Nexpose
A practical guide to the real-time vulnerability management tool for risk-based threat detection and remediation.
Nexpose is a powerful vulnerability scanning and management platform developed by Rapid7, designed to help security teams discover, assess, prioritize, and remediate vulnerabilities across their IT environments. It provides real-time insight into exposure risks by continuously scanning networks, systems, and applications making it a foundational tool for vulnerability management, compliance, and security operations.
Whether you’re managing thousands of assets across hybrid environments or running compliance audits, Nexpose equips organizations with the tools to reduce risk through actionable intelligence and continuous visibility.
First time seeing this?
What Nexpose Does
Nexpose identifies known vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, missing patches, and weak credentials by scanning assets across physical, virtual, cloud, and containerized environments. It uses industry-standard CVE, CVSS, and proprietary threat models to assign risk scores to vulnerabilities based on both severity and exploitability.
With real-time threat intelligence integration and remediation tracking, Nexpose enables security teams to prioritize the most critical issues and align vulnerability management with overall risk reduction goals.
Key Features of Nexpose
Real-Time Vulnerability Detection
Automatically scans environments to discover newly introduced assets and vulnerabilities in real time.
Risk Scoring Engine
Uses Rapid7’s Real Risk™ score, going beyond CVSS by factoring in exploitability, malware exposure, and vulnerability age.
Dynamic Asset Discovery
Identifies and categorizes new and transient assets, including cloud instances and container deployments.
Remediation Planning and Tracking
Generates detailed remediation steps, assigns tickets, and tracks progress via integrations with ticketing systems like JIRA and ServiceNow.
Policy and Compliance Auditing
Supports regulatory benchmarks including CIS, NIST, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and ISO, with customizable policies and reporting.
Live Dashboards and Reporting
Interactive dashboards allow real-time visibility into risk posture, scan trends, and compliance status across environments.
Automation and Integrations
Connects with CI/CD pipelines, SIEM platforms, patch management systems, and the broader Rapid7 Insight platform.
Cross-Platform Agent Support
Deploy lightweight agents for off-network scanning, continuous monitoring, and assessment of remote endpoints.
Advanced Use Cases
Enterprise Vulnerability Management
Continuously scan and monitor thousands of assets across hybrid environments to maintain visibility and reduce attack surfaces.
Risk-Based Prioritization
Focus remediation efforts on vulnerabilities with active exploits, malware associations, or public proof-of-concepts.
Compliance Audits and Reporting
Automate evidence collection and audit workflows for PCI, SOX, HIPAA, and other compliance standards.
Patch Validation
Verify the effectiveness of patch deployment by rescanning targeted systems to confirm vulnerability closure.
Cloud and Container Security
Assess AWS, Azure, GCP, and containerized workloads for configuration issues, exposure risks, and outdated software packages.
Latest Updates
Recent improvements to Nexpose include:
Expanded coverage of CVEs and integration with updated threat intelligence feeds
Enhanced scan engine performance for faster and more scalable assessments
Improved cloud asset discovery for multi-cloud and hybrid infrastructures
Streamlined user interface and reporting workflows
Stronger integration with InsightVM for unified vulnerability and risk management across platforms
Why It Matters
Vulnerabilities are a leading cause of cyberattacks, yet organizations often struggle with prioritizing which ones to fix first. Nexpose addresses this challenge by offering real-time risk-based visibility, scalable automation, and clear remediation guidance. It empowers teams to take decisive action against critical threats and reduce risk exposure in dynamic IT environments.
Requirements and Platform Support
Nexpose runs on:
Windows and Linux servers (for console deployment)
Insight Agent support for Windows, Linux, and macOS endpoints
It requires:
Network access to target systems and appropriate scanning credentials
Hardware resources based on asset volume (scaling from SMBs to enterprise deployments)
Integration with IT systems for remediation tracking and automation
Nexpose is available from Rapid7 at www.rapid7.com, with flexible licensing options, robust documentation, a large user community, and integration into the InsightVM platform for extended functionality.