We present the results of an X-ray campaign towards the young open cluster NGC 6231. The XMM-Newton observations, of a total duration of about 180 ks, reveals that NGC 6231 is very rich in the X-ray domain too. Indeed, 610 X-ray sources are detected in the present field of view, centered on the cluster core. The limiting sensitivity of our survey is approximately 610^-15^erg/s/cm^2^ but clearly depends on the location in the field of view and on the source spectrum. Using different existing catalogues, over 85% of the X-ray sources could be associated with at least one optical and/or infrared counterpart within a limited cross-correlation radius of 2.5 or 3-arcsec according to the optical/IR catalogue used. The surface density distribution of the X-ray sources presents a slight N-S elongation. Once corrected for the spatial sensitivity variation of the EPIC instruments, the radial profile of the source surface density is well described by a King profile with a central density of about 8 sources per arcmin^2^ and a core radius close to 3.1-arcmin. The distribution of the X-ray sources seems closely related to the optical source distribution. The expected number of foreground and background sources should represent about 9% of the detected sources, thus strongly suggesting that most of the observed X-ray emitters are physically belonging to NGC 6231. Finally, beside a few bright but soft objects -- corresponding to the early-type stars of the cluster -- most of the sources are relatively faint (~5x10^-15^erg/s/cm^2^) with an energy distribution peaked around 1.0-2.0keV.