is a very versatile tool to do networks and system scanning.
From the Nmap web page, they define Nmap as being "an open source tool for network exploration and security auditing. It was designed to rapidly scan large networks, although it works fine against single hosts. Nmap uses raw IP packets in novel ways to determine what hosts are available on the network, what services (application name and version) those hosts are offering, what operating systems (and OS versions) they are running, what type of packet filters/firewalls are in use, and dozens of other characteristics. While Nmap is commonly used for security audits, many systems and network administrators find it useful for routine tasks such as network inventory, managing service upgrade schedules, and monitoring host or service uptime.".
About Nmap
The best way to know about Nmap possibilities is to look at the help page of Nmap.
nmap -h
You can check all the possible options:
Nmap 7.93 ( https://nmap.org )
Usage: nmap [Scan Type(s)] [Options] {target specification}
TARGET SPECIFICATION:
Can pass hostnames, IP addresses, networks, etc.
Ex: scanme.nmap.org, microsoft.com/24, 192.168.0.1; 10.0.0-255.1-254
-iL <inputfilename>: Input from list of hosts/networks
-iR <num hosts>: Choose random targets
--exclude <host1[,host2][,host3],...>: Exclude hosts/networks
--excludefile <exclude_file>: Exclude list from file
HOST DISCOVERY:
-sL: List Scan - simply list targets to scan
-sn: Ping Scan - disable port scan
-Pn: Treat all hosts as online -- skip host discovery
-PS/PA/PU/PY[portlist]: TCP SYN/ACK, UDP or SCTP discovery to given ports
-PE/PP/PM: ICMP echo, timestamp, and netmask request discovery probes
-PO[protocol list]: IP Protocol Ping
-n/-R: Never do DNS resolution/Always resolve [default: sometimes]
--dns-servers <serv1[,serv2],...>: Specify custom DNS servers
--system-dns: Use OS's DNS resolver
--traceroute: Trace hop path to each host
From this you can see what Nmap can actually do.
Basic scanning
Imagine that you want to know which are the machines that are active on your network. In order to do that with nmap you should do the following:
nmap -sn 192.168.8.1-254 (scans all IP addresses from 192.168.8.1 until 192.168.8.254)
This will produce the list of hosts which are up on the network analysed. This is a simple ping scan, without identification of the open ports.
Starting Nmap 7.93 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2022-12-14 18:13 WET
Nmap scan report for RT-AX86U-80F8 (192.168.50.1)
Host is up (0.010s latency).
Nmap scan report for RE505X (192.168.50.10)
Host is up (0.13s latency).
Nmap scan report for 192.168.50.106
Host is up (0.036s latency).
Nmap scan report for home (192.168.50.231)
Host is up (0.025s latency).
Nmap scan report for Carloss-MBP (192.168.50.248)
Host is up (0.0072s latency).
Nmap done: 254 IP addresses (5 hosts up) scanned in 8.68 seconds
Scanning for open ports
The basic operation of nmap allows you to discover information about a connected system. The most basic way to use nmap for this is simply to do the following:
nmap 192.168.8.142
This will result in the following:
Starting Nmap 7.93 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2022-12-14 18:17 WET
Nmap scan report for 192.168.8.142
Host is up (0.0022s latency).
Not shown: 977 closed tcp ports (conn-refused)
PORT STATE SERVICE
21/tcp open ftp
22/tcp open ssh
23/tcp open telnet
25/tcp open smtp
53/tcp open domain
80/tcp open http
111/tcp open rpcbind
139/tcp open netbios-ssn
445/tcp open microsoft-ds
512/tcp open exec
513/tcp open login
514/tcp open shell
1099/tcp open rmiregistry
1524/tcp open ingreslock
2049/tcp open nfs
2121/tcp open ccproxy-ftp
3306/tcp open mysql
5432/tcp open postgresql
5900/tcp open vnc
6000/tcp open X11
6667/tcp open irc
8009/tcp open ajp13
8180/tcp open unknown
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 0.14 seconds
open – indicates that an application is listening for connections on the port. The primary goal of port scanning is to find these.
closed – indicates that the probes were received but but there is no application listening on the port.
filtered – indicates that the probes were not received and the state could not be established.
unfiltered – indicates that the probes were received but a state could not be established. In other words, a port is accessible, but Nmap is unable to determine whether it is open or closed.
open/filtered– indicates that the port was filtered or open but nmap couldn’t establish the state.
closed/filtered – indicates that Nmap is unable to determine whether a port is closed or filtered.
