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Nmap 5.00 Released, With Many Improvements
iago-vL writes "The long-awaited Nmap Security Scanner version 5.00 was just released (download)! This marks the most important release since 1997, and is a huge step in Nmap's evolution from a simple port scanner to an all-around security and networking tool suite. Significant performance improvements were made, and dozens of scripts were added. For example, Nmap can now log into Windows and perform local checks (PDF), including Conficker detection. New tools included in 5.00 are Ncat, a modern reimplementation of Netcat (with IPv6, SSL, NAT traversal, port redirection, and more!), and Ndiff, for quickly comparing scan results. Other tools are in the works for future releases, but we're still waiting for them to add email and ftp clients so we can finally get off Emacs!"
So nmap went from a special purpose-built tool to a suite. Frack. Anyone here taking commissions on erecting a grave marker? UNIX is nice because it creates many little purpose-built utilities that can be strung together to perform complex tasks. This style of thinking seems to be going away in favor of integrated solutions that rather than doing one thing well do an umbrella of things passably okay. At least they haven't gone the approach yet of stuffing everything into a service that has to run all the time or the scanning engine will go stabby-bits on the user, which seems to be how "security" software runs on Windows... But it's only a matter of time.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
i was just about to check out ncat. Seems interesting. The only downside is that is can never reach the same critical mass as the vanilla nc, and hence you cannot rely on the more advanced functions on an unknown computer. would be cool though, SSL could be handy in some situations.
Doolittle :
Bomb no.20 : To explode of course.
Some of the best things in life are free :- )
Full Disclosure: I am a Nmap developer.
Despite your trollish tone, you're right that there isn't a ton of innovation coming out in just TCP port scanning. The 5.00 release has several scanning performance improvements but port scanning is still port scanning.
But as for innovation/enterprise features:
* OS Fingerprinting (second generation engine)
* Graphing (via the Zenmap front-end) of the network topology
* Service fingerprinting
* Script engine including
* Windows SMB/CIFS/RPC scripts
* Windows vulnerability detection scripts
* SQL Injection scanning script
* Telnet/HTTP/FTP/SMB brute force scripts
* Conficker detection script
* A lot more
* XML output for report generation and nice XLST file for conversion to HTML
If you want to see AI behind OS fingerprinting, then submit a patch. I'd recommend starting with a Support Vector Machine as that has shown the most promise in developer testing.
If you want to see a webapp front-end for scheduling of scans and report generation then start a project.
Nmap is an open source project and despite the release wording, does not believe in bloat. Nmap isn't Nessus and never will be. If you want a client/server architecture or webapp they will be separate tools.
I use Nmap in an enterprise environment to scan 3 /16 networks (all ports). Do you?
Disclosure: I am an OpenVAS developer...
Nmap does what it does very well. It would be a strange day that I stop using it for pentesting, in fact more likely I'll adopt some of the other tools the project has developed. Ncat in particular sounds great simply because it unifies multiple functions I currently use from other tools. The other thing I like is the NSE, great for quickly cooking up a scanner for 0day threats as we saw with Conficker check they produced.
If you want a Free Software vulnerability scanner, then support OpenVAS. The project is making quiet progress (cleaning up the code base, redesigning the architecture and most importantly adding new NVTs) and has just had a second DevCon in Germany with 16 developers from 4 continents making the trip. Nothings ever perfect but it now has NVT that are not in Nessus so if you're not using it, you're probably missing out. It's worth noting that we at OpenVAS like the nmap developments so much that a couple of the OpenVAS developers are looking to actively contribute and we're considering libnmap as a replacement for the rather fragile port / service discovery functionality we inherited.
Tim Brown
... and are forever silenced. Nmap is great but there are incredibly crappy devices out there that can be killed with a simple port scan. It's a good idea to make sure no such critters are on the subnet you scan when you start playing with nmap. Some non-HP older printers also need a full reset after they have been scanned. Hopefully newer devices are not designed so badly that they expect to be configured by just throwing a few bytes at a port with no attempts to find out if you should be allowed to do it.
Nmap and similar tools will show you that what in the past was called "enterprise" was simply becuase the vendors assumed you had a lot of expendable guys in red to throw at any problem. It can show you where there is none of the security the sales guy said was there.
what sort of enterprise features do you want from a TCP scanner?
Build in Email Client, image editor, and web browser, of course. Don't you know that no special-purpose tool is complete without them?