When we analyzed the top vulnerability scanning tools available, Nmap wasn’t mentioned among them; it isn’t dedicated to those specific tasks but to the entire mapping and reconnaissance process. However, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t offer some great features when it comes to vulnerability scanning.

• Zenmap Download 64 Bit
• Zenmap Download
• Zenmap Portable
• Zenmap
• Zenmap Gui

3) Start Zenmap. On Windows 10, you can do so by clicking on the Search icon, typing zenmap, and clicking on Nmap – Zenmap GUI. 4) Enter your network ID into the Target text box as shown in the following graphic. Notice how the Command text box is populated with a. Zenmap is the official Nmap Security Scanner GUI. It is a multi-platform (Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, BSD, etc.) free and open source application which aims to make Nmap easy for beginners to use while providing advanced features for experienced Nmap users. Frequently used scans can be saved as profiles to make them easy to run repeatedly. Zenmap provides graphic user interface (GUI) for Nmap.It is free, open source, and supports all major OS platforms, including Windows. Zenmap aims to make Nmap easier to use for beginners while providing advanced features for experienced Nmap users — frequently used scans can be saved as profiles so you could run them repeatedly; scan results can be saved and viewed later.

Let’s go straight to the fun stuff!

Nmap vulnerability scan using NSE scripts

CVE stands for Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures. In plain English, that simply means it’s a way to organize and categorize software vulnerabilities. This information can be highly useful for security researchers and penetration testers in their daily tasks.

Something we really love about Nmap is its ability to expand its core features by using Nmap scripts. By combining these Nmap commands with a few NSE scripts, we’re able to fetch the most popular CVEs from any target.

Two of the most popular vulnerability/CVE detection scripts found on Nmap NSE are nmap-vulners and vulscan, which will enable you to detect relevant CVE information from remote or local hosts.

Along with those two, the entire “vuln” category is an absolute treasure trove — a truly useful resource when using Nmap as a vulnerability scan engine.

Nmap vulscan

Vulscan queries its own local CVE databases, hosted on the client performing the scan. These local databases include the following files: scipvuldb.csv, cve.csv, securityfocus.csv, xforce.csv, expliotdb.csv, openvas.csv, securitytracker.csv, osvdb.csv.

In order to use this NSE script, we’ll need to clone its github repo, in almost the same way we did before.

Installation

The following commands will install the vulscan script along with all the databases mentioned:

Now let’s perform an Nmap vulnerability scan with vulscan, by using the following syntax:

The expected output will show you something like this:

Tip: you can also use your own CVE local database by using the vulscandb argument:

Nmap-vulners

Nmap-vulners is one of the most famous vulnerability scanners in use. Let’s explore how to install this tool, as well as how to perform a simple CVE scan.

Installation

Copy and paste the following two lines to install the nmap-vulners:

Testing

The syntax we’ll be using is pretty simple, calling the script by using –script and specifying the vulners engine, as shown here:

If you want to target specific posts, you simply need to add -p80 at the end, and replace “80” with the port you want to scan. And of course, replace 11.22.33.44 with your desired IP.

You can also target by host name. For example:

Nmap-vulners queries the Vulners exploit database every time we use the NSE script. And here’s the expected output:

As you can see, we were able to discover several CVEs easily, including SSH and BIND vulnerabilities.

Tip: Another way to run these scripts is by combining both of them into one single command, as shown below:

Nmap vuln

The way NSE scripts are defined is based on a list of predefined categories where each script belongs. These categories include: auth, broadcast, brute, default, discovery, dos, exploit, external, fuzzer, intrusive, malware, safe, version, and vuln.

Vuln is the one we’ll be using to launch our next scan against vulnerable subdomains. The syntax is the same as that of the previous NSE scripts, with ‘vuln’ added after ‘–script’, as you can see here:

Expected output:

Here, we launched a CVE scan against port 8443, but you can query other ports, or the entire site as well.

Summary

Nmap’s powerful scripts allow you to not only perform port scanning tasks, but also to discover CVEs in a matter of seconds. Thanks to Nmap, this becomes an easy task, even if you don’t have advanced technical skills.

Are you ready to detect and prevent real cybersecurity threats? Start exploring your entire attack surface area and discover more with SurfaceBrowser™, our all-in-one enterprise-grade tool. Book a demo with our sales team today!

Looking for an alternative tool to replace Zenmap? During the review of Zenmap we looked at other open source tools. Based on their category, tags, and text, these are the ones that have the best match.

Top 3

1. portSpider (network vulnerability scanner)
2. Masscan (high-performance port scanner)
3. Nmap (network and vulnerability scanner)

These tools are ranked as the best alternatives to Zenmap.

