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Attack Patterns T1018 — Remote System Discovery
T1018

Remote System Discovery

Discovery
TLP:CLEAR

Description

Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of other systems by IP address, hostname, or other logical identifier on a network that may be used for Lateral Movement from the current system. Functionality could exist within remote access tools to enable this, but utilities available on the operating system could also be used such as Ping, <code>net view</code> using Net, or, on ESXi servers, `esxcli network diag ping`. Adversaries may also analyze data from local host files (ex: <code>C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts</code> or <code>/etc/hosts</code>) or other passive means (such as local Arp cache entries) in order to discover the presence of remote systems in an environment. Adversaries may also target discovery of network infrastructure as well as leverage Network Device CLI commands on network devices to gather detailed information about systems within a network (e.g. <code>show cdp neighbors</code>, <code>show arp</code>).(Citation: US-CERT-TA18-106A)(Citation: CISA AR21-126A FIVEHANDS May 2021)

MITRE ATT&CK Detection Strategies
1

DET0574 Detection Strategy for Remote System Enumeration Behavior
AN1585 macOS

Execution of built-in or AppleScript-based system enumeration via `arp`, `netstat`, `ping`, and discovery of `/etc/hosts` contents.

macos:unifiedlog macos:osquery
AN1583 Windows

Execution of network enumeration utilities (e.g., net.exe, ping.exe, tracert.exe) in short succession, often chained with lateral movement tools or system enumeration commands.

WinEventLog:Sysmon WinEventLog:Sysmon
AN1586 ESXi

ESXi shell or SSH access issuing `esxcli network diag ping` or viewing routing tables to identify connected hosts.

esxi:hostd
+2 more analytics

Details

Platforms
Esxi
Linux
Macos
Network devices
Windows
Added
May 2, 2026
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