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Register Network Devices#

Read Only the Method You Use

Manage vulnerabilities in network devices such as routers, switches, and firewalls. Without installing any software on the devices, you register each device's product and version (CPE) in FutureVuls to detect vulnerabilities.

  • Who this is for

    Technical staff (those responsible for the network)

  • Time required

    Varies by method

  • What you'll learn

    The two ways to register network devices, and how to choose between them

  • You're done when

    The network devices you want to manage are registered as pseudo servers, and vulnerabilities are being detected

How It Works#

Network devices are identified by CPE (a name tag that represents a product and version in a globally standardized format). The registered CPEs are matched against vulnerability databases such as NVD and JVN to detect vulnerabilities. For three vendors, Fortinet, Cisco, and Palo Alto Networks, primary sources published by the vendors are also used (as of March 2026; see Scanning Network Devices).

Devices are registered in FutureVuls as "pseudo servers". For pseudo servers with registered CPEs, when new vulnerabilities that meet certain conditions (such as CVSS 7.0 or higher or listed in KEV) are added to the vulnerability databases, matching is rerun without waiting for the next day's automatic scan.

Choosing a Method#

Device status Method Details
Can respond to SNMP Network Discovery Automatically finds devices in a specified IP address range (CIDR), identifies their CPEs, and registers them
SNMP isn't available, or the device can't be reached from a bastion server ☆Manually register CPEs on pseudo servers Look up the CPE from the model number and register it manually

Register with Network Discovery#

Place the tools on a bastion server and run a command to find devices in the CIDR range. From the information on the devices found, their CPEs are identified and they are registered as pseudo servers.

As a prerequisite, SNMP must be enabled on the target devices. Devices that don't respond to probes from the bastion server aren't found. If a device can't be allowed to respond, register it manually (Manually Register CPEs on Pseudo Servers).

  1. From the GitHub releases, get the future-vuls and snmp2cpe builds for your OS, and place them in the same directory on the bastion server.
  2. Run the command with a range specified, such as future-vuls discover --cidr 192.168.0.0/24. Devices whose CPEs could be identified are written to discover_list.toml.
  3. In the output file, set fvuls_sync to true for the devices you want to register.
  4. Run future-vuls add-cpe to register the devices as pseudo servers and assign their CPEs. Running this requires a FutureVuls API token with "Update" permission. Pass the token with --token, or set it in the environment variable VULS_TOKEN.

To also pick up new devices, we recommend running this regularly with cron or Task Scheduler. For details, see "Registering Network Devices with Commands".

flowchart LR
    A["Bastion server<br>Place and run the tools"] -->|"Query via SNMP"| B["Network devices<br>(CIDR range)"]
    A --> C["Identify device CPEs"]
    C --> D["Register in FutureVuls<br>as pseudo servers"]

Manually Register CPEs on Pseudo Servers#

For devices where SNMP isn't available, look up the CPE from the model number and version, and register it manually. The steps are the same as in "Commercial Products and Middleware (CPE Registration)" in Register Libraries and Commercial Products.

Because identifying the CPE from the model number is done by hand, omissions and mistakes are more likely. Before registering, check the NVD CPE search page to confirm that a CPE exists for the product.

Good to Know for Operations#

  • When you update the firmware, update the CPE as well: CPEs don't change automatically. If the CPE is outdated, vulnerabilities you should have fixed keep appearing.
  • If a "deprecated CPE" warning appears, update the CPE: If you leave it as is, new vulnerabilities will no longer be detected.

Troubleshooting#

If something isn't working, see Troubleshooting (FAQ).

If that doesn't solve the problem, contact us through the support contact form. Including the device vendor, model number, firmware version, and the CPE you registered helps us investigate faster.

Learn More#

Next Page#

When registration is complete, check your progress in the "After You Register All Servers in the Initial Scope" section of Setup 2: Register Servers and Products.

Go to Setup 2: Register Servers and Products