Alternatives (by score)

portSpider

Introduction

Project details

portSpider is written in Python.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + The source code of this software is available

Typical usage

• Network scanning
• Vulnerability scanning

Masscan

Introduction

Masscan can be compared with other tools like Nmap. Due to its focus on high performance, this tool can be used when many systems have to be scanned at once. It can scan all internet hosts on IPv4 within 5 minutes. This impressive statistic makes the tool loved by those that do security research.

Project details

Masscan is written in C.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + More than 25 contributors
• + More than 8000 GitHub stars
• + The source code of this software is available

Typical usage

• Network scanning

Nmap

Introduction

Nmap is short for 'Network Mapper'. It is a free and open source utility for network discovery and security auditing. It was release in September of 1997 by Gordon Lyon, commonly known under his pseudonym 'Fyodor'.

Project details

Nmap is written in C, C++, Lua, Python.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + Project is mature (10+ years)
• + The source code of this software is available
• + Well-known author
• + Well-known tool

• - Software usage is restricted (e.g. commercially)

Typical usage

• Network scanning
• Vulnerability scanning

QuickScan

Introduction

Although there are many port scanning utilities, sometimes it is specific functionality that makes a tool really powerful. For example, QuickScan saves the results of a scan, which then can be processed later for follow-up.

Project details

QuickScan is written in Python.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + Very low number of dependencies
• + The source code of this software is available

• - No releases on GitHub available
• - Full name of author is unknown

Typical usage

• Network scanning

DMitry

Introduction

This small utility can retrieve information from the WHOIS database, to see who owns an IP address or domain name. Besides that, it can obtain information from the system itself, like the uptime. DMitry also has the option to search for email addresses, perform a TCP port scan, and use modules specified by the user.

Project details

DMitry is written in C.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + The source code of this software is available

Cutter

Introduction

Cutter is a graphical user interface for radare2, the well-known reverse engineering framework. It focuses on those who are not familiar enough with radare2, or rather have a graphical interface instead of the command-line interface that radare2 provides.

Project details

Cutter is written in C++, Qt.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + More than 50 contributors
• + More than 3000 GitHub stars
• + The source code of this software is available

Typical usage

• Binary analysis
• Malware analysis
• Reverse engineering

IVRE

Introduction

Project details

IVRE is written in Python.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + More than 10 contributors
• + More than 1000 GitHub stars
• + The source code of this software is available

Typical usage

• Digital forensics
• Information gathering
• Intrusion detection
• Network analysis

Pyersinia

Introduction

Project details

Pyersinia is written in Python.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + The source code of this software is available

Typical usage

• Network analysis
• Penetration testing
• Security assessment

Wireshark

Introduction

Wireshark is a mature project with many users all over the world. Its library is stable and can be used by both graphical as text-based interfaces. With many books and even conferences around the subject, this tool is a safe bet to have in your toolbox.

Project details

Wireshark is written in C.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + The source code of this software is available
• + Well-known tool

Typical usage

• Network analysis
• Network traffic analysis
• Security assessment
• Troubleshooting

Leviathan Framework

Introduction

Leviathan is a security tool to provide a wide range of services including service discovery, brute force, SQL injection detection, and exploit capabilities. The primary reason to use this tool is to do massive scans on many systems at once. For example to include a huge network range, country-wide scan, or even full internet scan.

Project details

Leviathan Framework is written in Python.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + More than 500 contributors
• + The source code of this software is available

Typical usage

• Penetration testing
• Security assessment
• Service exploitation

Portspoof

Introduction

Portspoof is a small utility with the goal to make port scanning by other much harder. It achieves this by showing all configured TCP ports to be in the 'open' state instead of closed or filter. The related ports are also emulating valid services. This way a port scan on the system will reveal many open ports and look to have legitimate services running.

Project details

Anchore

Introduction

Anchore is a tool to help with discovering, analyzing and certifying container images. These images can be stored both on-premises or in the cloud. The tooling is mainly focused on developer so that perform analysis on their container images. Typical actions include running queries, creating reports, or set up policies for a continuous integration and deployment pipeline.

Project details

Anchore is written in Python.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + More than 10 contributors
• + Commercial support available
• + The source code of this software is available

Typical usage

• System hardening

Archery

Introduction

Archery is a tool that helps to collect data about vulnerabilities within an environment. Instead of focusing on the actual scanning, it allows managing findings in a web-based interface. This includes options like reporting, searching, and dashboards. It can interact with other tools, including the well-known vulnerability scanners.

Project details

Archery is written in Python.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + More than 500 GitHub stars
• + The source code of this software is available

Typical usage

• Penetration testing
• Vulnerability management
• Vulnerability scanning
• Vulnerability testing

AutoNessus (autonessus)

Introduction

This tool is useful to time scans, for example by having it run outside of business hours, and stop when the day starts.

