A Little nmap Cheat Sheet

Post Views: 12,268

Welcome to my little nmap cheat sheet!

To learn more about nmap – check out my articles: Getting Started with nmap and Deeper Scanning with nmap and Even Deeper Scanning with nmap and Advanced nmap Scripting Engine.

There was no intent here to recreate the full nmap capabilities, that would have been a waste of your and my time.

Instead, I tried to create a good cheat sheet reference for common/helpful uses of nmap. Did I miss one or two that really belong here? Probably. Please comment below.

For Reference: Usage format: nmap [Scan Type(s)] [Options] {target specification}

For Reference: nmap help: nmap —help

Simple Basic Scan

nmap 192.168.1.1

Look for all devices on a subnet using ARP

nmap -sn 192.168.1.0/24

Use a PING scan

nmap -sP 192.168.1.1 or nmap -sP 192.168.1.* or nmap -sP 192.168.1.1-254 or nmap -sP 192.168.1.0/24

Looking for open ports and OS detection

nmap -sS -P0 -sV -O 192.168.1.1-127

-sS TCP SYN scan
-P0 Looking for IP Protocols by protocol number (ICMP=1, TCP=6, UDP=7, etc)
-sV Probe open ports looking for version information
-O Enable the OS detection

Don’t wait very long, fast timing

nmap -T5 192.168.1.0/24

OS and version detection

nmap -A 192.168.1.1

nmap -A 192.168.1.252

-A OS detection, version detection, script scanning and traceroute

Aggressive and Faster Scanning

nmap -A -T4 192.168.1.1

-A agressive (enables -O and -sV and -sC (script) and –traceroute
-T4 faster timing

Look for the top 20 ports

nmap –top-ports 20 192.168.1.0/24

Looking for hosts with specific open port

nmap -sT -p3325 192.168.1.1-127

-sT TCP Connect scan
-p3325 Try on port 3325

Ducking for cover – a TCP SYN Scan with decoy source IP

nmap -sS 192.168.1.1-5 -D 192.168.1.98,192.168.1.99

-sS TCP SYN scan
-D {decoy IP addresses}

To do a verbose scan

nmap -v 192.168.1.6

To Scan fewer ports (100), and exclude a couple devices, with exclusion

nmap -F 192.168.1.0/24 –exclude 192.168.1.253,192.168.1.252

To Scan skipping the ping, and do the rest of the scanning on every port address

nmap -Pn 192.168.1.252

Add IPv6 address to Linux system

ifconfig eth0 inet6 add 2001:db8:cafe:1::1/64

Now use nmap to scan the IPv6 address

nmap -6 2001:db8:cafe:1::1

To see interfaces available on the system

nmap –iflist

Use nmap to do a UDP based ping:

nmap -PU 192.168.1.252

To do a UDP port scan:

nmap -sU 192.168.1.100

You can even spoof the MAC address

nmap –spoof-mac 0 192.168.1.252

nmap Scripting Engine (NSE)

nmap –script={script name}

To see help with scripts

nmap –script-help {script name}

nmap –script=default 192.168.1.100

same as

nmap -sC 192.168.1.100

Version information

nmap –script=version 192.168.1.100

Vulnerability Scan

nmap –script=vuln 192.168.1.100

Combining scripts

nmap –script “safe or default” 192.168.1.100

nmap –script “discovery and version” 192.168.1.100

Scripts that execute attacks:

nmap –script=brute 192.168.1.100

nmap –script=dos 192.168.1.100

nmap –script=exploit 192.168.1.100

nmap –script=malware 192.168.1.100

If you would like to help support the continued development of independent networking, broadband, Wi-Fi, VoIP, and packet analysis content, please consider joining our Patreon community where you will gain access to exclusive technical resources, downloadable labs and PCAPs, bonus course content, troubleshooting guides, and additional member-only material. Comments and technical discussion are always welcomed at our Patreon community or on our Discord server. You can also support our work by simply buying us a coffee — every contribution helps us continue creating practical, real-world network science education for professionals and enthusiasts alike.

Tags: nmap, Cheat Sheet