Practical Web Penetration Testing

Domain name system – DNS enumeration

DNS enumeration will reveal information regarding domain names and IP addresses assigned to the target, as well as the route between us and the final destination.

In summary, the Domain Name System (DNS) is a database that resolves domain names (for example, google.com) to its IP addresses (172.217.10.46).

You will use the DNS information for the following reasons:

• To identify whether the DNS server allows a zone transfer. If it does, then it will reveal the hostnames and IP addresses of internet-accessible systems.
• By using a brute-force methodology, the tool allows us to identify new domain names or subdomains associated with the target.
• Finding services that may be vulnerable (for example, FTP).