Installing scanner agents on Windows

In order to scan a website located on your internal network, and not accessible from the internet, you can install and configure a scan agent on your network. The agent will conduct the actual scan job and then report the results back to Invicti Enterprise.

In addition to the scanning agent, you can add an authentication verifier agent that will verify the form authentication on your website. For further information, see Installing Authentication Verifier Agents.

There are three stages to this process:

1. Download and configure the Invicti Enterprise agent
2. Run the agent on your local network where it can reach the internal website you want to scan
3. Define and scan your internal website

You can install internal agents in Linux and Docker. For further information about installing agents in Linux, see Installing a Scan Agent on Linux.  For the docker, see Installing a Scan Agent via Dockerization.

Downloading and configuring internal agent

First, you need to download the installation files of the agent and install them on a machine in your internal network.

Prerequisites

Software requirements

• Windows Server 2016 or above (Windows Server 2019 recommended)

Hardware Requirements

• 1.4 GHz Processor (2.0 GHz or faster recommended)
• 4 GB RAM or higher recommended
• 10 GB Free Disk space for each internal agent

If you select TLS 1.3 as a security protocol from the Scan Policy, make sure you have Windows 11 or Windows Server 2022 or higher versions.

Network Requirements

• Agent should be configured so that it can reach your internal website through HTTP/HTTPS
• Agent needs to be able to access the Invicti Enterprise Application Server’s HTTP(S) (443) port

Allowlisting Requirements

• www.invicti.com
• netsparker.com
• r87.me
• Allowlist the following addresses according to your region:
  • US region: 54.85.169.114, 3.232.155.177, netsparkercloud.com, s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com 
  • EU region: 3.122.90.89, 3.71.172.17, eu.netsparker.cloud, s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com
  • CA region: 15.223.111.146, 3.99.19.87, 3.96.72.255, ca.netsparker.cloud, s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com

Required Access

• User(s) must have administrator privileges to run the required commands and agent service.

How to download and configure the scanner agent

1. Log in to Invicti Enterprise.
2. From the main menu, go to Agents > Manage Agents > Configure New Agent.

3. From the Agent section, select Windows to download the Invicti Enterprise Scanner Agent. Your Agent Token is also displayed.
   1. Extract the contents of the zip file to C:\NC_Agent. (You can use another location, but these instructions will use this path.)
   2. Open the C:\NC_Agent\appsettings.json file with your preferred text editor.
   3. You need to edit the following attributes before running the agent, listed under AgentInfo:
      • AgentName: This can be anything you want. This text will be displayed when you are starting a new scan. (If you are going to install more than one instance of the agent, you must set a unique agentName value for each instance, something you will use later.)
      • ApiToken: In Invicti Enterprise, the Agent Token is displayed in the Configure New Agent window. Copy the value into the apiToken.
   4. Save and close the C:\NC_Agent\appsettings.json file.

You can change the default location in which the scanner agent saves its scan data. For further information, refer to Changing default scan data folder for the scanner agent.

To detect Out of band vulnerabilities via Invicti Hawk, please allowlist the following ports on your agent server: TCP 80 and 443, UDP 53. For further information about Invicti Hawk, see How Invicti Hawk Finds Vulnerabilities.

Setting agent as a Windows Service

An internal scanner agent should be configured as a Windows service, so that it can poll the Invicti Enterprise servers regularly and can take the scan initiation command from the server.

How to set the agent as a Windows Service

1. Open a command prompt in Administrator mode and navigate to the agent’s folder.
2. Run the following command to install the Invicti Enterprise Scanning Agent as a Windows Service:

Netsparker.Cloud.Agent.exe -i

3. Press Windows+R, type ‘services.msc’ and press Enter.
4. Find ‘Netsparker Cloud Scanning Service – [YOUR_AGENT_NAME]’.
5. Right-click on it and select Properties.
6. Make sure Startup type is set to Automatic, and select Start.

