TCP "XMas" Port Scanner - Metasploit


This page contains detailed information about how to use the auxiliary/scanner/portscan/xmas metasploit module. For list of all metasploit modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

Table Of Contents
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Module Overview

Name: TCP "XMas" Port Scanner
Module: auxiliary/scanner/portscan/xmas
Source code: modules/auxiliary/scanner/portscan/xmas.rb
Disclosure date: -
Last modification time: 2017-07-24 06:26:21 +0000
Supported architecture(s): -
Supported platform(s): -
Target service / protocol: -
Target network port(s): -
List of CVEs: -

Enumerate open|filtered TCP services using a raw "XMas" scan; this sends probes containing the FIN, PSH and URG flags.

Module Ranking and Traits

Module Ranking:

  • normal: The exploit is otherwise reliable, but depends on a specific version and can't (or doesn't) reliably autodetect. More information about ranking can be found here.

Basic Usage

This module is a scanner module, and is capable of testing against multiple hosts.

msf > use auxiliary/scanner/portscan/xmas
msf auxiliary(xmas) > show options
    ... show and set options ...
msf auxiliary(xmas) > set RHOSTS ip-range
msf auxiliary(xmas) > exploit

Other examples of setting the RHOSTS option:

Example 1:

msf auxiliary(xmas) > set RHOSTS 192.168.1.3-192.168.1.200

Example 2:

msf auxiliary(xmas) > set RHOSTS 192.168.1.1/24

Example 3:

msf auxiliary(xmas) > set RHOSTS file:/tmp/ip_list.txt

Required Options

  • RHOSTS: The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'

Knowledge Base

Description

This module is used to determine if the ports on target machine are closed. It sends probes containing the FIN, PSH and URG flags. Scan is faster and stealthier compared to some other scans. Following action are performed depending on the state of ports -

OPEN|FILTERED Port:

Detects open|filtered port via no response to the segment

Closed Port:

Detects a closed port via a RST received in response to the FIN

Required Permissions

XMAS scan requires the use of raw sockets, and thus cannot be performed from some Windows systems (Windows XP SP 2, for example). On Unix and Linux, raw socket manipulations require root privileges.

Options

PORTS

This is the list of TCP ports to test on each host. Formats like 1-3, 1,2,3, 1,2-3, etc. are all supported. Default options is to scan 1-10000 ports.

Timeout

This options states the reply read timeout in milliseconds. Default value if 500.

RHOSTS

The target address range is defined in this option.

VERBOSE

Gives detailed message about the scan of all the ports. It also shows the ports that were not open/filtered.

Verification Steps

  1. Do: use auxiliary/scanner/portscan/xmas
  2. Do: set RHOSTS [IP]
  3. Do: set PORTS [PORTS]
  4. Do: run
  5. The open/filtered ports will be discovered, status will be printed indicating as such.

Scenarios

Metaspliotable 2

msf > use auxiliary/scanner/portscan/xmas
msf auxiliary(xmas) > set rhosts 192.168.45.159
rhosts => 192.168.45.159
msf auxiliary(xmas) > set ports 1-100
ports => 1-100
msf auxiliary(xmas) > run

[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:1
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:3
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:5
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:8
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:12
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:14
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:16
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:19
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:21
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:37
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:39
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:41
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:43
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:49
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:52
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:53
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:55
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:57
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:59
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:61
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:63
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:65
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:67
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:69
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:73
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:89
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:91
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:93
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:95
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:97
[*]  TCP OPEN|FILTERED 192.168.45.159:99
[*] Scanned 1 of 1 hosts (100% complete)
[*] Auxiliary module execution completed

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Msfconsole Usage

Here is how the scanner/portscan/xmas auxiliary module looks in the msfconsole:

msf6 > use auxiliary/scanner/portscan/xmas

msf6 auxiliary(scanner/portscan/xmas) > show info

       Name: TCP "XMas" Port Scanner
     Module: auxiliary/scanner/portscan/xmas
    License: Metasploit Framework License (BSD)
       Rank: Normal

Provided by:
  kris katterjohn <[email protected]>

Check supported:
  No

Basic options:
  Name       Current Setting  Required  Description
  ----       ---------------  --------  -----------
  BATCHSIZE  256              yes       The number of hosts to scan per set
  DELAY      0                yes       The delay between connections, per thread, in milliseconds
  INTERFACE                   no        The name of the interface
  JITTER     0                yes       The delay jitter factor (maximum value by which to +/- DELAY) in milliseconds.
  PORTS      1-10000          yes       Ports to scan (e.g. 22-25,80,110-900)
  RHOSTS                      yes       The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
  SNAPLEN    65535            yes       The number of bytes to capture
  THREADS    1                yes       The number of concurrent threads (max one per host)
  TIMEOUT    500              yes       The reply read timeout in milliseconds

Description:
  Enumerate open|filtered TCP services using a raw "XMas" scan; this 
  sends probes containing the FIN, PSH and URG flags.

