Nmap
Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Infobox software Nmap (Network Mapper) is a network scanner created by Gordon Lyon (also known by his pseudonym Fyodor Vaskovich).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Nmap is used to discover hosts and services on a computer network by sending packets and analyzing the responses.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Nmap provides a number of features for probing computer networks, including host discovery and service and operating system detection. These features are extensible by scripts that provide more advanced service detection,<ref name="Nmap Scripting Engine">Template:Cite web</ref> vulnerability detection,<ref name="Nmap Scripting Engine"/> and other features. Nmap can adapt to network conditions including latency and congestion during a scan.
Nmap started as a Linux utility<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and was ported to other systems including Windows, macOS, and BSD.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is most popular on Linux, followed by Windows.<ref name="Nmap Installation for Windows">Template:Cite web</ref>
Features
Nmap features include:
- Fast scan (nmap -F [target]) – Performing a basic port scan for fast result.
- Host discovery – Identifying hosts on a network. For example, listing the hosts that respond to TCP and/or ICMP requests or have a particular port open.
- Port scanning – Enumerating the open ports on target hosts.
- Version detection – Interrogating network services on remote devices to determine application name and version number.<ref name="vscan">Template:Cite web</ref>
- Ping Scan – Check host by sending ping requests.
- TCP/IP stack fingerprinting – Determining the operating system and hardware characteristics of network devices based on observations of network activity of said devices.
- Scriptable interaction with the target – using Nmap Scripting Engine<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (NSE) and Lua programming language.
Nmap can provide further information on targets, including reverse DNS names, device types, and MAC addresses.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Typical uses of Nmap:
- Auditing the security of a device or firewall by identifying the network connections which can be made to, or through it.<ref>Nmap Overview and Demonstration.</ref>
- Identifying open ports on a target host in preparation for auditing.<ref>When Good Scanners Go Bad, From [1] Template:Webarchive, Computerworld 22 March 1999</ref>
- Network inventory, network mapping, maintenance and asset management.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Auditing the security of a network by identifying new servers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Generating traffic to hosts on a network, response analysis and response time measurement.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Finding and exploiting vulnerabilities in a network.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- DNS queries and subdomain search
It has been cited in academic surveys as a foundational tool for network security reconnaissance.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
User interfaces
NmapFE, originally written by Kanchan, was Nmap's official GUI for Nmap versions 2.2 to 4.22.<ref name="changelog" /> For Nmap 4.50 (originally in the 4.22SOC development series) NmapFE was replaced with Zenmap, a new official graphical user interface based on UMIT, developed by Adriano Monteiro Marques.
Output
Four different output formats are offered by Nmap. Everything is saved to a file except the interactive output. Text processing software can be used to modify Nmap output, allowing the user to customize reports.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Interactive
- presented and updated real time when a user runs Nmap from the command line. Various options can be entered during the scan to facilitate monitoring.
- XML
- a format that can be further processed by XML tools. It can be converted into a HTML report using XSLT.
- Grepable
- output that is tailored to line-oriented processing tools such as grep, sed, or awk.
- Normal
- the output as seen while running Nmap from the command line, but saved to a file.
- Script kiddie
- meant to be an amusing way to format the interactive output replacing letters with their visually alike number representations. For example,
Interesting portsbecomesInt3rest1ng p0rtz. This is known as Leet.
History
Nmap was first published in September 1997, as an article in Phrack Magazine with source-code included.<ref name="phrack51">Template:Cite magazine</ref> With help and contributions of the computer security community, development continued. Enhancements included operating system fingerprinting, service fingerprinting,<ref name="vscan" /> code rewrites (C to C++), additional scan types, protocol support (e.g. IPv6, SCTP<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>) and new programs that complement Nmap's core features.