Please note that although this service is set to start automatically, it may not restart until the PC is restarted too.

7. Select Apply and OK, then exit the Properties window.

The Invicti Enterprise Agent is now running on your network, shortly it will be registered to Invicti Enterprise.

Any changes in the appsetting.json file, such as setting proxy and changing API Token, require restarting the service so that the changes can take effect.

Installing multiple scanner agents on Windows

How to install multiple scanner agents on Windows

1. Copy all files from the default scanner agent’s folder to the new agent’s folder. For this example, the path is: C:\Invicti Enterprise Agent. If you decided to use Agent-2 as the new Agent name, you could use this command to copy all files to new Agent’s folder: xcopy "C:\Invicti Enterprise Agent\*.*" "C:\Invicti Enterprise Agent-2" /yie
   This creates a new directory in C:\Invicti Enterprise Agent-2 and copies in all the required files.
2. Locate the new Agent’s folder and open the appsettings.json file with a text editor. Set the new Agent’s name.
3. Open a command prompt in Windows with Administrator rights and install the new Agent as a Windows Service using these commands:
   • This command changes the current folder to the new Agent’s folder: cd C:\Invicti Enterprise Agent-2
   • This command installs the new Agent as a Windows Service: Netsparker.Cloud.Agent.exe -i
4. Press Windows+R, type ‘services.msc’ and press Enter.
5. Find ‘Netsparker Enterprise Scanning Service – [YOUR_AGENT_NAME]’.
6. Right-click on it and select Properties.
7. Make sure Startup type is set to Automatic, and select Start.

Uninstalling scanner agent

You can uninstall scanner agents.

How to uninstall the scanner agent

1. Open a command prompt in Administrator mode and navigate to the agent’s folder.
2. Run the following command to stop and delete the Invicti Enterprise Authentication Scanner Agent as a Windows Service:

sc stop "Netsparker Cloud Scanning Service - YourAgentName"

sc delete "Netsparker Cloud Scanning Service - YourAgentName"

This command will delete the verifier agent service. If required, you can delete the related folder.

Managing Groups

On the Manage Groups page, you can search for and view the names of the different agent groups. You can also edit or delete their details, and add a new agent group.

How to add a new agent group

1. From the main menu, select Agents > Manage Groups.
2. From the Agent Groups page, select New Agent Group.
3. Complete the Name and Agents fields.
4. Select Save.

How to edit agent groups

1. From the main menu, select Agents > Manage Groups.
2. From the Agent Groups page, select Edit on the field of the group you want to edit.
3. On the New Agent Group page, make your edits.
4. Select Save.

How to delete agent groups

1. From the main menu, select Agents > Manage Groups.
2. From the Agent Groups page, select Delete.
3. Select Yes, Delete in the dialog.

Auto-Update support for scanner agents

You can choose to auto-update your scanner agents.

• When a new Agent version has been published, users can update their Agents manually using installation files on the machines on which Agents are installed.
• Alternatively, users can update Agents manually by clicking Update Agent (visible only when the Enable Auto Update is not configured and the new version of the Agent is available). While the update is in progress, the State field will display ‘Updating’.

• Alternatively, enabling Auto Update means that when the new version of the Invicti Enterprise Scanning Agent is available, the target Agent will update itself as soon as possible when it’s idle.

How to enable automatic agent updates

1. From the main menu, select Agents > Manage Agents.
2. Next to the relevant Agent, select the Command drop-down, then Enable Auto Update.

How to disable automatic agent updates

1. From the main menu, select Agents > Manage Agents.
2. Next to the relevant Agent, select the Command drop-down, then Disable Auto Update.

Setting Proxy in Scanner Agents

You can set a proxy for the scanning agent in Invicti Enterprise. You are required to enter proxy settings manually to the appsettings.json file with your preferred text editor.

Invicti supports Basic Authentication but not Digest and NTLM.