Module Options

This is a complete list of options available in the scanner/portscan/xmas auxiliary module:

msf6 auxiliary(scanner/portscan/xmas) > show options

Module options (auxiliary/scanner/portscan/xmas):

   Name       Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----       ---------------  --------  -----------
   BATCHSIZE  256              yes       The number of hosts to scan per set
   DELAY      0                yes       The delay between connections, per thread, in milliseconds
   INTERFACE                   no        The name of the interface
   JITTER     0                yes       The delay jitter factor (maximum value by which to +/- DELAY) in milliseconds.
   PORTS      1-10000          yes       Ports to scan (e.g. 22-25,80,110-900)
   RHOSTS                      yes       The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
   SNAPLEN    65535            yes       The number of bytes to capture
   THREADS    1                yes       The number of concurrent threads (max one per host)
   TIMEOUT    500              yes       The reply read timeout in milliseconds

Advanced Options

Here is a complete list of advanced options supported by the scanner/portscan/xmas auxiliary module:

msf6 auxiliary(scanner/portscan/xmas) > show advanced

Module advanced options (auxiliary/scanner/portscan/xmas):

   Name                 Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----                 ---------------  --------  -----------
   GATEWAY_PROBE_HOST   8.8.8.8          yes       Send a TTL=1 random UDP datagram to this host to discover the default gateway's MAC
   GATEWAY_PROBE_PORT                    no        The port on GATEWAY_PROBE_HOST to send a random UDP probe to (random if 0 or unset)
   SECRET               1297303073       yes       A 32-bit cookie for probe requests.
   ShowProgress         true             yes       Display progress messages during a scan
   ShowProgressPercent  10               yes       The interval in percent that progress should be shown
   VERBOSE              false            no        Enable detailed status messages
   WORKSPACE                             no        Specify the workspace for this module

Auxiliary Actions

This is a list of all auxiliary actions that the scanner/portscan/xmas module can do:

msf6 auxiliary(scanner/portscan/xmas) > show actions

Auxiliary actions:

   Name  Description
   ----  -----------

Evasion Options

Here is the full list of possible evasion options supported by the scanner/portscan/xmas auxiliary module in order to evade defenses (e.g. Antivirus, EDR, Firewall, NIDS etc.):

msf6 auxiliary(scanner/portscan/xmas) > show evasion

Module evasion options:

   Name  Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----  ---------------  --------  -----------

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Error Messages

This module may fail with the following error messages:

Error Messages

Check for the possible causes from the code snippets below found in the module source code. This can often times help in identifying the root cause of the problem.

PORTS

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "PORTS" error message:

46:	
47:	    pcap = self.capture
48:	
49:	    ports = Rex::Socket.portspec_crack(datastore['PORTS'])
50:	    if ports.empty?
51:	      raise Msf::OptionValidateError.new(['PORTS'])
52:	    end
53:	
54:	    jitter_value = datastore['JITTER'].to_i
55:	    if jitter_value < 0
56:	      raise Msf::OptionValidateError.new(['JITTER'])

JITTER

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "JITTER" error message:

51:	      raise Msf::OptionValidateError.new(['PORTS'])
52:	    end
53:	
54:	    jitter_value = datastore['JITTER'].to_i
55:	    if jitter_value < 0
56:	      raise Msf::OptionValidateError.new(['JITTER'])
57:	    end
58:	
59:	    delay_value = datastore['DELAY'].to_i
60:	    if delay_value < 0
61:	      raise Msf::OptionValidateError.new(['DELAY'])

DELAY

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "DELAY" error message:

56:	      raise Msf::OptionValidateError.new(['JITTER'])
57:	    end
58:	
59:	    delay_value = datastore['DELAY'].to_i
60:	    if delay_value < 0
61:	      raise Msf::OptionValidateError.new(['DELAY'])
62:	    end
63:	
64:	    to = (datastore['TIMEOUT'] || 500).to_f / 1000.0
65:	
66:	    # we copy the hosts because some may not be reachable and need to be ejected

Error

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Error" error message:

97:	            :type	=> "TCP OPEN|FILTERED #{dhost}:#{dport}",
98:	            :data	=> "TCP OPEN|FILTERED #{dhost}:#{dport}"
99:	          )
100:	
101:	        rescue ::Exception
102:	          print_error("Error: #{$!.class} #{$!}")
103:	        end
104:	      end
105:	    end
106:	
107:	    close_pcap

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See Also

Check also the following modules related to this module:

Authors

kris katterjohn

Version

This page has been produced using Metasploit Framework version 6.1.27-dev. For more modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

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