Port Scanning Using Nmap

Ping Sweeping with nmap

In Kali Linux terminal type the following command

nmap –sn 192.168.1.1/24

Above Command gives the information about all the hosts which are live in the network.

Port Scanning with nmap

1.Regular Scan (SYN stealth scan or half open scan):

 nmap <target IP or domain>
 Ex: nmap 192.168.0.137
 nmap –sS example.com
 nmap –sS 192.168.0.137
 nmap –sS example.com

Note: Even if we take a domain name, nmap will not scan the website, it will scan the computer (server) hosting that website.


2. TCP connect scan (Full Connect Scan):

     nmap –sT <target IP or domain>
     Example: nmap –sT example.com
     nmap –sT 192.168.0.137

If you get any error saying host may be down or disabled ICMP try adding –Pn to the command

Example: nmap –sT –Pn example.com

3. Service Detection scan or Version Detection scan:

Example: nmap –sV example.com
nmap –sV 192.168.0.137

4. OS Detection Scan:

    nmap –O <target IP or domain>
    Example: nmap –O example.com
    nmap –O 192.168.0.137

5. FIN scan (FIN Flag):

    nmap –sF <target IP or domain>
    Example: nmap –sF example.com
     nmap –sF 192.168.0.137 –v

6. XMAS scan (FIN, PSH, URG Flags):

    nmap –sX <target IP or domain>
    Ex: nmap –sX example.com
    nmap –sX 192.168.0.137 –v

7. NULL scan (No Flags)

   nmap –sN <target IP or domain>
   Ex: nmap –sN example.com
   nmap –sN 192.168.0.137 –v

Note: Before performing any scan make sure you are using VPN. TCP scan must be done after doing all the scans and remember to use proxy or anonymizer.

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In the OS detection scan the scan shows only guesses which are accurate to 80% and it is better to perform -sF scan so as to ensure whether it is a honeypot or windows OS.