INTRO TO NETWORK TRAFFIC

ANALYSIS

CHEAT SHEET
Cheat Sheet
Keep in mind, unless you are utilizing root, sudo privileges will be required to execute any
applications that need to bind a network interface or set it into promiscuous mode.

Nomachine Connection Information

Target IP == 10.129.43.4
Username == htb-student
Password == HTB_@cademy_stdnt!

Tcpdump

Command Description

tcpdump -- Prints the tcpdump and libpcap version strings then exits.
version

tcpdump -h Prints the help and usage information.

tcpdump -D Prints a list of usable network interfaces from which tcpdump can
capture.

tcpdump -i Executes tcpdump and utilizes the interface specified to capture on.
(interface
name or #)

tcpdump -i Runs a capture on the specified interface and writes the output to a
(int) -w file.
file.pcap
Command Description

tcpdump -r TCPDump will read the output from a specified file.

file.pcap

tcpdump -r/- TCPDump will utilize the capture traffic from a live capture or a file
w file.pcap and set stdout as line-buffered. We can then utilize pipe (|) to send
-l \| grep
'string' that output to other tools such as grep to look for strings or specific
patterns.

tcpdump -i TCPDump will start a capture on the interface specified at (int) and
(int) host will only capture traffic originating from or destined to the IP address
(ip)
or hostname specified after host.

tcpdump -i Will filter the capture for anything sourcing from or destined to port (#)
(int) port and discard the rest.
(#)

tcpdump -i Will filter the capture for any protocol traffic matching the (#). For
(int) proto example, (6) would filter for any TCP traffic and discard the rest.
(#)

tcpdump -i Will utilize a protocols common name to filter the traffic captured.
(int) (proto TCP/UDP/ICMP as examples.
name)

Tcpdump Common Switches and Filters

Switch/Filter Description

D Will display any interfaces available to capture from.

i Selects an interface to capture from. ex. -i eth0

n Do not resolve hostnames.

nn Do not resolve hostnames or well-known ports.

e Will grab the ethernet header along with upper-layer data.

X Show Contents of packets in hex and ASCII.

XX Same as X, but will also specify ethernet headers. (like using Xe)
Switch/Filter Description

v, vv, vvv Increase the verbosity of output shown and saved.

c Grab a specific number of packets, then quit the program.

s Defines how much of a packet to grab.

S change relative sequence numbers in the capture display to absolute

sequence numbers. (13248765839 instead of 101)

q Print less protocol information.

r file.pcap Read from a file.

w file.pcap Write into a file

host Host will filter visible traffic to show anything involving the designated
host. Bi-directional

src / dest srcand dest are modifiers. We can use them to designate a source or
destination host or port.

net net will show us any traffic sourcing from or destined to the network
designated. It uses / notation.

proto will filter for a specific protocol type. (ether, TCP, UDP, and ICMP as
examples)

port port is bi-directional. It will show any traffic with the specified port as
the source or destination.

portrange Portrange allows us to specify a range of ports. (0-1024)

less / less and greater can be used to look for a packet or protocol option
greater "< of a specific size.
>"

and / && can be used to concatenate two different filters together. for
and &&
example, src host AND port.

or or Or allows for a match on either of two conditions. It does not have

to meet both. It can be tricky.
Switch/Filter Description

not not is a modifier saying anything but x. For example, not UDP.

TShark

Command Description

tshark -h Prints the help menu.

tshark -D List available interfaces to capture from.

tshark -i (int) Capture on a selected interface. Replace (int) with the interface
name or number.

tshark -i eth0 - apply a filter with (-f) looking for a specific host while utilizing
f "host (ip)" tshark

D Will display any interfaces available to capture from and then exit
out.

L Will list the Link-layer mediums you can capture from and then
exit out. (ethernet as an example)

i choose an interface to capture from. (-i eth0)

f packet filter in libpcap syntax. Used during capture.

c Grab a specific number of packets, then quit the program.

