CAPEC-292
Host Discovery
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.
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Explain the attack pattern CAPEC-292: Host Discovery: how it unfolds, what it needs and how to prevent and detect it in my systems. Use https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/292.html and https://cve.bz/cve/capec/292?via=ask-ai-copy, which lists recent CVEs with the weaknesses it exploits. Cite the sources.Opens a third-party assistant; its answer is its own, not cve.bz's. The prompt holds only this attack pattern's id and public links.
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
| Impact | Affects | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Confidentiality | |
| Bypass Protection Mechanism, Hide Activities | Confidentiality, Access Control, Authorization |
Weaknesses it exploits
- CWE-200 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
Recent CVEs with these weaknesses
- 4.3CVE-2026-124944
Information disclosure in the Marionette component. This vulnerability was fixed in Firefox 160.
- 4.3CVE-2026-124941
Information disclosure in the Security: RLBox component. This vulnerability was fixed in Firefox 160 and Firefox ESR 153.7.
- 4.3CVE-2026-124930
Information disclosure in the Address Bar component. This vulnerability was fixed in Firefox 160 and Firefox ESR 153.7.
- 4.3CVE-2026-124929
Information disclosure in the Layout: Form Controls component. This vulnerability was fixed in Firefox 160 and Firefox ESR 153.7.
- 4.3CVE-2026-124925
Information disclosure in the Layout component. This vulnerability was fixed in Firefox 160.
- 4.3CVE-2026-124909
Information disclosure in the Private Browsing component. This vulnerability was fixed in Firefox 160 and Firefox ESR 153.7.
- 5.3CVE-2026-96769
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…
- 7.5CVE-2026-63644
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
- Part of
- CAPEC-169 Footprinting
- More specific patterns
- CAPEC-285 ICMP Echo Request Ping
- CAPEC-294 ICMP Address Mask Request
- CAPEC-295 Timestamp Request
- CAPEC-296 ICMP Information Request
- CAPEC-297 TCP ACK Ping
- CAPEC-298 UDP Ping
- CAPEC-299 TCP SYN Ping
- CAPEC-612 WiFi MAC Address Tracking
- CAPEC-613 WiFi SSID Tracking
- CAPEC-618 Cellular Broadcast Message Request
- CAPEC-619 Signal Strength Tracking
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