Specify ports
It is possible to specify the ports that we want nmap tp analyse.
nmap -p 80 192.168.8.142 (analyses only the port 80)
nmap -p 80,443 192.168.8.142 (analyses ports 80 and 443)
nmap -p- 192.168.8.142 (analyses all possible ports - 65536 ports)
nmap --top-ports 10 192.168.8.142 (analyses the top 10 most important ports)
Results in the following:
PORT STATE SERVICE
21/tcp open ftp
22/tcp open ssh
23/tcp open telnet
25/tcp open smtp
80/tcp open http
110/tcp closed pop3
139/tcp open netbios-ssn
443/tcp closed https
445/tcp open microsoft-ds
3389/tcp closed ms-wbt-server
As you can see, some are reported as open while others are closed.
Different scanning techniques
nmap can also perform different scanning techniques. Here are some examples:
nmap -sU 192.168.8.142 (scans host for UDP services)
This will produce the something similar to this:
PORT STATE SERVICE
53/udp open domain
68/udp open|filtered dhcpc
69/udp open|filtered tftp
111/udp open rpcbind
137/udp open netbios-ns
138/udp open|filtered netbios-dgm
2049/udp open nfs
Service identification
nmap can also be used to identify the different services that are running and listening on a given host. In order to do that we may use the following:
nmap -sV 192.168.8.142
This will result in something like this:
Nmap scan report for 192.168.8.142
Host is up (0.0019s latency).
Not shown: 977 closed tcp ports (conn-refused)
PORT STATE SERVICE VERSION
21/tcp open ftp vsftpd 2.3.4
22/tcp open ssh OpenSSH 4.7p1 Debian 8ubuntu1 (protocol 2.0)
23/tcp open telnet Linux telnetd
25/tcp open smtp Postfix smtpd
53/tcp open domain ISC BIND 9.4.2
80/tcp open http Apache httpd 2.2.8 ((Ubuntu) DAV/2)
111/tcp open rpcbind 2 (RPC #100000)
139/tcp open netbios-ssn Samba smbd 3.X - 4.X (workgroup: WORKGROUP)
445/tcp open netbios-ssn Samba smbd 3.X - 4.X (workgroup: WORKGROUP)
512/tcp open exec netkit-rsh rexecd
513/tcp open login
514/tcp open tcpwrapped
1099/tcp open java-rmi GNU Classpath grmiregistry
1524/tcp open bindshell Metasploitable root shell
2049/tcp open nfs 2-4 (RPC #100003)
2121/tcp open ftp ProFTPD 1.3.1
3306/tcp open mysql MySQL 5.0.51a-3ubuntu5
5432/tcp open postgresql PostgreSQL DB 8.3.0 - 8.3.7
5900/tcp open vnc VNC (protocol 3.3)
6000/tcp open X11 (access denied)
6667/tcp open irc UnrealIRCd
8009/tcp open ajp13 Apache Jserv (Protocol v1.3)
8180/tcp open http Apache Tomcat/Coyote JSP engine 1.1
Service Info: Hosts: metasploitable.localdomain, irc.Metasploitable.LAN; OSs: Unix, Linux; CPE: cpe:/o:linux:linux_kernel
Service detection performed. Please report any incorrect results at https://nmap.org/submit/ .
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 11.58 seconds
From this it is possible to identify:
port: the port number
state: the current state of the port
service: the service name
version: the service details, including the version number.
Identifying the operating system
nmap is also capable of identifying the operative system on the target machine.
nmap -O 192.168.8.142 (tries to identify the OS on the target)
Produces the following results:
Device type: general purpose
Running: Linux 2.6.X
OS CPE: cpe:/o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6
OS details: Linux 2.6.9 - 2.6.33
Running scripts with nmap
Usually, you may find those scripts on the following directory:
/usr/share/nmap/scripts
auth
broadcast
default
discovery
dos
exploit
external
fuzzer
intrusive
malware
safe
version
vuln
We may select to run a specific script on a target:
nmap --script ftp-vsftpd-backdoor 192.168.8.142
Or we may run all the scripts of a given category on a target:
nmap --script vuln 192.168.8.142
That results in the identification of multiple vulnerabilities on the target platform.
Starting Nmap 7.93 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2022-12-14 22:55 WET
Pre-scan script results:
| broadcast-avahi-dos:
| Discovered hosts:
| 224.0.0.251
| After NULL UDP avahi packet DoS (CVE-2011-1002).
|_ Hosts are all up (not vulnerable).
Nmap scan report for 192.168.8.142
Host is up (0.0020s latency).
