Extract text from vulnerability scan reports (NESSUS)
To convert NESSUS reports to another format, you need Nessus or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Vulnerability Scan Report" file type, you need software like Nessus or a similar tool.
A .nessus file contains scan results from the Nessus vulnerability scanner developed by Tenable. It logs discovered network vulnerabilities, open ports, software flaws, and patch levels. These files are typically created and managed natively within Nessus or Tenable Security Center.
The primary disadvantage of the format is its raw structure. Under the hood, a .nessus file is essentially a massive, highly nested XML document. Opening a 500MB+ .nessus file in a standard text editor often crashes the application due to memory limits. Furthermore, the raw XML tags are completely unreadable for management teams or non-technical stakeholders who require a prioritized summary of critical risks.
To make the data actionable, users frequently need to convert .nessus to CSV or XLSX. This allows security teams to filter vulnerabilities by severity and host in Microsoft Excel. Converting to PDF or HTML is also highly recommended to provide clean, readable compliance reports to clients. Note that converting to flat formats like CSV means some deeply nested XML metadata may be flattened or lost.
This file format is difficult for generic online tools to process. The Nessus schema uses specific nested tags (such as <ReportHost> and <ReportItem>) that standard document converters cannot parse. Because it relies heavily on this proprietary XML schema, often only the original Tenable software or specialized Python scripts can properly export the data. If our analysis detects the underlying XML text, viewing or partial conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your NESSUS file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted CSV, DB, TXT, HTML, PDF, PAGES, JSON, PCAP, NB, CRDOWNLOAD, MP4, TMP and NASL files.
If you want to convert NESSUS file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use Nessus or similar software from the "Vulnerability Scan Report Data" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert DBF, XML, SQLITE, XLSX, SQL, TSV, ACCDB, YAML, MDB, CSV, ODS or JSON files to NESSUS, try Nessus or another comparable tool in the "Vulnerability Scan Report Data" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our NESSUS converter.