9/5/21, 7:37 PM Nmap Cheat Sheet

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Nmap Cheat Sheet

May 1, 2020 by Nathan House

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Target Specification

Switch Example Description

nmap 192.168.1.1 Scan a single IP
nmap 192.168.1.1 192.168.2.1 Scan specific IPs
nmap 192.168.1.1-254 Scan a range
nmap scanme.nmap.org Scan a domain
nmap 192.168.1.0/24 Scan using CIDR notation
-iL nmap -iL targets.txt Scan targets from a file
-iR nmap -iR 100 Scan 100 random hosts
--exclude nmap --exclude 192.168.1.1 Exclude listed hosts

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Scan Techniques

Switch Example Description

-sS nmap 192.168.1.1 -sS TCP SYN port scan (Default)
-sT nmap 192.168.1.1 -sT TCP connect port scan

(Default without root privilege)

-sU nmap 192.168.1.1 -sU UDP port scan
-sA nmap 192.168.1.1 -sA TCP ACK port scan
-sW nmap 192.168.1.1 -sW TCP Window port scan
-sM nmap 192.168.1.1 -sM TCP Maimon port scan

Host Discovery

Switch Example Description

-sL nmap 192.168.1.1-3 -sL No Scan. List targets only

-sn nmap 192.168.1.1/24 -sn Disable port scanning. Host discovery

only.

-Pn nmap 192.168.1.1-5 -Pn Disable host discovery. Port scan only.

-PS nmap 192.168.1.1-5 -PS22- TCP SYN discovery on port x.

25,80 Port 80 by default
-PA nmap 192.168.1.1-5 -PA22- TCP ACK discovery on port x.
25,80 Port 80 by default
-PU nmap 192.168.1.1-5 -PU53 UDP discovery on port x.
Port 40125 by default
-PR nmap 192.168.1.1-1/24 -PR ARP discovery on local network
-n nmap 192.168.1.1 -n Never do DNS resolution

Port Specification

Switch Example Description

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Switch Example Description

-p nmap 192.168.1.1 -p 21 Port scan for port x
-p nmap 192.168.1.1 -p 21-100 Port range
-p nmap 192.168.1.1 -p Port scan multiple TCP and UDP
U:53,T:21-25,80 ports
-p- nmap 192.168.1.1 -p- Port scan all ports
-p nmap 192.168.1.1 -p Port scan from service name
http,https
-F nmap 192.168.1.1 -F Fast port scan (100 ports)
--top- nmap 192.168.1.1 --top-ports Port scan the top x ports
ports 2000
-p- nmap 192.168.1.1 -p-65535 Leaving off initial port in range

65535 makes the scan start at port 1

-p0- nmap 192.168.1.1 -p0- Leaving off end port in range
makes the scan go through to port
65535

Service and Version Detection

Switch Example Description

Attempts to determine the version of
-sV nmap 192.168.1.1 -sV the service running on port
-sV -- nmap 192.168.1.1 -sV Intensity level 0 to 9. Higher number
version-
intensity --version-intensity 8 increases possibility of correctness

-sV -- nmap 192.168.1.1 -sV Enable light mode. Lower possibility of

version- --version-light correctness. Faster
light
-sV -- nmap 192.168.1.1 -sV Enable intensity level 9. Higher
version-all --version-all possibility of correctness. Slower
-A nmap 192.168.1.1 -A Enables OS detection, version detection,
script scanning, and traceroute

OS Detection
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Switch Example Description

-O nmap 192.168.1.1 -O Remote OS detection using TCP/IP

stack fingerprinting
-O -- If at least one open and one closed

nmap 192.168.1.1 -O --
osscan- osscan-limit TCP port are not found it will not try

limit OS detection against host

-O -- nmap 192.168.1.1 -O -- Makes Nmap guess more aggressively
osscan- osscan-guess
guess
-O --max- nmap 192.168.1.1 -O -- Set the maximum number x of OS

os-tries max-os-tries 1 detection tries against a target

-A nmap 192.168.1.1 -A Enables OS detection, version detection,
script scanning, and traceroute