Major releases include:<ref name="changelog" />
| Date | Version | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Template:Start date and age | Nmap 2.00 | Nmap 2.00 is released, including Operating System fingerprinting<ref name="book-history">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Template:Start date and age | NmapFE | A GTK+ front end, is bundled with Nmap<ref name="book-history" /> |
| Template:Start date and age | Windows port<ref name="changelog">Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| Template:Start date and age | Rewrite from C to C++<ref name="changelog" /> | |
| Template:Start date and age | The first public release to include service version detection<ref name="changelog" /> | |
| Template:Start date and age | Nmap 3.70 | Core scan engine rewritten for version 3.70. New engine is called ultra_scan<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Summer 2005 | Nmap selected for participation in Google Summer of Code.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Added features included Zenmap, Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE), Ncat, and 2nd-generation OS detection. | |
| Template:Start date and age | Nmap 4.50 | Nmap 4.50, the 10th Anniversary Edition, was released. Included Zenmap, 2nd-generation OS detection, and the Nmap Scripting Engine<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Template:Start date and age | Nmap 4.85BETA5 | Emergency release of Nmap 4.85BETA5, leveraging NSE to detect Conficker infections<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Template:Start date and age | Nmap 5.00 | Included netcat-replacement Ncat and Ndiff scan comparison tool<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Template:Start date and age | Nmap 5.50 | Included Nping packet generation response analysis and response time measurement, including TCP, UDP and ICMP probe modes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Template:Start date and age | Nmap 6.00 | Released with full IPv6 support.Template:Citation needed |
| Template:Start date and age | Nmap 7.00 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| Template:Start date and age | Nmap 7.40 | |
| Template:Start date and age | Nmap 7.70 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| Template:Start date and age | Nmap 7.80 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| Template:Start date and age | Nmap 7.90 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | The new fingerprints allow better operating system and service/version detection. 3 new NSE scripts, new protocol library and payloads for host discovery, port scanning and version detection. Npcap 1.0.0, the first fully stable version of the Windows raw packet capturing/sending driver. |
Legal issues
Nmap is a tool that can be used to discover services running on Internet connected systems. Like any tool, it could potentially be used for black hat hacking,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> as a precursor to attempts to gain unauthorized access to computer systems. However, Nmap is also used by security and systems administrators to assess their own networks for vulnerabilities (i.e. white hat hacking).
System administrators can use Nmap to search for unauthorized servers, or for computers that do not conform to security standards.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
In 2003 Supreme Court of Finland has ruled that port scanning has amounted to an attempted computer break in, which was illegal under Finnish Penal code at the time:<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
In its ruling the Supreme Court stated that the defendant had systematically carried out port scanning operations to gather information for the purpose of unauthorised break-in to the bank's computer network. This amounted to an attempted computer break in.<ref name=":0" />
License
Nmap was originally distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL).<ref name="phrack51" /> In later releases, Nmap's authors added clarifications and specific interpretations to the license where they felt the GPL was unclear or lacking.<ref name="nmap_license">Template:Cite web</ref> For instance, Nmap 3.50 specifically revoked the license of SCO Group to distribute Nmap software because of their views on the SCO-Linux controversies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Starting with version 7.90, Nmap transitions to a new custom license NPSL, dual-licensing versions 7.90, 7.91, and 7.92 under both old and new licenses.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Several Linux distributions consider the new license non-free.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In popular culture
In The Matrix Reloaded, Trinity is seen using Nmap to access a power plant's computer system,<ref name="nmapmovies">Template:Cite web</ref> allowing Neo to "physically" break into a building. The appearance of Nmap in the film was widely discussed on Internet forums and hailed as an unusually realistic example of hacking.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Nmap and NmapFE were used in The Listening, a 2006 movie about a former NSA officer who defects and mounts a clandestine counter-listening station high in the Italian alps.
Nmap source code can be seen in the movie Battle Royale, as well as brief views of the command line version of Nmap executing in Live Free or Die Hard and Bourne Ultimatum.<ref name="nmapmovies" /> In 2013, Nmap continued to make appearances in movies including popular sci-fi movie Elysium.
