Nmap ms-sql-brute NSE Script


This page contains detailed information about how to use the ms-sql-brute NSE script. For list of all NSE scripts, visit the Nmap NSE Library.

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Overview
Error Messages

Script Overview

Script source code: https://github.com/nmap/nmap/tree/master/scripts/ms-sql-brute.nse
Script categories: brute, intrusive
Target service / protocol: ms-sql-s
Target network port(s): 1433
List of CVEs: -

Script Description

The ms-sql-brute.nse script performs password guessing against Microsoft SQL Server (ms-sql). Works best in conjunction with the broadcast-ms-sql-discover script.

SQL Server credentials required: No (will not benefit from mssql.username & mssql.password).

Run criteria:

  • Host script: Will run if the mssql.instance-all, mssql.instance-name or mssql.instance-port script arguments are used (see mssql.lua).
  • Port script: Will run against any services identified as SQL Servers, but only if the mssql.instance-all, mssql.instance-name and mssql.instance-port script arguments are NOT used.

WARNING: SQL Server 2005 and later versions include support for account lockout policies (which are enforced on a per-user basis). If an account is locked out, the script will stop running for that instance, unless the ms-sql-brute.ignore-lockout argument is used.

NOTE: Communication with instances via named pipes depends on the smb library. To communicate with (and possibly to discover) instances via named pipes, the host must have at least one SMB port (e.g. TCP 445) that was scanned and found to be open. Additionally, named pipe connections may require Windows authentication to connect to the Windows host (via SMB) in addition to the authentication required to connect to the SQL Server instances itself. See the documentation and arguments for the smb library for more information.

NOTE: By default, the ms-sql-* scripts may attempt to connect to and communicate with ports that were not included in the port list for the Nmap scan. This can be disabled using the mssql.scanned-ports-only script argument.

Ms-sql-brute NSE Script Arguments

This is a full list of arguments supported by the ms-sql-brute.nse script:

ms-sql-brute.brute-windows-accounts

Enable targeting Windows accounts as part of the brute force attack. This should be used in conjunction with the mssql library's mssql.domain argument.

ms-sql-brute.ignore-lockout

WARNING! Including this argument will cause the script to continue attempting to brute-forcing passwords for users even after a user has been locked out. This may result in many SQL Server logins being locked out!

smbdomain

The domain to log in with. If you aren't in a domain environment, then anything will (should?) be accepted by the server.

smbhash

A password hash to use when logging in. This is given as a single hex string (32 characters) or a pair of hex strings (both 32 characters, optionally separated by a single character). These hashes are the LanMan or NTLM hash of the user's password, and are stored on disk or in memory. They can be retrieved from memory using the fgdump or pwdump tools.

smbnoguest

Use to disable usage of the 'guest' account.

smbpassword

The password to connect with. Be cautious with this, since some servers will lock accounts if the incorrect password is given. Although it's rare that the Administrator account can be locked out, in the off chance that it can, you could get yourself in trouble. To use a blank password, leave this parameter off altogether.

smbtype

The type of SMB authentication to use. These are the possible options:

  • v1: Sends LMv1 and NTLMv1.
  • LMv1: Sends LMv1 only.
  • NTLMv1: Sends NTLMv1 only (default).
  • v2: Sends LMv2 and NTLMv2.
  • LMv2: Sends LMv2 only.
  • NTLMv2: Doesn't exist; the protocol doesn't support NTLMv2 alone. The default, NTLMv1, is a pretty decent compromise between security and compatibility. If you are paranoid, you might want to use v2 or lmv2 for this. (Actually, if you're paranoid, you should be avoiding this protocol altogether!). If you're using an extremely old system, you might need to set this to v1 or lm, which are less secure but more compatible. For information, see smbauth.lua.

smbusername

The SMB username to log in with. The forms "DOMAIN\username" and "username@DOMAIN" are not understood. To set a domain, use the smbdomain argument.

randomseed

Set to a value to change the filenames/service names that are randomly generated.

