Top Free Tools to Support Vulnerability Management
Open-source and no-cost tools that help across discovery, scanning, and prioritization
Top Free Tools to Support Vulnerability Management
A real-world vulnerability management process doesn’t always need expensive tools. Whether you’re just getting started or want to augment existing platforms, here’s a curated list of free or open-source tools that support every stage of the VM lifecycle.
These tools aren’t “nice to haves” — many are used by professionals in live production environments.
Asset Discovery & Inventory
Nmap
A classic network discovery and port scanning tool.
→ https://nmap.org/
Lansweeper Free Edition
Agentless network scanning for asset inventory and device classification.
→ https://www.lansweeper.com/
Rumble (now runZero) – Free Tier
Cloud-based asset discovery for hybrid environments. Free for small-scale use.
→ https://www.runzero.com/
IP Fabric Community Edition
Network topology and device visibility. Helps validate network-level asset inventory.
→ https://ipfabric.io/
Vulnerability Scanning
OpenVAS / Greenbone Community Edition
An open-source vulnerability scanner, regularly updated with community feed.
→ https://www.greenbone.net/en/community-edition/
Nessus Essentials
Free version of the commercial Nessus scanner, limited to 16 IPs.
→ https://www.tenable.com/products/nessus/nessus-essentials
Nikto
A lightweight web server scanner for common misconfigurations and issues.
→ https://cirt.net/Nikto2
Trivy
A fast, open-source scanner for container images, filesystems, and Git repos.
→ https://github.com/aquasecurity/trivy
Prioritization & Threat Intel
CISA KEV Catalog (API or CSV)
Regularly updated list of known exploited vulnerabilities (KEV).
→ https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
VulnCheck KEV (Open Data Tools)
Expanded datasets and enrichment around exploited vulnerabilities.
→ https://vulncheck.com/
Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)
Free scoring system to estimate likelihood of exploitation in the wild.
→ https://www.first.org/epss/
Shodan Free
Search engine for internet-connected devices. Useful for checking external exposure.
→ https://www.shodan.io/
Reporting & Analysis
Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana)
Open-source stack for building custom dashboards, reports, and visualizations.
→ https://www.elastic.co/what-is/elk-stack
Grafana
Open-source visualisation and dashboarding platform. Integrates with many scanners.
→ https://grafana.com/
GVM Dashboards
Community dashboards built on top of Greenbone/OpenVAS.
→ https://github.com/greenbone/gvmd
Final Thoughts
Free tools can fill critical gaps in visibility, detection, and communication — but they work best with a clear process behind them.
Have a tool you rely on that’s not listed here?
Let me know and I’ll consider including it in the next update.
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