what triggered the finding: version strings, banner grabs, service responses.

That is the complete structure of a Nessus plugin output block. The Solution field is the only remediation content, and as the examples above show, it is intentionally brief and generic. Nessus was built to detect not to remediate and the plugin output reflects that design decision accurately.

Section II — What Is Missing from Nessus Remediation Output

The Solution field tells you what needs to happen. It does not tell you how to make it happen in your environment. Here is what is consistently absent:

Environment-specific implementation steps. "Upgrade OpenSSL to 3.0.8 or later" is not a remediation step for a team running Ubuntu 22.04 on AWS EC2. A complete remediation step would include the specific package manager commands, service restart procedures, and dependency checks required for that environment.

Validation procedures. Once a fix is applied, how do you confirm the vulnerability is gone? Nessus doesn't tell you. A complete remediation step includes a verification command or re-scan instruction to confirm the finding is resolved.

Rollback guidance. For production systems, applying patches without a rollback plan is a risk. Nessus plugin output includes none.

Priority based on real exposure. A Critical CVSS score on an air-gapped internal system may be genuinely low priority. A Medium finding on a public-facing API endpoint may be urgent. Nessus assigns severity based on the vulnerability's generic CVSS score, not your asset's exposure level, business criticality, or the presence of compensating controls.

Implementation effort and dependencies. Some remediations require downtime, change control approvals, or upstream vendor patches that aren't yet available. Nessus output doesn't flag any of this.

Business impact framing. "What does this mean for us?" is the first question a CISO or IT manager asks. Nessus plugin output answers from a technical standpoint only.

This is why Nessus reports are not client-ready as delivered. The detection data is sound. The communication of what to do about it is not.

Section III — Side-by-Side Example: Nessus Output vs Complete Remediation Step

The most searched version of this topic is "nessus plugin output example remediation steps" people want to see the difference concretely. Here it is.

Finding: SSL/TLS: Deprecated TLS 1.0/1.1 Protocol Detection (Nessus Plugin ID: 157288)

What Nessus Gives You

Synopsis: The remote service encrypts traffic using an older version of TLS.

Description: The remote service accepts connections encrypted using TLS 1.0 and/or TLS 1.1. These versions of TLS are affected by several cryptographic design flaws and are no longer considered secure. An attacker could exploit these flaws to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks or to decrypt communications between the affected service and clients. PCI DSS v3.2 requires that TLS 1.0 be disabled.

Solution: Consult the application's documentation to disable TLS 1.0 and 1.1, and enable TLS 1.2 or 1.3.

Risk Factor: Medium CVSS v3 Score: 6.5

What a Complete Remediation Step Looks Like

The difference is significant. Nessus gives you one line. A complete remediation step gives your team everything they need to act, validate, and move on. This is what separates a raw Nessus export from a professional vulnerability report.

Section IV — A Second Example: Windows Missing Patch

Finding: MS17-010: Security Update for Microsoft Windows SMB Server (Nessus Plugin ID: 97833 — EternalBlue)

What Nessus Gives You

Synopsis: The remote Windows host is affected by multiple vulnerabilities.

Solution: Microsoft has released a set of patches for Windows Vista, 2008, 7, 2008 R2, 8.1, RT 8.1, 2012, 2012 R2, 10 and 2016. Apply the appropriate update.

What a Complete Remediation Step Looks Like

Section V — How to Build Remediation Steps from Nessus Output: The Workflow

Most security analysts don't build remediation steps from scratch for every finding. Here is the practical workflow for turning Nessus plugin output into a complete remediation report efficiently.

Step 1: Triage by Exposure, Not Just CVSS

Before writing a single remediation step, filter your findings by asset exposure. A Critical finding on an internet-facing host ranks above a Critical finding on an isolated internal system. The Nessus Report Visualizer surfaces your findings grouped by host and severity, making this triage layer fast. Understanding Nessus severity levels and their limitations is the foundation of this step.

Step 2: Take the Solution Field as Your Starting Point

Copy the Nessus Solution field verbatim. This is your remediation skeleton. It tells you the category of fix required: patch application, configuration change, service disable, or certificate renewal. Your job is to expand it into environment-specific steps.

Step 3: Map to Your Specific Environment

Identify: the operating system and version, the service or application involved, the deployment method (bare metal, VM, container, cloud-managed), and any relevant change control requirements. A Solution field that says "upgrade Nginx" maps to completely different commands on CentOS 7, Ubuntu 22.04, and an AWS Elastic Beanstalk environment.

Step 4: Write the Implementation Commands

For each finding requiring action, document the exact commands, configuration file paths, and service restart procedures specific to the target environment. Include pre-checks (confirming current version) and post-change confirmation commands.

Step 5: Define Validation

Every remediation step needs a pass/fail test. Options include: re-running the specific Nessus plugin against the host after the fix, running an independent tool check (SSL scanner, port check, version query), or manual review of the configuration file after change.

Step 6: Assign Priority and Effort

Score each finding for: exposure level (internet-facing vs internal), exploitability (known active exploits vs theoretical), business impact (production vs dev), and implementation effort (patch available now vs waiting on vendor). This becomes the basis for your remediation roadmap.

Section VI — What a Complete Nessus Remediation Report Looks Like

A professional remediation report built from Nessus output includes the following structure. This is what clients, auditors, and compliance reviewers expect not raw plugin output.

Executive Summary

Two to three paragraphs covering: total findings by severity, the highest-risk assets identified, top three recommended immediate actions, and overall security posture assessment. Written for a non-technical audience.

Scope and Methodology

What was scanned, when, from what network position, and with which Nessus scan policy. This provides the evidence chain for compliance purposes.

Findings Summary Table

Per-Finding Remediation Table

For each Critical and High finding, and for Medium findings on high-value assets:

Remediation Roadmap

A phased action plan grouping findings by effort and impact: quick wins (under 1 hour each), scheduled changes (requires maintenance window), deferred items (waiting on vendor or architecture change), and accepted risks (documented risk acceptance with business owner sign-off).

For teams working toward SOC 2, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, or other compliance frameworks, this remediation structure provides the documented evidence chain that auditors require. Raw Nessus output does not.

If you find the report structuring process time-consuming, the Nessus Report Visualizer handles the initial triage and grouping layer automatically surfacing your highest-risk findings, grouping by host and severity, and exporting structured output that forms the skeleton of your remediation report. For teams that need complete, professionally-written remediation reports delivered as part of a pentest engagement, SecurityWall's vulnerability assessment services include full remediation documentation as standard.

Quick Reference: Does Nessus Include Remediation Steps?

For those who landed here wanting a fast answer:

Yes, Nessus includes a Solution field in every plugin output block. It contains generic, one-to-three line guidance on the category of fix required.

No, Nessus does not include environment-specific implementation commands, validation steps, rollback procedures, business impact context, exposure-adjusted priority, or effort estimates.

The gap between what Nessus provides and what a remediation report needs is what security analysts, pentesters, and consultants fill in. The workflow in Section IV above and the complete examples in Sections III and IV show you exactly how to do it.

For teams that want to skip the manual triage step, the free Nessus Report Visualizer gives you an interactive, grouped view of your scan results in seconds no upload required, 100% client-side processing. For teams that need complete remediation reports as a deliverable, speak to our team.

Related reading:

• How to Read a Nessus Report: Results, Severity & Plugins Explained
• Why Nessus Reports Are Not Client-Ready (With Examples)
• Free Nessus Report Visualizer: Instantly Understand Your Nessus Scans