TCP ping missing obvious port?

Thomas Reinke <[email protected]>
Newsgroups gmane.comp.security.nessus.devel
Message-ID <[email protected]>
Just wondering if I'm missing something obvious, but is there
a reason why the tcp_ping() function within Nessus, used, for
example, in ping_host() to check if a host is up, will omit
port 80 as one of the default ports being checked using the
"built-in" TCP port list?

I note it's checking SSH, FTP, DNS, a secure web server,
but notably is missing any checks against port 80.

File reference: libnasl/nasl/nasl_packet_forgery.c
Function:       nasl_tcp_ping

Also, since the same function is strategically setting
the source port for any queries, (e.g. setting port 53
when querying a DNS server) to increase the likelihood
of a packet getting through, would it not make sense to
have either
   a) The script be able to set the source port, or
   b) Have the nasl_tcp_ping function use the same
      source port lookup technique for any user passed
      ports?

At issue is, for example, a user enhancing the 'built-in'
port list with one of their own, by, say, adding port 80,
but then losing functionality as a result of losing the
sport settings currently in use in the function.

Thomas
_______________________________________________
Nessus-devel mailing list
[email protected]
http://mail.nessus.org/mailman/listinfo/nessus-devel
lmpx.com only provides a reader for public news (NNTP) servers. It is not affiliated with the servers or forums shown here and is not responsible for the content of articles, which is written by their respective authors.