smbbasic

Forces the authentication to use basic security, as opposed to "extended security". Against most modern systems, extended security should work, but there may be cases where you want to force basic. There's a chance that you'll get better results for enumerating users if you turn on basic authentication.

smbport

Override the default port choice. If smbport is open, it's used. It's assumed to be the same protocol as port 445, not port 139. Since it probably isn't possible to change Windows' ports normally, this is mostly useful if you're bouncing through a relay or something.

smbsign

Controls whether or not server signatures are checked in SMB packets. By default, on Windows, server signatures aren't enabled or required. By default, this library will always sign packets if it knows how, and will check signatures if the server says to. Possible values are:

  • force: Always check server signatures, even if server says it doesn't support them (will Probably fail, but is technically more secure).
  • negotiate: [default] Use signatures if server supports them.
  • ignore: Never check server signatures. Not recommended.
  • disable: Don't send signatures, at all, and don't check the server's. not recommended. More information on signatures can be found in smbauth.lua.

mssql.domain

The domain against which to perform integrated authentication. When set, the scripts assume integrated authentication should be performed, rather than the default sql login.

mssql.instance-all

Targets all SQL server instances discovered through the browser service.

mssql.instance-name

The name of the instance to connect to.

mssql.instance-port

The port of the instance to connect to.

mssql.password

The password for mssql.username. If this argument is not given but mssql.username, a blank password is used.

mssql.protocol

The protocol to use to connect to the instance. The protocol may be either NP,Named Pipes or TCP.

mssql.scanned-ports-only

If set, the script will only connect to ports that were included in the Nmap scan. This may result in instances not being discovered, particularly if UDP port 1434 is not included. Additionally, instances that are found to be running on ports that were not scanned (e.g. if 1434/udp is in the scan and the SQL Server Browser service on that port reports an instance listening on 43210/tcp, which was not scanned) will be reported but will not be stored for use by other ms-sql-* scripts.

mssql.timeout

How long to wait for SQL responses. This is a number followed by ms for milliseconds, s for seconds, m for minutes, or h for hours. Default: 30s.

mssql.username

The username to use to connect to SQL Server instances. This username is used by scripts taking actions that require authentication (e.g. ms-sql-query) This username (and its associated password) takes precedence over any credentials discovered by the ms-sql-brute and ms-sql-empty-password scripts.

passdb

The filename of an alternate password database. Default: nselib/data/passwords.lst

unpwdb.passlimit

The maximum number of passwords passwords will return (default unlimited).

unpwdb.timelimit

The maximum amount of time that any iterator will run before stopping. The value is in seconds by default and you can follow it with ms, s, m, or h for milliseconds, seconds, minutes, or hours. For example, unpwdb.timelimit=30m or unpwdb.timelimit=.5h for 30 minutes. The default depends on the timing template level (see the module description). Use the value 0 to disable the time limit.

unpwdb.userlimit

The maximum number of usernames usernames will return (default unlimited).

userdb

The filename of an alternate username database. Default: nselib/data/usernames.lst

- - -
To use these script arguments, add them to the Nmap command line using the --script-args arg1=value,[arg2=value,..] syntax. For example:

nmap --script=ms-sql-brute --script-args ms-sql-brute.brute-windows-accounts=value,ms-sql-brute.ignore-lockout=value <target>

Ms-sql-brute NSE Script Example Usage

Here's an example of how to use the ms-sql-brute.nse script:

nmap -p 445 --script ms-sql-brute --script-args mssql.instance-all,userdb=customuser.txt,passdb=custompass.txt <host>

nmap -p 1433 --script ms-sql-brute --script-args userdb=customuser.txt,passdb=custompass.txt <host>

Ms-sql-brute NSE Script Example Output

Here's a sample output from the ms-sql-brute.nse script:

| ms-sql-brute:
|   [192.168.100.128\TEST]
|     No credentials found
|     Warnings:
|       sa: AccountLockedOut
|   [192.168.100.128\PROD]
|     Credentials found:
|       webshop_reader:secret => Login Success
|       testuser:secret1234 => PasswordMustChange
|_      lordvader:secret1234 => Login Success

Ms-sql-brute NSE Script Example XML Output

There is no sample XML output for this module. However, by providing the -oX <file> option, Nmap will produce a XML output and save it in the file.xml file.

