Port 5357 Hacktricks [better] Today

During a penetration test or a Capture The Flag (CTF) competition, encountering an open port 5357 offers a unique avenue for network enumeration and information gathering. This article breaks down how port 5357 works, how to enumerate it using tools found in the HackTricks methodology, and how to secure it. 1. What is Port 5357 (WS-Discovery)?

Disable or restrict inbound traffic on port 5357 using Windows Defender Firewall unless explicitly required for network discovery (e.g., dedicated print servers).

Some devices act as WSD proxies. If you can register a malicious device metadata pointing to 169.254.169.254 (AWS metadata), you can achieve SSRF. port 5357 hacktricks

"In an Active Directory environment," she read, "if this port is exposed to the internet or an untrusted zone, it can leak a wealth of information without authentication."

Interacting with the WSD service via specialized scripts can leak sensitive environmental details, including: Computer NetBIOS names Active Directory Domain names Exact OS build versions Potential Attack Vectors and Exploitation During a penetration test or a Capture The

Port 5357 is commonly utilized by Microsoft Windows for the Web Services on Devices (WSD) API. This service allows devices like printers, scanners, and file shares to be discovered and managed automatically over a local network. While highly convenient for enterprise and home networking, exposing this port can provide attackers with valuable reconnaissance data and potential vectors for lateral movement.

She closed her laptop and rubbed her temples. The headache was still there, but the satisfaction of a successful find dulled the pain. What is Port 5357 (WS-Discovery)

By default, Windows 10/11, Server 2016/2019/2022 listen on 0.0.0.0:5357 (turned on in "Network and Sharing Center").

If the WS-Discovery service is misconfigured or poorly restricted, unauthenticated attackers on the local network can query the endpoint to map internal device configurations. This includes: Computer hostnames Unique Device UUIDs Internal network configurations and interface details B. Exploiting the Underlying HTTP Stack ( http.sys )