N-map automator: Automating your Nmap Enumeration and Reconnaissance

Note: The audio version doesn't include code or commands. Those parts of the post can be seen in the text version. The rise of reconnaissance tools in the last decade has been remarkable. And understandably so; cybersecurity continues to receive significant attention on all fronts, from secretive accounts of cyber espionage to the now rather ubiquitous corporate breach scenarios pressuring organizations across the globe. Better security comes at a price too, and in the absence of significant security measures anti-patterns quickly evolve to give miscreants ample targets of opportunity. While the existence of indiscriminate internet scanning is largely accepted, automating the information gathering process in a meaningful and productive fashion entails a conscientious effort to arrive at a suitable combination of the best tools and techniques. In the recent past, fine-grained intelligence driven by tools like Nmap, and its supporting Nmap Scripts (NSE) platform, have hinted at the success of open-source tools in dealing with footprinting, the active collection of infrastructure data points, and other interesting aspects, beyond simple enumeration, a growing trend in the identification of exposed assets and applications. In this blog post, we'll examine the Nmap Automator project, as it automates and extends the classification and vulnerability assessment stages of targeted infrastructure via the traditional triggers provided by Nmap's most prominent features, which include port scanning and similar methods. Introducing such a tool would not be complete without practical examples and potential use cases, including some instructions to deliver a seamless setup experience. Let's take a peek. What is Nmap Automator? The Nmap automator, otherwise known as Nmap Automator, is essentially a Posix-compatible shell script that automates the process of target discovery, enumeration, and reconnaissance by leveraging Nmap commands in a unique way. Normally, mastering a tool like Nmap will require not only the ability to memorize and apply a myriad of command-line arguments, or flags, but also the capacity to transform a wealth of output into a consumable product; consequently, conducting scanning activities with such level of detail can easily take several days (if not weeks) to complete. Depending on certain host and network conditions, Nmap Automator can deploy a full-range Nmap vulnerability scan and CVE identification sequence well under 30 minutes. This may seem like a long time, but keep in mind that the scan types are designed to produce as much actionable intelligence about a target as possible. Additionally, Nmap Automator includes running instances of tools such as SSLscan, Nikto, and FFUF, all known throughout the bug bounty and pentesting ecosystems. In all, Nmap Automator supports the following scanning features: Network: Shows all live hosts in the host's network (approximately 15 seconds). Port: Shows all open ports (approximately 15 seconds). Script: Runs a script scan on found ports (approximately 5 minutes). Full: Runs a full range port scan, then runs a thorough scan on new ports (approximately 5-10 minutes). UDP: Runs a UDP scan "requires sudo" (approximately 5 minutes). Vulns: Runs CVE scan and Nmap Vulns scan on all found ports (approximately 5-15 minutes). Recon: Suggests recon commands, then prompts to automatically run them. All: Runs all the scans (approximately 20-30 minutes). For example, the -Network option allows to provide a single IP address and discover live hosts in the same subnet: Nmap automation on remote hosts via Nmap Automator can be achieved with the help of the -r/--remote flag. Known as Remote Mode, this feature (still under development) was designed to harness Posix shell commands without relying on any external tools. Installing Nmap Automator Many of the ethical hacking tools required by Nmap Automator should already be part of popular distributions such as Kali Linux and Parrot OS. Besides S...