iSCSI Pentesting

This skill helps you enumerate, authenticate, and mount iSCSI targets during security assessments. iSCSI (Internet Small Computer Systems Interface) is a storage networking protocol that provides block-level access to storage devices over TCP/IP networks.

Default port: 3260/tcp

Quick Start

# Install required tools
sudo apt-get install open-iscsi

# Quick enumeration
nmap -sV --script=iscsi-info -p 3260 <target-ip>

Enumeration

1. Nmap Discovery

Use Nmap to identify iSCSI services and check if authentication is required:

nmap -sV --script=iscsi-info -p 3260 <target-ip>

What to look for:

• Service version information
• Whether authentication is required
• Target IQN identifiers

2. Manual Target Discovery

Discover available iSCSI targets using

iscsiadm

:

iscsiadm -m discovery -t sendtargets -p <target-ip>:3260

Example output:

123.123.123.123:3260,1 iqn.1992-05.com.emc:fl1001433000190000-3-vnxe
[2a01:211:7b7:1223:211:32ff:fea9:fab9]:3260,1 iqn.2000-01.com.synology:asd3.Target-1.d0280fd382

Important: The discovery may show internal IPs or different IPs from the one you used, especially if the service is exposed via NAT or a virtual IP.

3. Extract Target Information

For each discovered target, extract the IQN (the second part of each line) and attempt to gather more information:

iscsiadm -m node --targetname="<iqn-identifier>" -p <target-ip>:3260

This shows configuration details including:

• Authentication method (

  node.session.auth.authmethod

  )
• Connection addresses (

  node.conn[0].address

  )
• Session parameters

Authentication

Login to Target

Attempt to login to the discovered target:

iscsiadm -m node --targetname="<iqn-identifier>" -p <target-ip>:3260 --login

Success indicator:

Login to [iface: default, target: <iqn>, portal: <ip>,3260] successful.

Logout from Target

iscsiadm -m node --targetname="<iqn-identifier>" -p <target-ip>:3260 --logout

Brute Force Authentication

If authentication is required, refer to brute force techniques for iSCSI credentials. Common approaches include:

• Dictionary attacks on username/password
• Default credential testing
• Empty credential attempts

NAT Handling (Critical)

When targets are discovered via NAT or virtual IPs,

iscsiadm

may register the internal address instead of the public address. This requires manual configuration:

Step 1: Rename the Node Directory

After discovery, a directory is created like:

/etc/iscsi/nodes/<iqn>/<internal-ip>,3260,1/

Rename it to use the public IP:

mv "/etc/iscsi/nodes/<iqn>/<internal-ip>,3260,1/" "/etc/iscsi/nodes/<iqn>/<public-ip>,3260,1/"

Step 2: Update Connection Address

Edit the default configuration file:

sed -i 's/<internal-ip>/<public-ip>/g' "/etc/iscsi/nodes/<iqn>/<public-ip>,3260,1/default"

Or manually edit:

nano "/etc/iscsi/nodes/<iqn>/<public-ip>,3260,1/default"

Change

node.conn[0].address

from internal to public IP.

Mounting iSCSI Targets

On Linux

After successful login, the target should appear as a block device:

# List available devices
lsblk

# Mount the device
sudo mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt/iscsi-target

On Windows

Use the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator:

1. Open "iSCSI Initiator" from Administrative Tools
2. Enter the target IP in the "Quick Connect" field
3. Click "Connect"
4. Initialize and format the disk in Disk Management

Shodan Reconnaissance

Search for iSCSI services with specific configurations:

# Find iSCSI services with authentication method info
port:3260 AuthMethod

# Find all iSCSI services
port:3260

Common Issues and Solutions

Issue: Connection fails after discovery

Solution: Check if NAT is involved. The discovery may show internal IPs. Follow the NAT handling steps above.

Issue: Authentication required

Solution: Check

node.session.auth.authmethod

in the target info. If set to

CHAP

or

CHAP_MUTUAL

, you'll need credentials. Try brute force or default credentials.

Issue: Target not appearing after login

Solution:

1. Verify login was successful
2. Check

   lsblk

   for new block devices
3. Try

   iscsiadm -m session

   to verify active sessions

Workflow Summary

1. Discover - Use Nmap or

   iscsiadm

   to find targets
2. Enumerate - Extract IQN and configuration details
3. Authenticate - Login with or without credentials
4. Handle NAT - If needed, fix IP address mismatches
5. Mount - Access the storage as a block device
6. Extract - Copy data or analyze contents
7. Cleanup - Logout and unmount

References

• iSCSI Pentesting Guide
• iscsiadm Documentation
• Linux iSCSI Setup
• Windows iSCSI Setup