What is Banner Grabbing? Top 6 Tools Used for Banner Grabbing

Table of Contents

What is Banner Grabbing?

Banner grabbing is a technique used in the fingerprint security process to perform intel reconnaissance. It has a prominent use during security auditing to extract necessary information from the web servers.

The primary aim of Banner grabbing is to get as many details as possible about the software in use. The process of banner grabbing can be completed using manual methods or automatic tools like OSINT.

Launching banner grabbing is not recommended if you don’t have much knowledge about technical stuff like FTP servers, SSH servers, and others. If the banner grabbing attempt is successful, you will get lots of information relating to the software, including its version, original date of manufacture, and OS utility—which software is compatible with it.

Approaches to Banner Grabbing

Passive banner grabbing

Under the passive banner grabbing technique, you have to use various software and toolkits to get the desired information. Even though the process is a little indirect, still you will get all the necessary details. Search engine research, Shodan, and scrutinizing packets are helpful in extracting the required information relating to software versions.

Active banner grabbing

It’s regarded as the straightforward approach to banner grabbing. Here, packets are sent to the remote host first, and once the necessary data is retrieved the same has to be inspected and scrutinized. It includes establishing an online link between a remote and origin host. However, please take precautions, because any unauthorized action will be caught if IDS is used.

How Can Banner Grabbing Be Prevented?

Limit who has access to the network’s services. Turn off any unwanted or underutilised services that are operating on network hosts.

To hide version information, you can change your server’s default banner behaviour. System administrators have the option of altering the default banners, disabling them through the network host’s operating system or application settings, or removing any data that would offer an attacker an advantage.

Update your computers and server to protect your applications against known server attacks.

Top 8 Tools To Use For Banner Grabbing Operation

1. ASR (Attack Surface Reduction)

It is considered one of the most effective techniques of banner grabbing. Usually, IT heads and online security personnel uses its application for research and inspection purposes.

2. Telnet

It is another online client through which you can easily perform banner grabbing. It offers a superfast online performance and takes less time to get the task completed. You have to run Telnet IP Port to extract the full details like IP address, PORT of the server, and location.

3. Wget

In the last few years, IT experts have shifted towards Wget to perform banner grabbing. Once the entire Wget operation is completed, all necessary details will appear online. The tool will fetch the full banner of the remote HTTP server and also analyses its software version.

4. cURL

It also gets you remote banner information including the host of the servers. You’ve to specifically type a syntax using coding like –s/-e and others. Soon, it will run its operation and come with the necessary software details.

5. NetCat

Netcat is another popular option when it comes to banner grabbing using UNIX or LINUX command. You have to use the commands NC –v and IP PORT address to get details of the remote FTP server. Once the full operation is run, you will get details including the FTP version and software used in it.

6. DMITRY

It is one of the most unpopular options for banner grabbing using Linux or Unix commands. However, it fetches good results. And often, security researchers found DMITRY as a useful tool for banner grabbing. It also extracts information like DNS enumeration, open ports, and subdomain mapping. DMITRY gets you software names, versions, and other technical details.

7. Nmap

Nmap is a straightforward banner grabber that connects to an open TCP port and, in a matter of seconds, writes out information received by the listening service.

8. Zgrab

Another excellent tool for collecting banners is Zgrab. It can be described specifically as a stateful application-layer scanner. It is written in the Go programming language and supports a wide variety of protocols.

With this tool, banner capturing can be done as a part of any intelligence gathering operation against nearby and distant systems. Zgrab is frequently used for security research, penetration testing, and vulnerability scanning and evaluation.

The Conclusion

During the reconnaissance process, banner grabbing is one of the most effective and tested techniques for fetching necessary details and information. It is also helpful during penetration testing phases.

Once you use these tools for banner grabbing, you can then analyze the critical aspect of the software that is being used on your server. It helps you strengthen your cyber security apparatus to prevent any online attacks by remote hackers.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

When Does Banner Grabbing Prove Useless?

Yes. Sometimes, banner grabbing leads to negative or wrong information. It happens when the remote host uses wrongful banners to mislead people. It may also purposefully hide unnecessary details.

What is the process of banner grabbing?

Banner grabbing is a remote attack by online attackers or security personnel for specific purposes. The attacker first identifies the service and launches a request for the same. Once the software responds, the online attacker or hacker can then silently launch its operation.

How to prevent banner grabbing on your server?

The very first step to thwart banner grabbing attacks is by disabling banners. In fact, you may don’t even need to enable banner display on your server. Another effective way to stop online remote access by hackers or online frauds is by integrating SERVERMASK into your operation.