  "ProxySettings": {
    "ProxyMode": "SystemProxy",
    "UseDefaultCredentials": true,
    "Username": "",
    "Password": "",
    "Domain": "",
    "Address": "127.0.0.1",
    "Port": "8888",
    "ByPassOnLocal": false,
    "ByPassList": []
  },

This table lists and explains the entries in the Proxy settings

Any changes in the appsetting.json file, such as setting proxy and changing API Token, require restarting the service so that the changes can take effect.

Using Proxy Auto-Configuration file

You can use Proxy Automatic Configuration (PAC) to configure your proxy. A PAC file lets you describe the proxy configuration in a file using JavaScript, so you can manage your proxy settings.

To use a PAC file, you must set the Proxy Mode to System Proxy in the appsetting.json file. For further information about proxy setting, see Setting Proxy in Scanner Agents.

How to use a Proxy Auto-Configuration file on Windows

1. Go to Settings > Network & Internet > Proxy.
2. Turn on the Use setup script toggle.
3. In the Script address field, enter the PAC file’s URL address.

4. Select Save.

How to use a Proxy Auto-Configuration file  in Linux (Debian Distribution)

1. Go to Settings > Network > Network Proxy.
2. From the Network Proxy window, select Automatic.
3. In the Configuration URL field, enter the PAC file’s URL address.

4. Close the window.

Malware Analysis with ClamAV

If you want an Invicti Enterprise scan agent to carry out malware analysis, you need to download and install ClamAV. For further information, see Malware Analysis with ClamAV in Invicti Enterprise.

Changing default scan data folder for the scanner agent

You can change the default location where the scanner agent saves its data. This helps you avoid running out of free space due to accumulating scan data.

By default, the scanner agent saves the scan data to the C:/Invicti Enterprise folder. But, you can choose to save the scan data in a different location to prevent filling up your free space.

The following instruction explains how to change the location where the scanner agent saves its scan data. The instruction is valid for new agents or existing agents:

How to change the default scan data folder 

1. Navigate to the agent’s folder you want to change the default folder.
2. Open appsettings.json file with your preferred text editor.
3. Add the following attribute under AgentInfo: "ScanDataFolderPath": "FullPath"

Write the full path as shown in the following example: C:\\Users\\[User]\\Documents\\ScanData

4. Save and exit.

If you modified the existing agent’s configuration file, you need to restart the agent service. So, open services.msc, find ‘Netsparker Cloud Scanning Service – [YOUR_AGENT_NAME]’, and restart the agent service.

This restart does not affect your saved scan data. To move the existing data, you need to copy the data and paste it into the new folder.

If this is a new agent, continue following this instruction: Setting agent as a Windows Service.

Defining and Scanning an Internal Website in Invicti Enterprise

Now, you have installed a scanning agent into your infrastructure, you should configure Invicti Enterprise to let it know which websites should be scanned with an internal agent rather than with the built-in agents.

How to define an internal website in Invicti Enterprise

1. Log in to Invicti Enterprise.
2. From the main menu, select Websites > New Website.
3. Enter your internal website details (see Adding a Website in Invicti Enterprise).
4. From the Agent mode field, select Internal.
5. Select Save.

How to scan an internal website with agent

1. Log in to Invicti Enterprise.
2. From the main menu, select Scans > New Scan.
3. From the Target URL field, select your Internal Website (if the field is not already populated).
4. The Preferred Agent field is already selected by default. Your newly installed scanning Agent is displayed as an option. If you installed more than one instance, select the one which can access your Internal Website. If any of them can access your Internal Website, select the default option Any of the available agents. By selecting this, one of the idle agents will scan your website.

5. Select Launch. (For simplicity, optimization and other settings are ignored in this procedure.)

Your scan has been started in the Queued state. Shortly, you will see that its status changes to Scanning. Once it is completed, you will be able to explore the vulnerabilities found on your website.