An adversary sends a probe to an IP address to determine if the host is alive. Host discovery is one of the earliest phases of network reconnaissance. The adversary usually starts with a range of IP addresses belonging to a target network and uses various methods to determine if a host is present at that IP address. Host discovery is usually referred to as 'Ping' scanning using a sonar analogy. The goal is to send a packet through to the IP address and solicit a response from the host. As such, a 'ping' can be virtually any crafted packet whatsoever, provided the adversary can identify a functional host based on its response. An attack of this nature is usually carried out with a 'ping sweep,' where a particular kind of ping is sent to a range of IP addresses.

What weaknesses does CAPEC-292 target?

CAPEC-292 exploits 1 CWE weakness, including CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor).

How severe is CAPEC-292?

MITRE rates CAPEC-292 as Low severity.

CAPEC-292: Host Discovery

Overview

CAPEC-292 (Host Discovery) is a standard-level attack pattern catalogued by MITRE in the Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC). It describes a recurring method attackers use to exploit software weaknesses.

What the attacker needs

Prerequisites

The adversary requires logical access to the target network in order to carry out host discovery.

Resources required

The resources required will differ based upon the type of host discovery being performed. Usually a network scanning tool or scanning script is required due to the volume of requests that must be generated.

Consequences

What a successful CAPEC-292 attack can achieve.

Other

Affects: Confidentiality

Bypass Protection Mechanism, Hide Activities

Affects: Confidentiality, Access Control, Authorization

The CWE weaknesses that CAPEC-292 exploits.

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

How this attack relates to others in the CAPEC hierarchy.

Parent

CAPEC-169: Footprinting

Child

Terminology & mappings

Mapped taxonomies

ATTACK: Remote System Discovery (1018)

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about CAPEC-292.

What is CAPEC-292?: An adversary sends a probe to an IP address to determine if the host is alive. Host discovery is one of the earliest phases of network reconnaissance. The adversary usually starts with a range of IP addresses belonging to a target network and uses various methods to determine if a host is present at that IP address. Host discovery is usually referred to as 'Ping' scanning using a sonar analogy. The goal is to send a packet through to the IP address and solicit a response from the host. As such, a 'ping' can be virtually any crafted packet whatsoever, provided the adversary can identify a functional host based on its response. An attack of this nature is usually carried out with a 'ping sweep,' where a particular kind of ping is sent to a range of IP addresses.
What weaknesses does CAPEC-292 target?: CAPEC-292 exploits 1 CWE weakness, including CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor).
How severe is CAPEC-292?: MITRE rates CAPEC-292 as Low severity.

References

Attack-pattern data is sourced from the MITRE CAPEC catalog (v3.9). Weakness associations link to the corresponding CWE entries on RadicalNotion.AI.