Author

  • Patrik Karlsson

References

See Also

Related NSE scripts to the ms-sql-brute.nse script:

Visit Nmap NSE Library for more scripts.

The ms-sql-brute.nse script may fail with the following error messages. Check for the possible causes by using the code snippets highlighted below found in the script source code. This can often times help in identifying the root cause of the problem.

unknown error

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

98:	    for username, result in pairs( instance.ms_sql_brute.credentials ) do
99:	      local password = result[1]
100:	      local errorCode = result[2]
101:	      password = password:len()>0 and password or "<empty>"
102:	      if errorCode then
103:	        local errorMessage = mssql.LoginErrorMessage[ errorCode ] or "unknown error"
104:	        table.insert( credsOutput, string.format( "%s:%s => %s", username, password, errorMessage ) )
105:	      else
106:	        table.insert( credsOutput, string.format( "%s:%s => Login Success", username, password ) )
107:	      end
108:	    end

%s:%s => %s

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "%s:%s => %s" error message:

99:	      local password = result[1]
100:	      local errorCode = result[2]
101:	      password = password:len()>0 and password or "<empty>"
102:	      if errorCode then
103:	        local errorMessage = mssql.LoginErrorMessage[ errorCode ] or "unknown error"
104:	        table.insert( credsOutput, string.format( "%s:%s => %s", username, password, errorMessage ) )
105:	      else
106:	        table.insert( credsOutput, string.format( "%s:%s => Login Success", username, password ) )
107:	      end
108:	    end
109:

%s: Account is locked out.

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "%s: Account is locked out." error message:

161:	
162:	    if ( loginErrorCode == mssql.LoginErrorType.PasswordExpired ) then passwordIsGood = true
163:	    elseif ( loginErrorCode == mssql.LoginErrorType.PasswordMustChange ) then passwordIsGood = true
164:	    elseif ( loginErrorCode == mssql.LoginErrorType.AccountLockedOut ) then
165:	      stdnse.debug1("Account %s locked out on %s", username, instance:GetName() )
166:	      table.insert( instance.ms_sql_brute.warnings, string.format( "%s: Account is locked out.", username ) )
167:	      if ( not stdnse.get_script_args( "ms-sql-brute.ignore-lockout" ) ) then
168:	        stopInstance = true
169:	      end
170:	    end
171:	    if ( mssql.LoginErrorMessage[ loginErrorCode ] == nil ) then

%s: Attemping login to %s as (%s/%s): Unknown login error number: %s

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "%s: Attemping login to %s as (%s/%s): Unknown login error number: %s" error message:

167:	      if ( not stdnse.get_script_args( "ms-sql-brute.ignore-lockout" ) ) then
168:	        stopInstance = true
169:	      end
170:	    end
171:	    if ( mssql.LoginErrorMessage[ loginErrorCode ] == nil ) then
172:	      stdnse.debug2("%s: Attemping login to %s as (%s/%s): Unknown login error number: %s",
173:	        SCRIPT_NAME, instance:GetName(), username, password, loginErrorCode )
174:	      table.insert( instance.ms_sql_brute.warnings, string.format( "Unknown login error number: %s", loginErrorCode ) )
175:	    end
176:	    stdnse.debug3("%s: Attempt to login to %s as (%s/%s): %d (%s)",
177:	      SCRIPT_NAME, instance:GetName(), username, password, loginErrorCode, tostring( mssql.LoginErrorMessage[ loginErrorCode ] ) )

Unknown login error number: %s

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Unknown login error number: %s" error message:

