CAPEC-169

Footprinting is a general term to describe a variety of information gathering techniques, often used by attackers in preparation for some attack. It consists of using tools to learn as much as possible about the composition, configuration, and security mechanisms of the targeted application, system or network. Information that might be collected during a footprinting effort could include open ports, applications and their versions, network topology, and similar information. Although similar to fingerprinting, footprinting aims to get a more holistic view of a system or network, whereas fingerprinting is more targeted to a specific application or operating system. While footprinting is not intended to be damaging (although certain activities, such as network scans, can sometimes cause disruptions to vulnerable applications inadvertently) it may often pave the way for more damaging attacks.

How the attack unfolds

1. Explore

   The attacker looks for a way in.

   1. [Request Footprinting] The attacker examines the website information and source code of the website and uses automated tools to get as much information as possible about the system and organization.

      4 techniques

      • Open Source Footprinting: Examine the website about the organization and skim through the webpage's HTML source to look for comments.
      • Network Enumeration: Perform various queries (Registrar Query, Organizational Query, Domain Query, Network Query, POC Query) on the many whois databases found on the internet to identify domain names and associated networks.
      • DNS Interrogation: Once basic information is gathered the attack could begin to query DNS.
      • Other Techniques: Use ping sweep, TCP scan, UDP scan, OS Identification various techniques to gain more information about the system and network.

Prerequisites

• An application must publicize identifiable information about the system or application through voluntary or involuntary means. Certain identification details of information systems are visible on communication networks (e.g., if an adversary uses a sniffer to inspect the traffic) due to their inherent structure and protocol standards. Any system or network that can be detected can be footprinted. However, some configuration choices may limit the useful information that can be collected during a footprinting attack.

Skills required

• Low skill

  The adversary knows how to send HTTP request, run the scan tool.

Resources required

• The adversary requires a variety of tools to collect information about the target. These include port/network scanners and tools to analyze responses from applications to determine version and configuration information. Footprinting a system adequately may also take a few days if the attacker wishes the footprinting attempt to go undetected.

Consequences

Mitigations

• Keep patches up to date by installing weekly or daily if possible.

• Shut down unnecessary services/ports.

• Change default passwords by choosing strong passwords.

• Curtail unexpected input.

• Encrypt and password-protect sensitive data.

• Avoid including information that has the potential to identify and compromise your organization's security such as access to business plans, formulas, and proprietary documents.

Weaknesses it exploits

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

Recent CVEs with these weaknesses

1. 4.3CVE-2026-1249442026-11-10

   Information disclosure in the Marionette component. This vulnerability was fixed in Firefox 160.

2. 4.3CVE-2026-1249412026-11-10

   Information disclosure in the Security: RLBox component. This vulnerability was fixed in Firefox 160 and Firefox ESR 153.7.

3. 4.3CVE-2026-1249302026-11-10

   Information disclosure in the Address Bar component. This vulnerability was fixed in Firefox 160 and Firefox ESR 153.7.

4. 4.3CVE-2026-1249292026-11-10

   Information disclosure in the Layout: Form Controls component. This vulnerability was fixed in Firefox 160 and Firefox ESR 153.7.

5. 4.3CVE-2026-1249252026-11-10

   Information disclosure in the Layout component. This vulnerability was fixed in Firefox 160.

6. 4.3CVE-2026-1249092026-11-10

   Information disclosure in the Private Browsing component. This vulnerability was fixed in Firefox 160 and Firefox ESR 153.7.

7. 5.3CVE-2026-967692026-11-10

   The Extend B2B - Companies and Users Management for WooCommerce plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Sensitive Information Exposure in all versions up to, and including, 2.1.4 via the register_company_api. This makes it possible for unaut…

8. 7.5CVE-2026-636442026-11-09

   bird-lg-go is a BIRD looking glass in Go. Prior to version 1.4.7, unsanitized input path enables arbitrary local file read, allowing an unauthenticated remote attacker to read sensitive files such as /etc/shadow and /root/.bash_history. Th…

The newest records naming one of them. Each weakness's page lists them all.

Related attack patterns

More specific patterns

• CAPEC-292 Host Discovery
• CAPEC-300 Port Scanning
• CAPEC-309 Network Topology Mapping
• CAPEC-497 File Discovery
• CAPEC-529 Malware-Directed Internal Reconnaissance
• CAPEC-573 Process Footprinting
• CAPEC-574 Services Footprinting
• CAPEC-575 Account Footprinting
• CAPEC-576 Group Permission Footprinting
• CAPEC-577 Owner Footprinting
• CAPEC-580 System Footprinting
• CAPEC-646 Peripheral Footprinting
• CAPEC-694 System Location Discovery

Examples

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