Timing and Performance

Switch Example Description

-T0 nmap 192.168.1.1 -T0 Paranoid (0) Intrusion Detection

System evasion
-T1 nmap 192.168.1.1 -T1 Sneaky (1) Intrusion Detection System

evasion
-T2 nmap 192.168.1.1 -T2 Polite (2) slows down the scan to use

less bandwidth and use less target

machine resources
-T3 nmap 192.168.1.1 -T3 Normal (3) which is default speed
-T4 nmap 192.168.1.1 -T4 Aggressive (4) speeds scans; assumes

you are on a reasonably fast and

reliable network
-T5 nmap 192.168.1.1 -T5 Insane (5) speeds scan; assumes you

are on an extraordinarily fast network

Switch Example Description

input
--host-timeout <time> 1s; 4m; 2h Give up on target after this
long
--min-rtt-timeout/max-rtt- 1s; 4m; 2h Specifies probe round trip time
timeout/initial-rtt-timeout <time>
--min-hostgroup/max- 50; 1024 Parallel host scan group

hostgroup <size<size> sizes

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Switch Example Description

input
--min-parallelism/max- 10; 1 Probe parallelization
parallelism <numprobes>
--scan-delay/--max-scan- 20ms; 2s; Adjust delay between probes
delay <time> 4m; 5h
--max-retries <tries> 3 Specify the maximum number

of port scan probe

retransmissions
--min-rate <number> 100 Send packets no slower
than <numberr> per second
--max-rate <number> 100 Send packets no faster
than <number> per second

NSE Scripts

Switch Example Description

-sC nmap 192.168.1.1 -sC Scan with default NSE scripts.
Considered useful for discovery and
safe
--script nmap 192.168.1.1 --script Scan with default NSE scripts.
default default Considered useful for discovery and
safe
--script nmap 192.168.1.1 -- Scan with a single script. Example
script=banner banner
--script nmap 192.168.1.1 -- Scan with a wildcard. Example http
script=http*
--script nmap 192.168.1.1 -- Scan with two scripts. Example http
script=http,banner and banner
--script nmap 192.168.1.1 --script Scan default, but remove intrusive
"not intrusive" scripts
--script- nmap --script snmp-sysdescr NSE script with arguments
args --script-args
snmpcommunity=admin
192.168.1.1

Useful NSE Script Examples

Command Description
nmap -Pn --script=http-sitemap-generator http site map generator
scanme.nmap.org

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Command Description
nmap -n -Pn -p 80 --open -sV -vvv --script Fast search for random web
banner,http-title -iR 1000 servers
nmap -Pn --script=dns-brute domain.com Brute forces DNS hostnames
guessing subdomains
nmap -n -Pn -vv -O -sV --script smb- Safe SMB scripts to run
enum*,smb-ls,smb-mbenum,smb-os-
discovery,smb-s*,smb-vuln*,smbv2* -vv
192.168.1.1
nmap --script whois* domain.com Whois query
nmap -p80 --script http-unsafe-output- Detect cross site scripting
escaping scanme.nmap.org vulnerabilities
nmap -p80 --script http-sql-injection Check for SQL injections
scanme.nmap.org

Firewall / IDS Evasion and Spoofing

Switch Example Description

-f nmap 192.168.1.1 -f Requested scan (including ping
scans) use tiny fragmented IP
packets. Harder for packet
filters
--mtu nmap 192.168.1.1 --mtu 32 Set your own offset size
-D nmap -D Send scans from spoofed IPs
192.168.1.101,192.168.1.102,

192.168.1.103,192.168.1.23
192.168.1.1
-D nmap -D decoy-ip1,decoy- Above example explained
ip2,your-own-ip,decoy-ip3,decoy-
ip4 remote-host-ip
-S nmap -S www.microsoft.com Scan Facebook from Microsoft (-
www.facebook.com e eth0 -Pn may be required)
-g nmap -g 53 192.168.1.1 Use given source port number
--proxies nmap --proxies Relay connections through
http://192.168.1.1:8080, HTTP/SOCKS4 proxies
http://192.168.1.2:8080
192.168.1.1
--data- nmap --data-length 200 Appends random data to sent
length 192.168.1.1 packets

