Penetration tester (VULNERABILITY SCANNING)

🛡️ As a penetration tester (ethical hacker) conducting a legal assessment with a defined IP range, your task is to enumerate, scan, and identify potential vulnerabilities. Below is a comprehensive plan using a structured methodology and vetted tools.

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🎯 Objective

Scan a given IP range to:

• Discover live hosts
• Identify open ports and services
• Detect vulnerabilities
• Map potential attack surfaces

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🧠 Methodology (aligned with PTES and OWASP Testing Guide)

Phase	Tools	Purpose
Reconnaissance	Nmap, Masscan, Shodan, AMASS	Discover hosts & services
Enumeration	Nmap, Netcat, Nessus, OpenVAS, Nikto, Enum4Linux	Probe services for deeper info
Vulnerability Analysis	Nmap scripts, Nessus, OpenVAS, Searchsploit, ExploitDB	Identify known vulnerabilities
Exploitation (if authorized)	Metasploit, Burp Suite, Hydra, SQLMap	Validate vulnerabilities

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🔍 Step-by-Step IP Range Scan and Vulnerability Detection

✅ 1. Discover Live Hosts

Use nmap to ping scan the range (e.g. 192.168.1.0/24):

nmap -sn 192.168.1.0/24

Or use the faster masscan:

masscan 192.168.1.0/24 -p1-65535 --rate=10000

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✅ 2. Scan for Open Ports and Services

nmap -sS -sV -p- -T4 -oA fullscan 192.168.1.0/24

• -sS: TCP SYN scan
• -sV: Service version detection
• -p-: All 65535 ports
• -T4: Faster timing (adjust depending on target stability)
• -oA: Output in all formats

For UDP scanning:

nmap -sU -T4 -p 53,67,161,500 192.168.1.0/24

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✅ 3. Run Vulnerability Scanning Scripts (NSE)

nmap --script vuln 192.168.1.0/24 -oN nmap-vuln.txt

Other useful script categories:

nmap --script "default or safe or auth" 192.168.1.100

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✅ 4. Web Service Vulnerability Testing

If you find HTTP/HTTPS ports:

nikto -h http://192.168.1.100

Or use whatweb and dirsearch:

whatweb http://192.168.1.100
dirsearch -u http://192.168.1.100

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✅ 5. Authenticated/Deep Vulnerability Scanning (if creds available)

Use OpenVAS or Nessus:

# OpenVAS (via GVM)
gvm-cli --gmp-username admin --gmp-password pass socket --xml "<create_task>...</create_task>"

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✅ 6. Enumerate Network Services

• SMB: enum4linux, smbclient
• FTP/SSH: hydra, medusa (bruteforce if authorized)
• DNS: dnsenum, dig, fierce
• SNMP: onesixtyone, snmpwalk

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✅ 7. Lookup Vulnerabilities by Banner

Use version output from Nmap to search:

searchsploit apache 2.4.49

You can automate this with:

nmap -sV --script=vulners 192.168.1.100

Or extract and feed versions into CVE databases.

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✅ 8. Exploitation (ONLY if explicitly allowed)

Use Metasploit:

msfconsole
> use exploit/windows/smb/ms17_010_eternalblue

Validate vulnerabilities without causing harm unless given written consent.

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📂 Example Scan Workflow Script

#!/bin/bash
range="192.168.1.0/24"
mkdir -p results

echo "[*] Discovering live hosts..."
nmap -sn $range -oG results/ping.gnmap

echo "[*] Scanning ports..."
nmap -sS -sV -p- -T4 -iL results/ping.gnmap -oA results/fullscan

echo "[*] Vulnerability scan..."
nmap --script vuln -iL results/ping.gnmap -oN results/vulnscan.txt

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🧭 Strategy Summary

Expert(s)	Penetration Tester, Network Security Engineer, Ethical Hacker
Possible Keywords	nmap, masscan, nmap scripts, metasploit, nikto, vulnerability scan, IP range, OpenVAS, Nessus, service enumeration, exploitation framework, PTES methodology, OWASP testing, CVE, SMB enumeration, HTTP fingerprinting
Question	Scan an IP range and identify vulnerabilities step by step, using ethical hacking tools and best practices
Plan	Follow PTES/OWASP approach to discover hosts, scan ports, fingerprint services, run vulnerability scans, and (if authorized) exploit/test findings. Leverage tools like nmap, masscan, nikto, OpenVAS, and Metasploit. Automate where possible. Document all findings for reporting.

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See also

• 🧰 Nmap Cheat Sheet
• 🐛 Common CVE Lookup
• 🔬 OpenVAS Vulnerability Scanning
• ⚡ Metasploit Exploitation Examples

You may also enjoy

• 🔓 Bug Bounty Methodologies
• 🎯 Red Team vs Blue Team Exercises
• 📊 Pentest Reporting Templates