169:	      end
170:	    end
171:	    if ( mssql.LoginErrorMessage[ loginErrorCode ] == nil ) then
172:	      stdnse.debug2("%s: Attemping login to %s as (%s/%s): Unknown login error number: %s",
173:	        SCRIPT_NAME, instance:GetName(), username, password, loginErrorCode )
174:	      table.insert( instance.ms_sql_brute.warnings, string.format( "Unknown login error number: %s", loginErrorCode ) )
175:	    end
176:	    stdnse.debug3("%s: Attempt to login to %s as (%s/%s): %d (%s)",
177:	      SCRIPT_NAME, instance:GetName(), username, password, loginErrorCode, tostring( mssql.LoginErrorMessage[ loginErrorCode ] ) )
178:	  else
179:	    table.insert( instance.ms_sql_brute.errors, string.format("Network error. Skipping instance. Error: %s", result ) )

Network error. Skipping instance. Error: %s

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Network error. Skipping instance. Error: %s" error message:

174:	      table.insert( instance.ms_sql_brute.warnings, string.format( "Unknown login error number: %s", loginErrorCode ) )
175:	    end
176:	    stdnse.debug3("%s: Attempt to login to %s as (%s/%s): %d (%s)",
177:	      SCRIPT_NAME, instance:GetName(), username, password, loginErrorCode, tostring( mssql.LoginErrorMessage[ loginErrorCode ] ) )
178:	  else
179:	    table.insert( instance.ms_sql_brute.errors, string.format("Network error. Skipping instance. Error: %s", result ) )
180:	    stopUser = true
181:	    stopInstance = true
182:	  end
183:	
184:	  if ( passwordIsGood ) then

No network protocols enabled.

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "No network protocols enabled." error message:

227:	    local usernames, passwords, username, password
228:	    local helper = mssql.Helper:new()
229:	
230:	    if ( not instance:HasNetworkProtocols() ) then
231:	      stdnse.debug1("%s has no network protocols enabled.", instance:GetName() )
232:	      table.insert( instance.ms_sql_brute.errors, "No network protocols enabled." )
233:	      stopInstance = true
234:	    end
235:	
236:	    status, usernames = unpwdb.usernames()
237:	    if ( not(status) ) then

Failed to load usernames list.

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Failed to load usernames list." error message:

233:	      stopInstance = true
234:	    end
235:	
236:	    status, usernames = unpwdb.usernames()
237:	    if ( not(status) ) then
238:	      stdnse.debug1("Failed to load usernames list." )
239:	      table.insert( instance.ms_sql_brute.errors, "Failed to load usernames list." )
240:	      stopInstance = true
241:	    end
242:	
243:	    if ( status ) then

Failed to load usernames list.

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Failed to load usernames list." error message:

234:	    end
235:	
236:	    status, usernames = unpwdb.usernames()
237:	    if ( not(status) ) then
238:	      stdnse.debug1("Failed to load usernames list." )
239:	      table.insert( instance.ms_sql_brute.errors, "Failed to load usernames list." )
240:	      stopInstance = true
241:	    end
242:	
243:	    if ( status ) then
244:	      status, passwords = unpwdb.passwords()

Failed to load passwords list.

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Failed to load passwords list." error message:

241:	    end
242:	
243:	    if ( status ) then
244:	      status, passwords = unpwdb.passwords()
245:	      if ( not(status) ) then
246:	        stdnse.debug1("Failed to load passwords list." )
247:	        table.insert( instance.ms_sql_brute.errors, "Failed to load passwords list." )
248:	        stopInstance = true
249:	      end
250:	    end
251:

Failed to load passwords list.

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Failed to load passwords list." error message:

242:	
243:	    if ( status ) then
244:	      status, passwords = unpwdb.passwords()
245:	      if ( not(status) ) then
246:	        stdnse.debug1("Failed to load passwords list." )
247:	        table.insert( instance.ms_sql_brute.errors, "Failed to load passwords list." )
248:	        stopInstance = true
249:	      end
250:	    end
251:	
252:	    if ( status ) then

Version

This page has been created based on Nmap version 7.92.

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