👉 Overview
👀 What ?
Pentesting Finger is a technique used in penetration testing to gather information about a system or network. It involves querying the 'Finger' protocol, a software tool that was originally used on UNIX-based systems to identify users and provide basic details about them.
🧐 Why ?
Pentesting Finger is important because it allows security testers to gather valuable information about users on a network, including their login name, phone number, and whether they are currently logged in. This information can be used to identify potential vulnerabilities or weak points in the system's security. Understanding and being able to use this technique is therefore crucial for both penetration testers and system administrators.
⛏️ How ?
To use Pentesting Finger, you would first need to identify a system that has the Finger service enabled. You can then use a terminal or command line interface to send a Finger query to the system, using the syntax 'finger @[hostname]'. The system will respond with a list of users and their associated information. It's important to note that the use of the Finger protocol is generally considered outdated and insecure, and most modern systems have it disabled by default.
⏳ When ?
The Finger protocol was first developed in the 1970s for use on UNIX-based systems. Pentesting Finger has been used since the advent of penetration testing as a field, but its usage has declined in recent years due to the inherent security risks of the Finger protocol.
⚙️ Technical Explanations
Pentesting Finger works by querying the Finger protocol, a network protocol that provides information about users on a network. This protocol operates on the application layer of the TCP/IP stack and listens on port 79. When a Finger query is received, the server responds with a list of users and details such as their login name, phone number, and login status. However, because this information is transmitted in clear text over the network, it can be easily intercepted and exploited by malicious actors. As a result, most modern systems have the Finger service disabled by default, and its use is generally discouraged in favor of more secure methods of user enumeration.