Defines a stop condition.

a Defines an autostop condition. It can be after a duration, specific

file size, or after a certain number of packets.

r (pcap-file) Read from a file.

W (pcap-file) Write into a file using the pcapng format.

P Will print the packet summary while writing into a file (-W)
Command Description

x will add Hex and ASCII output into the capture.

h See the help menu

WireShark

Capture Filter Description

host x.x.x.x Capture only traffic pertaining to a certain host

net x.x.x.x/24 Capture traffic to or from a specific network (using slash notation
to specify the mask)

src/dst net Using src or dst net will only capture traffic sourcing from the
x.x.x.x/24 specified network or destined to the target network

port # will filter out all traffic except the port you specify

not will capture everything except the variable specified. ex. not
port 80

and AND will concatenate your specified ports. ex. host 192.168.1.1
and port 80

portrange x-x Portrange will grab traffic from all ports within the range only

ip / ether / tcp These filters will only grab traffic from specified protocol headers.

broadcast / Grabs a specific type of traffic. one to one, one to many, or one
multicast / to all.
unicast

Display Filter Description

ip.addr == x.x.x.x Capture only traffic pertaining to a certain host. This is an OR

statement.

ip.addr == Capture traffic pertaining to a specific network. This is an OR

x.x.x.x/24 statement.
Display Filter Description

ip.src/dst == Capture traffic to or from a specific host.

x.x.x.x

dns / tcp / ftp / filter traffic by a specific protocol. There are many more
arp / ip options.

tcp.port == x filter by a specific tcp port.

src.port / dst.port will capture everything except the port specified.

==x

and / or / not AND will concatenate, OR will find either of two options, NOT
will exclude your input option.

tcp.stream eq # Allows us to follow a tcp session in which we captured the

entire stream. Replace (#) with the session to reassemble.

http Will filter for any traffic matching the http protocol.

http && image-jfif This filter will display any packet with a jpeg image file.

ftp Filters for the ftp protocol.

ftp.request.command Will filter for any control commands sent over ftp control
channel.

ftp-data Will show any objects transfered over ftp.

Misc Commands

Command Description

sudo * Sudo will run the command that proceeds it with elevated privileges.

which Utilizes which to determine if (application) is installed on the host.

(application) Replace the application with what you are looking for. ex. which
tcpdump
Command Description

sudo apt Uses elevated privileges to install an application package if it does

install not exist on the host. ex. sudo apt install wireshark
(application)

man Displays the manual pages for an application. ex. man tcpdump.
(application)

Common Ports and Protocols

Port Protocol Description

Number

20 FTP-Data Data channel for passing FTP files.

21 FTP- Control channel for issuing commands to an FTP server.

Command

22 SSH Secure Shell Service port. Provides secure remote

communications

23 Telnet Telnet service provides cleartext communications between

hosts.

25 SMTP Simple Mail Transfer protocol. Utilized for email

transmissions between servers.

53 DNS Domain Name Services. Provides name resolution with

multiple protocols

69 TFTP Trivial File Transfer Protocol. A lightweight, minimal-function

transfer protocol.

80 HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol. Provides dynamic web services

88 Kerberos Providing cryptographic network authentication

110 POP3 Mail service utilized by clients to retrieve email from a server.

111 RPC Remote Procedure Call. Remote service for managing

network file systems.
Port Protocol Description
Number

115 SFTP SSH File Transfer Protocol. An extension of SSH providing

secure and reliable FTP services.

123 NTP Network Time Protocol. Provides timing and sync services
for network devices.

137 Netbios- Local network name resolution.

NS

139 Netbios- Provides session services for data transfer. Services like
SSN SMB can utilize it.

179 BGP Border Gateway Protocol. BGP is a protocol for exchanging

routing info with autonomous systems worldwide.

389 LDAP Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. System agnostic

authentication and authorization services.

443 HTTPS HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure. An extension of HTTP

utilizing SSL/TLS for encrypting the communications.

445 SMB Server Message Block. SMB allows for the sharing of
services, files, networking ports, and printers between hosts.