312-50V11 · Question #334
Which of the following parameters enables NMAP's operating system detection feature?
The correct answer is D. NMAP -O. NMAP uses the -O flag to enable its OS detection engine, which fingerprints a remote host's operating system by analyzing TCP/IP stack responses. This is a dedicated flag separate from service version detection.
Question
Which of the following parameters enables NMAP's operating system detection feature?
Options
- ANMAP -sV
- BNMAP -oS
- CNMAP -sR
- DNMAP -O
How the community answered
(21 responses)- A5% (1)
- B5% (1)
- D90% (19)
Why each option
NMAP uses the -O flag to enable its OS detection engine, which fingerprints a remote host's operating system by analyzing TCP/IP stack responses. This is a dedicated flag separate from service version detection.
-sV enables service and version detection on open ports, identifying software running on those ports rather than the underlying operating system.
-oS is an output formatting flag that writes scan results in stylized 'script kiddie' text format and has no connection to OS detection.
-sR was a legacy RPC scan type that has since been folded into -sV and does not perform operating system fingerprinting.
The -O flag activates NMAP's OS detection subsystem, which sends a series of specially crafted probe packets and compares the target's responses against NMAP's built-in OS fingerprint database. This process identifies the remote OS, version, and sometimes device type without requiring an authenticated connection.
Concept tested: NMAP OS detection flag and fingerprinting
Source: https://nmap.org/book/man-os-detection.html
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