Nmap Gets Version Detection

Anonymous Coward writes "Up until now, everyone's favorite port scanner, nmap has had decent OS detection (through TCP fingerprinting) and service identification based on the open port, but the latest version, 3.45 released today, has version detection for each service! This means not only can nmap tell you that httpd is running on port 80, but that it is `apache httpd version 2.0.39`! While this is a little bit worrisome because of what malicious purposes people might use nmap's version detection for, this should make the jobs of admins everywhere easier and keep us all more on our toes when it comes to security. Fyodor has also published a paper on how the version detection works."

Comments

Worrisome? No.

[sonicattack]

While this is a little bit worrisome because of what malicious purposes people might use nmap's version detection for [...]

By the same logic, one might consider it "worrisome" that there even exists software packages like "Nessus" and "Saint".

Adding features such as version detection to a tool that can be used for both good and bad purposed shouldn't be considered "worrisome". It is just something that makes the tool better, for good and for bad. And unless we are talking about software which by design always causes destructive damage when used, I will always consider it a good thing that there are such excellent security auditing tools available to the public. With all respect, sorry to hear that someone finds this "worrisome".