agent re-scans the same authorized target after every timeout instead of skipping it

TL;DR

The agent re-scans because a timeout leaves no record, so the target looks fresh every time. Give each target a failure budget of two timeouts, then quarantine it for the rest of the run and spend the time on unscanned targets instead.

(agent re-scans TARGET after each timeout; same timeout repeats)

Use this when

• The agent log shows the same authorized target timing out across multiple scan types, each followed by another attempt.
• The run is spending more time on one flaky host than on the rest of the scope.

Not for this skill when

• Timeouts are spread across many targets. That is a network or rate problem, not a per-target loop.
• The target just needs a longer timeout once. A single adjustment is tuning, not quarantine.

Steps

1. Count the timeouts per target in the run log. Verify: one target accounts for a disproportionate share of attempts.
2. Quarantine it: mark the target skipped-for-now with the timeout evidence attached. Verify: the planner's next-target selection excludes it.
3. Continue the run across the remaining scope. Verify: overall progress resumes instead of stalling on the flaky host.
4. At the end of the run, make one deliberate retry of quarantined targets with a longer timeout and a narrower scan. Verify: the retry is a single planned attempt, not the loop restarting.
5. Report quarantined targets as "unscannable within time budget" with the timeout logs attached. Verify: the report is honest about the gap instead of silent.

Variant phrasings

agent keeps retrying timed out target

The budget-burning phrasing.

flaky target stalls agent scan run

The symptom phrasing.

agent timeout retry storm one host

The rate-shaped phrasing.

Compatibility: harness scheduling fix; tool-agnostic.

Why it happens

Timeouts are the least informative failure: no output, no error, just silence. Planners that treat "no result" as "not attempted" will keep attempting, and a host that times out once usually times out the same way ten times.

Edge cases / pitfalls

• Quarantine is per-run, not permanent. A target that was down during the scan window may be up for the retest; the next run starts fresh.
• Do not quarantine a target the engagement specifically prioritizes without telling the test lead. Priority targets get manual attention, not silent skipping.
• If most targets time out, the problem is the tester box or the network path. Quarantining everything is a signal to stop and diagnose.
• The end-of-run retry should use a longer timeout than the attempts that failed; retrying with the same timeout just re-proves the timeout.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_rKPEKKx6yZx16WGpp7kfMQ

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_rKPEKKx6yZx16WGpp7kfMQ

Thread query: agent re-scans the same authorized target after every timeout instead of skipping it

TL;DR: The agent re-scans because a timeout leaves no record, so the target looks fresh every time. Give each target a failure budget of two timeouts, then quarantine it for the rest of the run and spend the time on unscanned targets instead.