Qualys REST messages

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Qualys REST messages

    Qualys REST messages enable interaction with the Qualys API to obtain compliance data. Key REST messages include those for retrieving policy data, compliance controls, detailed policy information, and compliance posture records. The API version has been updated to 5.0 for the latest integrations.

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    Key Features

    • Qualys PC Policies REST message: Retrieves policy data. Essential parameters include action (required) and details (modifiable).
    • Qualys PC Controls REST message: Acquires compliance controls information based on control IDs. Requires action and allows modification of details.
    • Qualys PC Policies Detail REST message: Provides complete policy details. Key parameters include action (required), showusercontrols (optional, defaults to exclude user-defined controls), and showappendix (optional).
    • Qualys PC Results REST message: Returns compliance posture records. Important parameters include action (required), showextendedevidence (optional, impacts output), and policyid (required for specified compliance records).
    • Qualys PCRS Policy Host Integration: Retrieves host data for compliance evaluation, with policyId parameter for specifying compliance policies.
    • Qualys PCRS Test Results Integration: Sends request parameters for posture data. Includes evidenceRequired (default 1) and compressionRequired (default 0).

    Key Outcomes

    By leveraging these REST messages, ServiceNow customers can effectively manage compliance data retrieval and evaluation processes. This functionality enhances visibility into compliance postures, facilitates informed decision-making, and streamlines the compliance management workflow.

    Qualys REST messages are used to make calls to the Qualys API to fetch the compliance data.

    The following rest messages are shipped with the base system.

    Qualys PC Policies REST message

    The Qualys PC Policies REST message retrieves policy data from Qualys. The changes to the REST message method record impact the request made to Qualys to retrieve policy information.

    Starting with v12.21.0 of Qualys Integration for Security Operations and v30.3.0 of Unified Security Exposure Management, the API version has been updated to version 5.0.

    Table 1. Qualys PC Policies REST message parameters
    Parameter Name Value Description
    action list Indicates the type of operation requested.

    Required parameter.
    details All

    Indicates the level of detail shown for policies retrieved.

    It is safe to modify as per your requirement.

    Qualys PC Controls REST message

    The Qualys PC Controls rest message retrieves compliance controls information for different control IDs from Qualys.

    Table 2. Qualys PC Controls REST message parameters
    Parameter Name Value Description
    action list Indicates the type of operation requested.

    Required parameter.
    details All

    Indicates the level of detail shown for controls retrieved.

    It is safe to modify as per your requirement.

    Qualys PC Policies Detail REST message

    The Qualys PC Policies Detail REST message retrieves the complete policy details, such as technologies and sections.

    Starting with v12.21.0 of Qualys Integration for Security Operations and v30.3.0 of Unified Security Exposure Management, the API version has been updated to version 5.0.

    Table 3. Qualys PC Policies Detail REST message parameters
    Parameter Value Description
    action list Indicates the type of operation being requested.

    Required parameter.
    show_user_controls Boolean
    • Set to 1 to include user-defined controls (UDCs) in the XML output.

    • When not specified, UDCs are not included.

    This is an optional parameter. It is safe to modify as per your requirement.
    show_appendix Boolean

    (Optional) Set to 1 to show the appendix section in the XML output. When unspecified.

    Qualys PC Results REST message

    The Qualys PC Results rest message retrieves compliance posture records from Qualys.

    Table 4. Qualys PC Results REST message parameters
    Source Field Value Description
    action list Indicates the type of operation requested.

    Required parameter. Changes are not recommended.
    show_extended_evidence Boolean
    • Set to 1 to show the extended evidence information in the output.
    • Set to 0 or when unspecified, the extended evidence information is not shown in the output.
    Note:
    • You cannot specify show_extended_evidence=1 in the same request as hide_evidence=1. This results in an error. The extended evidence is a part of the evidence data and it’s shown only when evidence data is shown.
    • This parameter is not shipped with the base system.
    cause_of_failure Boolean

    If you pass '1', Qualys will return the cause of failure.

    If you pass '0', Qualys will not return these attributes.

    Note:
    This parameter is not shipped with the base system.
    policy_id Shows compliance posture information records for a specified policy. A valid policy ID is required.
    details All

    Indicates the level of detail shown for postures retrieved.

    It is safe to modify as per your requirement.
    show_remediation_info (Optional) Set to 1 to show remediation information in the XML or CSV output. By default, the output does not include the remediation information. When not specified, the remediation information is not included in the output.

    Qualys PCRS Policy Host Integration REST message

    The Qualys PCRS Policy Host Integration retrieves host data from Qualys and processes it in your instance.

    Starting with v12.21.0 of Qualys Integration for Security Operations and v30.3.0 of Unified Security Exposure Management, the API version has been updated to version 5.0.

    Table 5. Qualys PCRS Policy Host Integration REST message parameters
    Parameter Name Value Description
    policyId ${lastRunDatetime}

    Policy IDs for compliance evaluation.

    Qualys PCRS Test Results Integration

    The table shows the request parameters that are sent.

    Starting with v12.21.0 of Qualys Integration for Security Operations and v30.3.0 of Unified Security Exposure Management, the API version has been updated to version 5.0.

    Table 6. Qualys PCRS Test Results Integration REST message parameters
    Parameter Name Value Description
    evidenceRequired 1
    • The default value is 1, which indicates that evidence data will be retrieved for the host posture.
    • Set the value to 0 to retrieve the evidence data.
      Note:
      Changing the value to 1 increases the time required to fetch posture data.
    compressionRequired 0
    • The default value is 0, which indicates that the output will not be compressed.
    • Set the value to 1, if you want the data to be compressed.
      Note:
      Not compressing the data increases the time required to fetch posture data.

    Qualys Comprehensive PCRS Policy Host Integration REST message

    The Qualys Comprehensive PCRS Policy Host Integration retrieves host data from Qualys and processes it in your instance.

    Starting with v12.21.0 of Qualys Integration for Security Operations and v30.3.0 of Unified Security Exposure Management, the API version has been updated to version 5.0.

    Table 7. Qualys Comprehensive PCRS Policy Host Integration REST message parameters
    policyId ${policyId} Policy IDs for compliance evaluation.

    Qualys Comprehensive PCRS Test Results Integration

    The table shows the request parameters that are sent.

    Starting with v12.21.0 of Qualys Integration for Security Operations and v30.3.0 of Unified Security Exposure Management, the API version has been updated to version 5.0.

    Table 8. Qualys Comprehensive PCRS Test Results Integration parameters
    Parameter Name Value Description
    evidenceRequired 1
    • The default value is 1, which indicates that evidence data will be retrieved for the host posture.
    • Set the value to 0 to retrieve the evidence data.
      Note:
      Changing the value to 1 increases the time required to fetch posture data.
    compressionRequired 0
    • The default value is 0, which indicates that the output will not be compressed.
    • Set the value to 1, if you want the data to be compressed.
      Note:
      Not compressing the data increases the time required to fetch posture data.