Qualys Scripts

Overview

The Qualys scripts automate vulnerability scanning, report generation, and scanner appliance management using the Qualys API. Scripts support both internal and external scanners with optional proxy configuration.

qualys_scan.bat

Launches Qualys vulnerability scans using internal or external scanner appliances.

Parameters

string

required

Project name for the scan

string

required

Target IP addresses or ranges

string

required

Qualys account username

string

required

Qualys account password

string

required

Scanner appliance name or “External” for cloud scanners

string

required

Scan option profile title

boolean

required

1 = Generate automatic report, 0 = Scan only

string

required

Output directory for reports

string

required

Report format (pdf, html, xml, csv, mht)

string

required

Report template ID (for automatic reports)

string

required

Timestamp for unique file naming

boolean

required

1 = Use proxy, 0 = Direct connection

string

Proxy server IP (if UsoProxy=1)

string

Proxy server port (if UsoProxy=1)

string

Proxy authentication username

string

Proxy authentication password

Usage

External Scanner:

qualys_scan.bat "MyProject" "192.168.1.100" "admin" "password" "External" "Initial Options" 1 "C:\Reports" "pdf" "1075927" "20240315_143000" 0

Internal Scanner with Proxy:

qualys_scan.bat "MyProject" "10.0.0.50" "admin" "password" "Scanner-NYC" "Full Scan" 1 "C:\Reports" "html" "1075927" "20240315_143000" 1 "proxy.company.com" "8080" "proxyuser" "proxypass"

Workflow

Authentication - Login to Qualys API
Scan Launch - Start vulnerability scan
IP Validation - Auto-add IPs to asset inventory if needed
Progress Monitoring - Poll scan status every 60 seconds
Scan Report - Generate post-scan report
Custom Report - Optional detailed report generation
Cleanup - Logout and remove temporary files

API Endpoints Used

Endpoint	Purpose
`/api/2.0/fo/session/`	Authentication
`/api/2.0/fo/scan/`	Launch and manage scans
`/msp/asset_ip.php`	Add IPs to asset inventory
`/api/2.0/fo/report/`	Generate and download reports

Authentication

Login:

curl --compressed -H "X-Requested-With: Curl Sample" \
  -D auth_cookies.txt \
  --data "action=login" \
  --data "username=admin" \
  --data "password=password" \
  https://qualysapi.qualys.com/api/2.0/fo/session/

Session Management: Cookies are stored in temporary files and reused:

curl -b auth_cookies.txt \
  --data "action=list" \
  https://qualysapi.qualys.com/api/2.0/fo/scan/

Proxy Configuration

When UsoProxy=1, the script configures proxy settings:

set Proxy=--proxy proxy.company.com:8080 --proxy-anyauth --proxy-user username:password
curl %Proxy% https://qualysapi.qualys.com/...

Scan Launch

External Scanner:

curl --data-urlencode "action=launch" \
  --data-urlencode "ip=192.168.1.100" \
  --data-urlencode "scan_title=MyProject" \
  --data-urlencode "option_title=Initial Options" \
  https://qualysapi.qualys.com/api/2.0/fo/scan/

Internal Scanner:

curl --data-urlencode "action=launch" \
  --data-urlencode "ip=10.0.0.50" \
  --data-urlencode "scan_title=MyProject" \
  --data-urlencode "iscanner_name=Scanner-NYC" \
  --data-urlencode "option_title=Full Scan" \
  https://qualysapi.qualys.com/api/2.0/fo/scan/

IP Auto-Registration

If scan launch fails because IP is not in asset inventory:

curl -u admin:password \
  --data-urlencode "action=add" \
  --data-urlencode "host_ips=192.168.1.100" \
  --data-urlencode "tracking_method=ip" \
  --data-urlencode "owner=admin" \
  --data-urlencode "comment=MyProject" \
  https://qualysapi.qualys.com/msp/asset_ip.php

