Which of the following tools will scan a network to perform vulnerability checks and compliance auditing?

NMAP is a network discovery and port scanning tool, not a vulnerability scanner or compliance auditing platform.

Metasploit is a penetration testing and exploitation framework used to launch attacks against known vulnerabilities, not to audit compliance.

Nessus, developed by Tenable, is purpose-built to scan networks for known vulnerabilities and perform compliance auditing against standards such as PCI-DSS and CIS benchmarks. It uses a plugin-based architecture to check hosts for misconfigurations, missing patches, and security weaknesses. This distinguishes it from tools focused solely on network discovery or active exploitation.

BeEF (Browser Exploitation Framework) is designed to exploit web browser vulnerabilities, not to perform network vulnerability or compliance scans.