port scanners

[!mitationRust]

What if I come heavy with nessus, Nmap during some type of a live BIOS flash on a special system? I had to go outside the box on you all.

[IKnowNot]

You have a box we can test that on?

[thehorse13]

*sigh*
I hoped it didn't have to come to this...

FACT: NMAP is an auditing tool, not an "attacking" tool.

FACT: NMAP will crash *any* poorly configured host whether it's an appliance, workstation, server, microwave oven, etc..

FACT: Throttling NMAP does not remove the probability that it will club these poorly configured devices.

FACT: Network stacks and/or applications that do not follow RFCs are most likely to fall over on their heads when presented with *any* traffic, not just NMAP scans.

FACT: If you attempt to run NMAP across a shi**y SOHO router like Linksys, D-link, etc., you will understand quickly that these devices are not NMAP friendly. Why? That's another thread altogether.

FACT: If you scan *anything* on the internet, you're going to leave a footprint - period. This goes for NMAP's idlescan as well.

FACT: Most if not all fw admins have something in place specifically looking for dipshi*s who pound their perimeter with NMAP scans. This is the equivilent of driving up to the police station and telling them the addresses of the places you're going to case. If this is how you plan to start your enumeration process, then do us all a favor, save us some tax dollars and just peddle yourself down to the police station and turn yourself in. If this isn't clear enough, USING NMAP OR ANY AUTOMATED TOOL IS NOT A GOOD WAY TO ENUMERATE SERVICES IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SEEN. There are far better ways to do this but require complete understanding of networking.

FACT: Some people here don't understand what a TCP flag is and why they're used (you know who you are).

Anyway, I think my point is clear. In case it's not, whether you're using NMAP or not, things will break if the host is flakey.
If you want to enumerate hosts & such, do it on your own equipment.
If you like sex with men, NMAP scan as many sensitive organizations as you can.

peace out
--TH13

[Tetrismaster101]

Can scanning your own system cause it to crash?

[ThePastorGang]

Depends on your system, and what type of scan.

[Tetrismaster101]

I have windows xp sp2, and i was wondering about a TCP/UDP port scan.

[thehorse13]

Sure you can.

However, be aware that some services may only be listening locally (127.0.0.1) and will show up in your local scan when in fact these services are not accepting connections remotely and thus, wouldn't show up on a scan that you conduct from another host against yours.