Note: originally another tool was named AutoNessus. That is now Seccubus.

Project details

AutoNessus is written in Python.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + The source code of this software is available

• - No releases on GitHub available

Typical usage

• Vulnerability scanning

CMSeeK

Introduction

CMSeeK is a security scanner for content management systems (CMS). It can perform a wide range of functions starting from the detection of the CMS, up to vulnerability scanning. The tool claims to support over 100 different CMS tools, with extensive support for the commonly used ones like Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress.

The scans performed by CMSeeK include version detection. It can also do enumeration of users, plugins, and themes. This might be useful to see what users or components are available. The tool includes admin page discovery, file discovery, and directory listing. Anything that might be useful to a penetration test or security assessment, might be displayed.

Project details

CMSeeK is written in Python.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + The source code of this software is available

• - Full name of author is unknown

Typical usage

• Penetration testing
• Software exploitation
• Software identification
• Vulnerability scanning

Dagda

Introduction

The main reasons to use Dagda is the detection of vulnerable or malicious components within your containerized environment.

Zenmap Download 64 Bit

Project details

Dagda is written in Python.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + The source code of this software is available

Typical usage

• Malware detection
• Malware scanning
• Vulnerability management
• Vulnerability scanning

Damn Small FI Scanner (DSFS)

Introduction

Project details

Damn Small FI Scanner is written in Python.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + The source code of this software is available

Typical usage

• Security assessment
• Vulnerability scanning

Damn Small JS Scanner (DSJS)

Introduction

Project details

Damn Small JS Scanner is written in Python.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + The source code of this software is available

Typical usage

• Penetration testing
• Security assessment

Jackhammer

Introduction

The tool uses RBAC (Role Based Access Control) with different levels of access. Jackhammer uses several tools to do dynamic and static code analysis (e.g. for Java, Ruby, Python, and Nodejs). It checks also for vulnerabilities in libraries. Due to its modular architecture, it can use several scanners out of the box, with options to add your own.

The Jackhammer project was initially added to GitHub on the 8th of May, 2017.

Project details

Jackhammer is written in Ruby.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + The source code of this software is available

Typical usage

• Collaboration
• Information sharing

Zenmap Download

JoomScan

Introduction

JoomScan could be used to test your Joomla installation or during security assessments. As it has a primary focus on Joomla, it may provide better results than generic vulnerability scanners.

Project details

JoomScan is written in Perl.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + The source code of this software is available

Typical usage

• Vulnerability scanning
• Vulnerability testing

LFI Suite

Introduction

This tool is a useful addition to the pentesting toolbox of security professionals. It can help discover and exploit any local file inclusion weakness in applications. Upon success, a reverse shell can be used to get access to the system.

Project details

LFI Suite is written in Python.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + The source code of this software is available

• - Full name of author is unknown

Typical usage

• Penetration testing
• Web application analysis

Lynis

Introduction

Lynis is an open source security auditing tool that is available since 2007 and created by Michael Boelen. Its primary goal is to evaluate the security defenses of systems running Linux or other flavors of Unix. It provides suggestions to install, configure, or correct any security measures.

Project details

Lynis is written in shell script.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + More than 50 contributors
• + Commercial support available
• + More than 4000 GitHub stars
• + Used language is shell script
• + Very low number of dependencies
• + Project is mature (10+ years)
• + The source code of this software is available

Typical usage

• IT audit
• Penetration testing
• Security assessment
• System hardening
• Vulnerability scanning

Nikto

Introduction

Nikto helps with performing security scans against web servers and to search for vulnerabilities in web applications.

Project details

Nikto is written in Perl.

Strengths and weaknesses

Zenmap Portable

• + The source code of this software is available
• + Well-known tool

Typical usage

• Penetration testing
• Security assessment
• Web application analysis

OpenSCAP

Introduction

The OpenSCAP project provides a wide variety of hardening guides, configuration baselines, and tools to test for vulnerabilities and configuration issues. It uses SCAP as the protocol to store the underlying data.

Project details

OpenSCAP is written in C.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + More than 25 contributors
• + The source code of this software is available
• + Supported by a large company

Typical usage

• Security assessment
• Vulnerability scanning

OpenVAS

Introduction

OpenVAS is an open source vulnerability scanner that emerged from when Nessus became closed source in October of 2005.

Project details

Zenmap

OpenVAS is written in C.

Strengths and weaknesses

• + The source code of this software is available
• + Well-known tool

Zenmap Gui

Typical usage

• Penetration testing
• Security assessment
• Vulnerability scanning

Some relevant tool missing as an alternative to Zenmap? Please contact us with your suggestion.