Enum4linux - Enumerates Windows and Samba Servers

First, let's discuss what is enumeration in Linux: Enumeration is a connection between the system and its target to gain more information about it like usernames, machine names, network resources, or any information that can be valuable to the hacker, which discovers attacks that can help in the exploitation process. General use case - enum4linux -a <IP>

What is Enum4linux? 

Enum4linux is a tool used to enumerate information from samba hosts which is a reimplementation of the popular SMB (server message block) protocol that allows sharing files across a network. Enum4liunx tool came in handy to discover detailed information about the system and examine the system completely. 

Why Enum4linux?

There are tools that we can use for enumeration but enum4linux provides us with features like:

• List users on hosts
• Detect if the host is in a workgroup or a domain
• Listing of Group Membership Information
• Identify the Remote Operating System
• Password Policy, retrieved by using a python script called polenum.
• Listing windows shares and it will try to connect to each one
• Shares on the disk (drives and folders)

Enumeration is not just an extra step that could help in pentesting but it is a critical one that helps in getting the detailed information that is needed about the system to find attacks and threats.

We hope this helps. If any suggestions or doubts you can add a comment and we will reply as soon as possible.