Status Monitoring

curl --data-urlencode "action=list" \
  --data-urlencode "scan_ref=scan/1234567890.12345" \
  https://qualysapi.qualys.com/api/2.0/fo/scan/ | \
  xml.exe sel -t -v "/SCAN_LIST_OUTPUT/RESPONSE/SCAN_LIST/SCAN/STATUS/STATE"

Possible states:

Running
Paused
Finished
Error

Error Handling

Authentication Errors:

<SIMPLE_RETURN>
  <RESPONSE>
    <TEXT>Bad Login/Password</TEXT>
  </RESPONSE>
</SIMPLE_RETURN>

API Throttling:

This API cannot be run again for another X hours

Scan Limit Reached:

This limit has already been reached

Service Maintenance:

Service Unavailable

Report Generation

The script calls qualys_scan_report.bat and optionally qualys_report.bat:

call qualys_scan_report.bat "MyProject" "192.168.1.100" admin password "C:\Reports" pdf 1075927 20240315_143000 0

if %AutoReport% EQU 1 (
  call qualys_report.bat "MyProject" "192.168.1.100" admin password "C:\Reports" html 1234567 20240315_143000 0
)

qualys_report.bat

Generates custom Qualys vulnerability reports from asset inventory.

Parameters

string

required

Project name

string

required

Target IP addresses

string

required

Qualys username

string

required

Qualys password

string

required

Output directory

string

required

Report format (pdf, html, xml, csv, mht)

string

required

Report template ID

string

required

Unique timestamp

boolean

required

Proxy usage flag

string

Proxy IP address

string

Proxy port

string

Proxy username

string

Proxy password

Usage

qualys_report.bat "MyProject" "192.168.1.100" "admin" "password" "C:\Reports" "pdf" "1234567" "20240315_143000" 0

Report Launch

curl --data-urlencode "action=launch" \
  --data-urlencode "ips=192.168.1.100" \
  --data-urlencode "template_id=1234567" \
  --data-urlencode "output_format=pdf" \
  --data-urlencode "report_title=MyProject" \
  https://qualysapi.qualys.com/api/2.0/fo/report/

Report Status Polling

curl --data "action=list" --data "id=REPORT_ID" \
  https://qualysapi.qualys.com/api/2.0/fo/report/ | \
  xml.exe sel -t -v "/REPORT_LIST_OUTPUT/RESPONSE/REPORT_LIST/REPORT/STATUS/STATE"

States:

Submitted
Running
Finished

Report Download

Once state is “Finished”:

curl https://qualysapi.qualys.com/api/2.0/fo/report/?action=fetch&id=REPORT_ID \
  -o "QualysReport - 20240315_143000.pdf"

XML Report Parsing

For XML reports, the script displays vulnerability summaries:

type report.xml | xml.exe sel -t \
  -m "ASSET_DATA_REPORT/GLOSSARY/VULN_DETAILS_LIST/VULN_DETAILS" \
  -v "QID[@id]" -o " - " -v "TITLE" -n

Example output:

- DNS Server Recursive Query Cache Poisoning Weakness
- SSL Certificate Cannot Be Trusted
- Weak Ciphers Supported (SSL/TLS)

Host-level results:

type report.xml | xml.exe sel -t \
  -m "ASSET_DATA_REPORT/HOST_LIST/HOST" \
  -n -v "IP" \
  -m "VULN_INFO_LIST/VULN_INFO" \
  -n -o "  QID:" -v "QID[@id]" \
  -n -o "  Resultado:" -n -v "RESULT" -n -n

Output Files

QualysReport - {Timestamp}.{TypeReport} - Generated report

Supported formats:

pdf - PDF document
html - HTML report
xml - XML data
csv - Comma-separated values
mht - MHTML web archive

qualys_get_scanner_appliances.bat

Retrieves list of available Qualys scanner appliances.

