OpenVAS - Status code: 503, Status message: Service temporarily down

If you try to start a task you’ll get:

Operation: Start Task
Status code: 503
Status message: Service temporarily down

In /var/lib/openvasmd.log you can find something like this:

lib serv:WARNING:2016-09-02 08h21.18 UTC:4546: Failed to shake hands with peer: The TLS connection was non-properly terminated.
lib serv:WARNING:2016-09-02 08h21.18 UTC:4546: Failed to shutdown server socket
event task:MESSAGE:2016-09-02 08h21.18 UTC:4546: Task 256f8360-1ec7-4675-a6ab-415fd5fb9483 could not be started by admin

The fix is mentioned in a text document you can find here or just following the steps bellow:

Stop scanner
```
systemctl stop openvas-scanner
```
Stop manager
```
systemctl stop openvas-manager
```
Make the certs with the command (pressing enter will fill in the defaults in the brackets):
```
openvas-mkcert -f
```
Make the client certs with the command:
```
openvas-mkcert-client -i -n
```
Get the scanner uid with the command (gives you an uid like “08b69003-5fc2-4037-a479-93b440211c73”):
```
openvasmd --get-scanners
```

Update scanner and keys with the command (you will need to replace the uid in this command with the uid provided from the previous step):

openvasmd --modify-scanner "08b69003-5fc2-4037-a479-93b440211c73" --scanner-ca-pub /var/lib/openvas/CA/cacert.pem --scanner-key-pub /var/lib/openvas/CA/clientcert.pem --scanner-key-priv /var/lib/openvas/private/CA/clientkey.pem

For Debian it can be slightly different. Thanks mansuamen:

openvasmd –modify-scanner “08b69003-5fc2-4037-a479-93b440211c73” –scanner-ca-pub /usr/local/var/lib/openvas/CA/cacert.pem –scanner-key-pub /usr/local/var/lib/openvas/CA/clientcert.pem –scanner-key-priv /usr/local/var/lib/openvas/private/CA/clientkey.pem

Sync the feeds using the command:
```
openvas-nvt-sync
```
Start the scanner using the command:
```
systemctl start openvas-scanner
```
Rebuild openvas databases using the command:
```
openvasmd --rebuild
```
Start openvas manager using the command:
```
systemctl start openvas-manager
```
Start Greenbone using the command:
```
systemctl start gsa
```

Enjoy!

9 Replies to “OpenVAS – Status code: 503, Status message: Service temporarily down”

Thanks a lot for your tutorial!
I find 2 mistakes:
In the section 2 it needs to be: systemctl stop openvas-managerer
In the section 5 it needs to be: openvasmd –get-scanners

I get “failed to modify scanner” on section 6.

any idea ?
Michael

Reply ↓

bisser.todorov on 04/09/2016 at 13:27 said:

Hi Michael,
Thanks for the corrections!
About the error you get – can you try with –verbose to get more details about the problem and what is wrong. Let me know the output.

Regards,
Bisser

Reply ↓

Thanks for the tutorial.
Please, take care on step 6th that cert directories in debian are different:
openvasmd –modify-scanner “08b69003-5fc2-4037-a479-93b440211c73” –scanner-ca-pub /usr/local/var/lib/openvas/CA/cacert.pem –scanner-key-pub /usr/local/var/lib/openvas/CA/clientcert.pem –scanner-key-priv /usr/local/var/lib/openvas/private/CA/clientkey.pem

Reply ↓

“failed to modify scanner” means – you did’nt use the correct scanner ID (i had a typo)

Reply ↓

It really works!
Thanks a lot.

Reply ↓

It works!! That should be in the openvas scripts for repairing!
Thanks a lot!

Reply ↓

If error at sync step will appear, use:

openvas-nvt-sync –wget

Reply ↓

if you have an error: rsync failed at step 7
try
openvas-nvt-sync –wget

Reply ↓

Thank you very much.
I have been trying to get my OpenVas 8 Scanner to work for quite sometime but i could not understand or fix the ” Status code 503 Error ” I almost gave up until i found your post. This really helps a lot.
Thanks Again!

Reply ↓

9 Replies to “OpenVAS – Status code: 503, Status message: Service temporarily down”

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