Linux Environment Variable Enumeration

info Nessus Plugin ID 333918

Synopsis

Enumerates system and user environment variables on Linux hosts.

Description

Enumerates environment variables at the SYSTEM and USER scope on Linux.

SYSTEM-scope variables are collected from /etc/environment, /etc/security/pam_env.conf, /usr/share/pam/security/pam_env.conf and shell scripts under /etc/profile.d/ (plus /etc/profile and /etc/bashrc).
USER-scope variables are collected from each login user's shell profile files (.bashrc, .bash_profile, .profile, .zshrc, .zshenv, .zsh_profile).

Collected data is stored as structured data (environment-variable schema) and written to the Knowledge Base so that downstream plugins (credential exposure, insecure PATH checks) can consume it without re-running commands.

Plugin Details

Severity: Info

ID: 333918

File Name: enumerate_nix_env_vars.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Family: General

Published: 8/10/2026

Updated: 8/10/2026

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Vulnerability Information

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled

Detections

Analytics