http-vulners-regex not working without paths

[mavensecurity]

Without --script-args paths=something http-vulners-regex it will not return any results. It is not even apparent it is sending any traffic to the target.

With --script-args paths=something it will either use that file or when it fails to find that file it uses the default paths file. Traffic is sent as expected; results may follow.

Version info:

root@kali:~# nmap --version
Nmap version 7.80 ( https://nmap.org )
Platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Compiled with: liblua-5.3.3 openssl-1.1.1d libssh2-1.8.0 libz-1.2.11 libpcre-8.39 nmap-libpcap-1.7.3 nmap-libdnet-1.12 ipv6
Compiled without:
Available nsock engines: epoll poll select

Try this:
root@kali:~# nmap -p80 --script http-vulners-regex -d php.testsparker.com

Result (truncated):

PORT STATE SERVICE
80/tcp open http

Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 0.95 seconds

The relevant but not-so-helpful -d output:

NSE: Starting http-vulners-regex against php.testsparker.com (107.20.213.223:80).
NSE: Finished http-vulners-regex against php.testsparker.com (107.20.213.223:80).

Then try again with bogus path:

root@kali:~# nmap -p80 --script http-vulners-regex --script-args paths=nosuchfile -d php.testsparker.com

Results:

PORT STATE SERVICE
80/tcp open http
| http-vulners-regex:
| localstart.asp:
|_ cpe:/a:php:php:5.2.6

Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 3.78 seconds

Relevant section from -d debug:

NSE: Starting http-vulners-regex against php.testsparker.com (107.20.213.223:80).
NSE: [http-vulners-regex 107.20.213.223:80] Trying to read paths from a specified file nosuchfile
NSE: [http-vulners-regex 107.20.213.223:80] No file found at nselib/data/nosuchfile, using local copy
NSE: [http-vulners-regex 107.20.213.223:80] Failed to open a file with paths
NSE: [http-vulners-regex 107.20.213.223:80] Trying to read paths from a default file http-vulners-paths.txt
NSE: [http-vulners-regex 107.20.213.223:80] Analyze path default.cfm

[GMedian]

Hello.

Sorry for a long delay. The quick fix I have just made should address the issue.