The film Dredd, a film adaptation of the famous Judge Dredd comics, was released in 2012 and also contains multiple Nmap scenes.<ref name="nmapmovies"/> Nmap is used for network reconnaissance and exploitation of the slum tower network. It is even seen briefly in the movie's trailer.
The command Nmap is widely used in the video game Hacknet, allowing to probe the network ports of a target system to hack it.
In Snowden, Nmap is used in the aptitude test scene about 14 minutes into the movie.
In academia
Nmap is an integral part of academic activities. It has been used for research involving the TCP/IP protocol suite and networking in general.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Besides being a research tool, Nmap has also become a research topic.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Examples
<syntaxhighlight lang="console"> $ nmap -f -v -A scanme.nmap.org Starting Nmap 6.47 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2014-12-29 20:02 CET Nmap scan report for scanme.nmap.org (74.207.244.221) Host is up (0.16s latency). Not shown: 997 filtered ports PORT STATE SERVICE VERSION 22/tcp open ssh OpenSSH 5.3p1 Debian 3ubuntu7.1 (Ubuntu Linux; protocol 2.0) | ssh-hostkey: | 1024 8d:60:f1:7c:ca:b7:3d:0a:d6:67:54:9d:69:d9:b9:dd (DSA) |_ 2048 79:f8:09:ac:d4:e2:32:42:10:49:d3:bd:20:82:85:ec (RSA) 80/tcp open http Apache httpd 2.2.14 ((Ubuntu)) |_http-title: Go ahead and ScanMe! 9929/tcp open nping-echo Nping echo Warning: OSScan results may be unreliable because we could not find at least 1 open and 1 closed port Device type: general purpose|phone|storage-misc|WAP Running (JUST GUESSING): Linux 2.6.X|3.X|2.4.X (94%), Netgear RAIDiator 4.X (86%) OS CPE: cpe:/o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.38 cpe:/o:linux:linux_kernel:3 cpe:/o:netgear:raidiator:4 cpe:/o:linux:linux_kernel:2.4 Aggressive OS guesses: Linux 2.6.38 (94%), Linux 3.0 (92%), Linux 2.6.32 - 3.0 (91%), Linux 2.6.18 (91%), Linux 2.6.39 (90%), Linux 2.6.32 - 2.6.39 (90%), Linux 2.6.38 - 3.0 (90%), Linux 2.6.38 - 2.6.39 (89%), Linux 2.6.35 (88%), Linux 2.6.37 (88%) No exact OS matches for host (test conditions non-ideal). Network Distance: 13 hops Service Info: OS: Linux; CPE: cpe:/o:linux:linux_kernel
TRACEROUTE (using port 80/tcp) HOP RTT ADDRESS 1 14.21 ms 151.217.192.1 2 5.27 ms ae10-0.mx240-iphh.shitty.network (94.45.224.129) 3 13.16 ms hmb-s2-rou-1102.DE.eurorings.net (134.222.120.121) 4 6.83 ms blnb-s1-rou-1041.DE.eurorings.net (134.222.229.78) 5 8.30 ms blnb-s3-rou-1041.DE.eurorings.net (134.222.229.82) 6 9.42 ms as6939.bcix.de (193.178.185.34) 7 24.56 ms 10ge10-6.core1.ams1.he.net (184.105.213.229) 8 30.60 ms 100ge9-1.core1.lon2.he.net (72.52.92.213) 9 93.54 ms 100ge1-1.core1.nyc4.he.net (72.52.92.166) 10 181.14 ms 10ge9-6.core1.sjc2.he.net (184.105.213.173) 11 169.54 ms 10ge3-2.core3.fmt2.he.net (184.105.222.13) 12 164.58 ms router4-fmt.linode.com (64.71.132.138) 13 164.32 ms scanme.nmap.org (74.207.244.221)
OS and Service detection performed. Please report any incorrect results at https://nmap.org/submit/ . Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 28.98 seconds </syntaxhighlight>