Not shown: 977 closed tcp ports (conn-refused)
PORT STATE SERVICE
21/tcp open ftp
| ftp-vsftpd-backdoor:
| VULNERABLE:
| vsFTPd version 2.3.4 backdoor
| State: VULNERABLE (Exploitable)
| IDs: CVE:CVE-2011-2523 BID:48539
| vsFTPd version 2.3.4 backdoor, this was reported on 2011-07-04.
| Disclosure date: 2011-07-03
| Exploit results:
| Shell command: id
| Results: uid=0(root) gid=0(root)
| References:
| https://www.securityfocus.com/bid/48539
| http://scarybeastsecurity.blogspot.com/2011/07/alert-vsftpd-download-backdoored.html
| https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/unix/ftp/vsftpd_234_backdoor.rb
|_ https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2011-2523
22/tcp open ssh
23/tcp open telnet
25/tcp open smtp
| ssl-dh-params:
| VULNERABLE:
| Anonymous Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange MitM Vulnerability
| State: VULNERABLE
| Transport Layer Security (TLS) services that use anonymous
| Diffie-Hellman key exchange only provide protection against passive
| eavesdropping, and are vulnerable to active man-in-the-middle attacks
| which could completely compromise the confidentiality and integrity
| of any data exchanged over the resulting session.
| Check results:
| ANONYMOUS DH GROUP 1
| Cipher Suite: TLS_DH_anon_WITH_RC4_128_MD5
| Modulus Type: Safe prime
| Modulus Source: postfix builtin
| Modulus Length: 1024
| Generator Length: 8
| Public Key Length: 1024
| References:
| https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2246.txt
|
| Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol DHE_EXPORT Ciphers Downgrade MitM (Logjam)
| State: VULNERABLE
| IDs: CVE:CVE-2015-4000 BID:74733
| The Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol contains a flaw that is
| triggered when handling Diffie-Hellman key exchanges defined with
| the DHE_EXPORT cipher. This may allow a man-in-the-middle attacker
| to downgrade the security of a TLS session to 512-bit export-grade
| cryptography, which is significantly weaker, allowing the attacker
| to more easily break the encryption and monitor or tamper with
| the encrypted stream.
| Disclosure date: 2015-5-19
| Check results:
| EXPORT-GRADE DH GROUP 1
| Cipher Suite: TLS_DHE_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_DES40_CBC_SHA
| Modulus Type: Safe prime
| Modulus Source: Unknown/Custom-generated
| Modulus Length: 512
| Generator Length: 8
| Public Key Length: 512
| References:
| https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2015-4000
| https://www.securityfocus.com/bid/74733
| https://weakdh.org
|
| Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange Insufficient Group Strength
| State: VULNERABLE
| Transport Layer Security (TLS) services that use Diffie-Hellman groups
| of insufficient strength, especially those using one of a few commonly
| shared groups, may be susceptible to passive eavesdropping attacks.
| Check results:
| WEAK DH GROUP 1
| Cipher Suite: TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
| Modulus Type: Safe prime
| Modulus Source: postfix builtin
| Modulus Length: 1024
| Generator Length: 8
| Public Key Length: 1024
| References:
|_ https://weakdh.org
| ssl-poodle:
| VULNERABLE:
| SSL POODLE information leak
| State: VULNERABLE
| IDs: CVE:CVE-2014-3566 BID:70574
| The SSL protocol 3.0, as used in OpenSSL through 1.0.1i and other
| products, uses nondeterministic CBC padding, which makes it easier
| for man-in-the-middle attackers to obtain cleartext data via a
| padding-oracle attack, aka the "POODLE" issue.
| Disclosure date: 2014-10-14
| Check results:
| TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
| References:
| https://www.imperialviolet.org/2014/10/14/poodle.html
| https://www.securityfocus.com/bid/70574
| https://www.openssl.org/~bodo/ssl-poodle.pdf
|_ https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2014-3566
|_sslv2-drown: ERROR: Script execution failed (use -d to debug)
| smtp-vuln-cve2010-4344:
|_ The SMTP server is not Exim: NOT VULNERABLE
Additional Information
Another important source of information is either the and the .
nmap -sn 192.168.8.0/24 (using notation)
nmap reports the open ports and the services that are running listening for connections on such ports. nmap can indicate the following :
nmap -sS 192.168.8.142 (makes a TCP SYN scan - this as to do with the , only sends the SYN packet and never establishes the connection)
nmap -sT 192.168.8.142 (does the TCP connection, executing the complete )
Using different scanning techniques may produce different results and increase the chances of information collection. In about these different scanning techniques.
Another functionality of nmap is the possibility of executing scripts on a target. nmap is composed of hundred of scripts, and through the - is capable of executing several scripts.