Internal Nmap Sweep
Authenticated / unauthenticated TCP+UDP sweep against discovered subnets — finds web admin panels, MSSQL, exposed prints.
§ Where this technique fits
N-NMAP-INTERNAL is catalogued under the Discovery tactic of the offensive-security kill-chain. It appears in 20 approved dossiers in the registry, typically at step 2.1 on average.
§ Dossiers chaining this technique
- step 1 / 5
Unauth DICOM PACS → mass medical-image exfil
PACS server accepts unauthenticated C-FIND / C-MOVE on port 104 / 11112. Query for every study, pull every image — exfil hundreds of thousands of patient scans + DICOM metadata (PII).
- step 1 / 6
z/OS TN3270 → RACF userID brute → mainframe shell
Internet-/intranet-exposed TN3270 mainframe terminal. Userids follow predictable HR scheme. Brute-force passwords; many environments allow short / dictionary passwords for legacy reasons.
- step 1 / 5
EternalBlue (MS17-010) → SMBv1 wormable spread
Unpatched Windows 7 / Server 2008 with SMBv1 enabled — pre-auth kernel RCE. Used by WannaCry / NotPetya in 2017, still found on enclave / industrial networks.
- step 1 / 5
BACnet HVAC → disrupt building operations
BACnet on UDP/47808 is unauthenticated. From a foothold in corporate IT, write to HVAC controllers — over-cool a data centre, disable smoke evacuation, mess with elevators.
- step 1 / 6
vCenter pre-auth RCE → root on every ESXi → mass encrypt
Pre-auth RCE on vCenter Server (DCERPC or vSphere Client class CVE). Deploy SSH key via vCenter to every managed ESXi, then mass-encrypt every .vmdk — the ESXiArgs / Black Basta playbook.
- step 1 / 6
Unpatched Confluence (CVE-2023-22515) → internal foothold
Internal Confluence instance reachable from the corporate VLAN. Trivial privilege-escalation CVE creates an admin user; webshell uploaded; pivot into AD service accounts.
- step 1 / 7
Reconfigure MFP LDAP → harvest service-account credentials
Walk up to / network-into the MFP admin web panel (default creds), change the LDAP address-book server to attacker IP — printer immediately re-binds and sends its service-account creds in cleartext.
- step 1 / 6
PJL / PostScript → printer root → quiet network foothold
PRET-style payloads against TCP/9100 give RCE on the printer's controller. The printer is a stable, EDR-free Linux box trusted by the rest of the network — perfect long-term implant.
- step 1 / 5
HMI default credentials → operations disruption
Wonderware / iFix HMI exposed to the corporate network with vendor-default credentials. Operators see attacker-controlled values + commands sent to PLCs through legit channels.
- step 1 / 5
Reachable Modbus PLC → direct register override
Modbus has no authentication. From a foothold on a reachable OT network, write to coils / holding registers directly with pymodbus.
- step 1 / 5
Open ADB on the network → device shell
An IoT / dev device left adbd listening on TCP/5555 — anyone on the LAN runs `adb connect` and gets a shell as the shell user, including pulling user data.
- step 1 / 6
Jenkins /script Groovy console → RCE → AD
Jenkins script console exposed unauth on the corporate intranet — Groovy 'execute()' = RCE as the Jenkins service account, often a domain user with broad agent access.
- step 1 / 6
ArgoCD weak RBAC → cluster admin via custom Application
ArgoCD installed with the default admin user and broad RBAC. Attacker creates an Application pointing at attacker manifests — ArgoCD syncs them with cluster-admin.
- step 1 / 6
Exposed etcd → cluster-wide secret raid
etcd is reachable without mTLS — read every Secret in the cluster including service-account tokens that grant cluster-admin.
- step 2 / 6
Industroyer2 IEC-104 substation hijack
Timed payload speaks IEC-60870-5-104 to substation RTUs at attacker-chosen hour; sends 'open breaker' commands across a substation, blackouts a grid section.
- step 4 / 5
VLAN hopping → cross into production
Discover that the access port negotiates trunking (DTP). Send double-tagged frames or set up a fake trunk to send packets into restricted VLANs.
- step 5 / 5
PMKID attack → offline crack with no client interaction
WPA2 PMKID can be extracted from a single association attempt with the AP — no client needed. hcxdumptool + hashcat -m 22000 yields the PSK if it's weak.
- step 5 / 6
802.1X NAC bypass via printer MAC spoof
Plug into the LAN, sniff a printer / IP-phone MAC, clone it on your laptop, get full LAN access via MAC-Auth-Bypass — bypass NAC entirely.
- step 6 / 6
npm typosquat → developer workstation → corporate VPN
Publish a typosquat npm package; the developer's `npm install` runs the postinstall script, exfils SSH keys + VPN profile, then connects to the corporate network.
- step 6 / 6
WPA2-PSK handshake capture + crack → LAN access
Deauth a connected client to force re-association, capture the 4-way handshake with airodump-ng, crack the PSK offline with hashcat.
§ What commonly comes next
- 01Account Discoveryseen 3×T1087 · Discovery
- 02Default Credentialsseen 3×W-AUTH-DEFAULT · Credential Access
- 03ADB Open on Networkseen 1×MOB-ADB-OPEN · Initial Access
- 04DICOM C-STORE Unauth Accessseen 1×HC-DICOM-CSTORE · Collection
- 05EternalBlue (MS17-010 / CVE-2017-0144)seen 1×CVE-ETERNALBLUE · Initial Access
- 06HMI Default Credentialsseen 1×OT-HMI-DEFAULTS · Initial Access
- 07Industroyer2 Timed IEC-104 Sweepseen 1×ICS-INDUSTROYER2 · Impact
- 08LLMNR/NBT-NS Poisoning and SMB Relayseen 1×T1557.001 · Credential Access