CAPEC-290: Enumerate Mail Exchange (MX) Records
Description
An adversary enumerates the MX records for a given via a DNS query. This type of information gathering returns the names of mail servers on the network. Mail servers are often not exposed to the Internet but are located within the DMZ of a network protected by a firewall. A side effect of this configuration is that enumerating the MX records for an organization my reveal the IP address of the firewall or possibly other internal systems. Attackers often resort to MX record enumeration when a DNS Zone Transfer is not possible.
- Likelihood of attack
- Not rated by MITRE
- Typical severity
- Low
- Abstraction
- DetailedA low-level, detailed pattern, often for a particular technology.
Mechanism of attack: Collect and Analyze Information
Prerequisites
- The adversary requires access to a DNS server that will return the MX records for a network.
Consequences
- Confidentiality
Other
- ConfidentialityAccess ControlAuthorization
Bypass Protection Mechanism; Hide Activities
Mitigations
CAPEC 3.9 lists no mitigation for this pattern; see its child patterns or related weaknesses.