Nessus just released version 5.20.  So, a quick follow-up to my recent post on installing Nessus is as follows.

Details:  http://www.tenable.com/products/nessus/new-in-nessus-52

Downloads:   http://www.tenable.com/products/nessus/nessus-download-agreement

> dpkg -i Nessus-5.2.0-debian6_amd64.deb
(Reading database … 241907 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace nessus 5.0.3 (using Nessus-5.2.0-debian6_amd64.deb) …
$Shutting down Nessus : .
Unpacking replacement nessus …
Setting up nessus (5.2.0) …
Fetching the newest plugins from nessus.org…
Fetching the newest updates from nessus.org…
Done. The Nessus server will start processing these plugins within a minute
nessusd (Nessus) 5.2.0 [build N24017] for Linux
Copyright (C) 1998 – 2013 Tenable Network Security, Inc

Processing the Nessus plugins…
[##################################################]

All plugins loaded

– You can start nessusd by typing /etc/init.d/nessusd start
– Then go to https://localhost:8834/ to configure your scanner

> /etc/init.d/nessusd start
$Starting Nessus : .

1) First step is patch your Kali Linux system.
> su – root
> apt-get update
> apt-get upgrade

2) For some crazy reason Nessus is not part of the default Kali tool set. There must be some drama between these guys. The kali apt-get repositories don’t have nessus so you must download the deb package from Tenable.

Choose the debian 6 x64 package here:
http://www.tenable.com/products/nessus/select-your-operating-system

Register to get a key for the home feed here:
http://www.tenable.com/products/nessus/nessus-homefeed

3) Install nessus.
> su – root
> cd /to/path/of/nessus/download
> dpkg -i Nessus*.deb
> rm Nessus*.deb

4) Register nessus. Obtain the key from the email sent by Tenable when you registered. It will be used to register your home feed and authorize your instance to download plug-ins.
> cd /opt/nessus/bin/
> ./nessus-fetch –register “1234-ABCD-5678-EFGH-9101”
Note: there are two dashes “–” in front of –register
> cd /opt/nessus/etc/nessus
> cp nessusd.conf.imported nessusd.conf

5) Start nessus.

> /etc/init.d/nessusd start

6) Nessus takes about 10 minutes to initialize the first time. Launch a browser and enter https://localhost:8834 to see if its ready. When ready the wizard will start. Create a user, enter the word offline for the registration (since you already did this above) and then login.