Parameters

string

required

Qualys username

string

required

Qualys password

string

required

Unique timestamp

boolean

required

Proxy usage flag

string

Proxy IP

string

Proxy port

string

Proxy username

string

Proxy password

Usage

qualys_get_scanner_appliances.bat "admin" "password" "20240315_143000" 0

Implementation

API Request:

curl -G --data "action=list" \
  https://qualysapi.qualys.com/api/2.0/fo/appliance/ \
  -o scanner_appliances.txt

Parse Response:

type scanner_appliances.txt | xml.exe sel -T -t \
  -m "/APPLIANCE_LIST_OUTPUT/RESPONSE/APPLIANCE_LIST/APPLIANCE" \
  -o "ID" -v "position()" -o "=" -v "ID" -n \
  -o "Nombre" -v "position()" -o "=\"" -v "NAME" -o "\"" -n \
  -o "Ultimo=" -v "last()" -n \
  > scanner_appliances.ini

Output Format

The script generates an INI configuration file:

[Config]
ID1=12345
Nombre1="Scanner-NYC"
ID2=67890
Nombre2="Scanner-LAX"
ID3=11111
Nombre3="Scanner-LON"
Ultimo=3

Output Location

%TEMP%\qualys_scanner_appliances_{Timestamp}.ini

Usage in SVM

The INI file is used to populate scanner selection dropdowns in the SVM interface.

Error Handling

API Throttling:

findstr.exe /C:"This API cannot be run again for another" output.txt
if %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 (
  echo La API no se puede usar por unas horas
  exit
)

Authentication Failure:

findstr.exe /C:"Bad Login/Password" output.txt
if %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 (
  echo Mal Usuario/Contraseña
  exit
)

Maintenance Mode:

findstr.exe /C:"Service Unavailable" output.txt
if %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 (
  echo Qualys Planned Maintenance
  exit
)

API Documentation

Qualys API endpoints:

Session: https://qualysapi.qualys.com/api/2.0/fo/session/
Scan: https://qualysapi.qualys.com/api/2.0/fo/scan/
Report: https://qualysapi.qualys.com/api/2.0/fo/report/
Appliance: https://qualysapi.qualys.com/api/2.0/fo/appliance/
Asset: https://qualysapi.qualys.com/msp/asset_ip.php

Web Scanners

Service Scanners

Mobile Analysis

Information Gathering

Utilities

Overview

qualys_scan.bat

Parameters

Usage

Workflow

API Endpoints Used

Authentication

Proxy Configuration

Scan Launch

IP Auto-Registration

Status Monitoring

Error Handling

Report Generation

qualys_report.bat

Parameters

Usage

Report Launch

Report Status Polling

Report Download

XML Report Parsing

Output Files

qualys_get_scanner_appliances.bat

Parameters

Usage

Implementation

Output Format

Output Location

Usage in SVM

Error Handling

API Documentation

​Overview

​qualys_scan.bat

​Parameters

​Usage

​Workflow

​API Endpoints Used

​Authentication

​Proxy Configuration

​Scan Launch

​IP Auto-Registration

​Status Monitoring

​Error Handling

​Report Generation

​qualys_report.bat

​Parameters

​Usage

​Report Launch

​Report Status Polling

​Report Download

​XML Report Parsing

​Output Files

​qualys_get_scanner_appliances.bat

​Parameters

​Usage

​Implementation

​Output Format

​Output Location

​Usage in SVM

​Error Handling

​API Documentation

Overview

qualys_scan.bat

Parameters

Usage

Workflow

API Endpoints Used

Authentication

Proxy Configuration

Scan Launch

IP Auto-Registration

Status Monitoring

Error Handling

Report Generation

qualys_report.bat

Parameters

Usage

Report Launch

Report Status Polling

Report Download

XML Report Parsing

Output Files

qualys_get_scanner_appliances.bat

Parameters

Usage

Implementation

Output Format

Output Location

Usage in SVM

Error Handling

API Documentation