CAPEC-312: Active OS Fingerprinting

Description
An adversary engages in activity to detect the operating system or firmware version of a remote target by interrogating a device, server, or platform with a probe designed to solicit behavior that will reveal information about the operating systems or firmware in the environment. Operating System detection is possible because implementations of common protocols (Such as IP or TCP) differ in distinct ways. While the implementation differences are not sufficient to 'break' compatibility with the protocol the differences are detectable because the target will respond in unique ways to specific probing activity that breaks the semantic or logical rules of packet construction for a protocol. Different operating systems will have a unique response to the anomalous input, providing the basis to fingerprint the OS behavior. This type of OS fingerprinting can distinguish between operating system types and versions.
Extended Description

During a UDP scan, a datagram is sent to a target port. If an 'ICMP Type 3 Port unreachable' error message is returned then the port is considered closed. Different types of ICMP messages can indicate a filtered port. UDP scanning is slower than TCP scanning. The protocol characteristics of UDP make port scanning inherently more difficult than with TCP, as well as dependent upon ICMP for accurate scanning. Due to ambiguities that can arise between open ports and filtered ports, UDP scanning results often require a high degree of interpretation and further testing to refine. In general, UDP scanning results are less reliable or accurate than TCP-based scanning.

Severity :

Low

Possibility :

Medium

Type :

Standard
Relationships with other CAPECs

This table shows the other attack patterns and high level categories that are related to this attack pattern.

CAPEC-224: Fingerprinting Fingerprinting CAPEC-317: IP ID Sequencing Probe IP ID Sequencing Probe CAPEC-318: IP 'ID' Echoed Byte-Order Probe IP 'ID' Echoed Byte-Order Probe CAPEC-319: IP (DF) 'Don't Fragment Bit' Echoing Probe IP (DF) 'Don't Fragment Bit' Echoing Probe CAPEC-320: TCP Timestamp Probe TCP Timestamp Probe CAPEC-321: TCP Sequence Number Probe TCP Sequence Number Probe CAPEC-322: TCP (ISN) Greatest Common Divisor Probe TCP (ISN) Greatest Common Divisor Probe CAPEC-323: TCP (ISN) Counter Rate Probe TCP (ISN) Counter Rate Probe CAPEC-324: TCP (ISN) Sequence Predictability Probe TCP (ISN) Sequence Predictability Probe CAPEC-325: TCP Congestion Control Flag (ECN) Probe TCP Congestion Control Flag (ECN) Probe CAPEC-326: TCP Initial Window Size Probe TCP Initial Window Size Probe CAPEC-327: TCP Options Probe TCP Options Probe CAPEC-328: TCP 'RST' Flag Checksum Probe TCP 'RST' Flag Checksum Probe CAPEC-329: ICMP Error Message Quoting Probe ICMP Error Message Quoting Probe CAPEC-330: ICMP Error Message Echoing Integrity Probe ICMP Error Message Echoing Integrity Probe CAPEC-331: ICMP IP Total Length Field Probe ICMP IP Total Length Field Probe CAPEC-332: ICMP IP 'ID' Field Error Message Probe ICMP IP 'ID' Field Error Message Probe
Prerequisites

This table shows the other attack patterns and high level categories that are related to this attack pattern.

  • The ability to monitor and interact with network communications.Access to at least one host, and the privileges to interface with the network interface card.
Skills required

This table shows the other attack patterns and high level categories that are related to this attack pattern.

Taxonomy mappings

Mappings to ATT&CK, OWASP and other frameworks.

ATTACK | System Information Discovery
Resources required

Related CWE

A Related Weakness relationship associates a weakness with this attack pattern. Each association implies a weakness that must exist for a given attack to be successful.

CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor

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