Example IDS Evasion command

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nmap -f -t 0 -n -Pn –data-length 200 -D

192.168.1.101,192.168.1.102,192.168.1.103,192.168.1.23 192.168.1.1

Output

Switch Example Description

-oN nmap 192.168.1.1 -oN Normal output to the file
normal.file normal.file
-oX nmap 192.168.1.1 -oX xml.file XML output to the file xml.file
-oG nmap 192.168.1.1 -oG Grepable output to the file grep.file
grep.file
-oA nmap 192.168.1.1 -oA results Output in the three major formats at
once
-oG - nmap 192.168.1.1 -oG - Grepable output to screen. -oN -, -oX
- also usable
-- nmap 192.168.1.1 -oN file.file Append a scan to a previous scan file
append- --append-output
output
-v nmap 192.168.1.1 -v Increase the verbosity level (use -vv
or more for greater effect)
-d nmap 192.168.1.1 -d Increase debugging level (use -dd or
more for greater effect)
--reason nmap 192.168.1.1 --reason Display the reason a port is in a
particular state, same output as -vv
--open nmap 192.168.1.1 --open Only show open (or possibly open)
ports
--packet- nmap 192.168.1.1 -T4 -- Show all packets sent and received
trace packet-trace
--iflist nmap --iflist Shows the host interfaces and routes
--resume nmap --resume results.file Resume a scan

Helpful Nmap Output examples

Command Description
nmap -p80 -sV -oG - --open 192.168.1.1/24 Scan for web servers and grep to
| grep open show which IPs are running web
servers
nmap -iR 10 -n -oX out.xml | grep "Nmap" Generate a list of the IPs of live
| cut -d " " -f5 > live-hosts.txt hosts

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Command
nmap -iR 10 -n -oX out2.xml | grep
"Nmap" | cut -d " " -f5 >> live-hosts.txt
ndiff scanl.xml scan2.xml
xsltproc nmap.xml -o nmap.html
grep " open " results.nmap | sed -r 's/ +/
/g' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | less
Description
Append IP to the list of live hosts
Compare output from nmap using
the ndif
Convert nmap xml files to html files
Reverse sorted list of how often
ports turn up

Miscellaneous Options

Switch Example Description

-6 nmap -6 2607:f0d0:1002:51::4 Enable IPv6 scanning
-h nmap -h nmap help screen

Other Useful Nmap Commands

Command Description
nmap -iR 10 -PS22-25,80,113,1050,35000 - Discovery only on ports x, no port
v -sn scan
nmap 192.168.1.1-1/24 -PR -sn -vv Arp discovery only on local network,
no port scan
nmap -iR 10 -sn -traceroute Traceroute to random targets, no
port scan
nmap 192.168.1.1-50 -sL --dns-server Query the Internal DNS for hosts,
192.168.1.1 list targets only

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Nathan House

Nathan House is the founder and CEO of Station X a cyber security training and
consultancy company. He has over 25 years experience in cyber security where he
has advised some of largest companies in the world, assuring security on multi-
million and multi-billion pound projects.
Nathan is the author of the popular "The Complete Cyber
Security Course" which has been taken by over 300,000 students in 195 countries.
Winner of the AI
"Cyber Security Educator of the Year 2020" award. Over the years he has spoken at a number of
security conferences, developed free security tools, and discovered serious security vulnerabilities in
leading applications. PGP Fingerprint : CBA3FBF729FB00CB21D64FB00E7955AE6E37FEF1

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Tweets by ‎@GotoNathan
Nathan House
@GotoNathan
Replying to @GotoNathan
A career in cyber security is one of the best current
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Cyber Security Career Guide

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4 Sep 2021

Nathan House
@GotoNathan
Replying to @GotoNathan
Looking ahead...the extra $300/week in federal
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