Problem with low memory while running WebInspect Scan.

[sandroffsilva]

Guys i'm encountering several errors while running a WebInspect Scan:

• Low memory;
• Firefox stop running during the scan process.

I tried to add some more memory and change the default browser engine to IE but this didn't solve the problem.

My PC configuration:

• Windows 7;
• SQL SERVER 2012;
• 16Gb of RAM;
• WebInspect 10.40.2.4.4.10

[HansEnders]

Sandro;

The "new" script parsing engine used in WebInspect 10.0+ is browser.exe, a Mozilla engine.  This is not the same as the reported User-Agent, and WebInspect does not actually use your installed browsers (but conflicts have been known to occur).  You can see this browser.exe process showing up in Task Manager during scans, and locate it under the WebInspect installation folder.  The script parser is supposed to off-load the task of running scripts from the WebInspect EXE, since .NET has some natural memory limitations "per process", regardless of total RAM installed.  So we split the job from WebInspect to several, dynamic processes.  These browser.exe processes should spawn and disappear as needed during the scan without the need of user intervention, but in a pinch you can selectively kill some.

We have had a few cases before WI 10.40 that were odd yet similar to your complaint, so I recommend taking this to Fortify Support (support.fortify.com).

• TruClient misconfiguration caused logs to eat drive space - fixed
• Anti-virus/HIPS interfered with WebInspect
• Browser.exe process lingered between scans - cleared by restarting WebInspect, fixed now?
• Browser.exe needed updates
• Firefox extensions user had conflicted with browser.exe, even though "separate".

Support will have much better details on the status of any of these older issues and what might be causing your trouble now.  They will most likely want to review your scan configuration (save the Current Scan Settings to XML), aspects of the scan overall (size of target, technology targeted, observed scan time, et al), and to review the logs.  Check your Application Settings > Directories panel for the Logs path.  One sub-folder will be named with your particular scan's ScanID.  The other key sub-folder is named with all zeroes ("0000."), and that houses the WebInspect application log.  A review of the Windows Event Viewer logs might also reveal additional details.