Investigating Unrecognized Open Ports¶
Identifying an unrecognized open port during penetration testing might provide a potential entry point .This guide provides straightforward steps to understand and inspect these ports.
Step 1. Identifying Service Details¶
- Port Information Database: Use a port information database to identify the common services associated with the port. A reliable source is SpeedGuide.
https://www.speedguide.net/port.php?port=[PORT]
Replace[PORT]
with the actual number of the port you are investigating. - Banner Grabbing: Use tools like Telnet, Netcat to extract banners from open services, which often include the type and version of the service running. For example:
telnet [TARGET-IP] [PORT]
nc -v [TARGET-IP] [PORT]
Step 2: Check for Common Vulnerabilities¶
Once you have identified which service is running on the port, use a combination of search techniques to identify any known vulnerabilities associated with it.
- Query well-known vulnerability databases and blogs:
site:exploit-db.com | site:github.com | site:0xdf.gitlab.io "[Software Name] [version]"
-
Search to find any known exploits or vulnerabilities:
"[Service Name] [version]" +exploit | vulnerability
Tips & Tricks
Prioritize sources from ExploitDB/Github/Rapid7.
-
Search for any patches, updates, or changelogs that might indicate security fixes:
"[Service Name] [version]" +patch | update | changelog
Step 3: Learn from Practical Examples and Tutorials¶
If you are unfamiliar with how to exploit a found vulnerability, consider learning from practical examples and tutorials. Excellent resources for walkthroughs and tutorials include:
- Search for relevant videos by entering the software name.
https://ippsec.rocks/
- Use tags to find detailed walkthroughs.
https://0xdf.gitlab.io/tags
Step 4: Additional Tools and Techniques¶
- Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE): Use NSE scripts to gather more information and potentially identify vulnerabilities automatically. For example:
nmap -sV --script vuln [TARGET-IP] -p [PORT-NUMBER]
- Shodan and Censys: Use scanners like Shodan and Censys to find similar services on other systems and see if they are known to be vulnerable.