Promiscuous mode - wikipedia Promiscuous mode This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( August 2015 ) In computer networking, promiscuous mode is a mode for a wired network interface controller ( NIC ) or wireless network interface controller ( WNIC ) that causes the controller to pass all traffic it receives to the central processing unit ( CPU ) rather than passing only the frames that the controller is specifically programmed to receive. This mode is normally used for packet sniffing that takes place on a router or on a computer connected to a wired network or one being part of a wireless LAN. Interfaces are placed into promiscuous mode by software bridges often used with hardware virtualization. In IEEE 802 networks such as Ethernet, token ring, and IEEE 802.11, and in FDDI, each frame includes a destination MAC address. In non-promiscuous mode, when a NIC receives a frame, it drops it unless the frame is addressed to that NIC 's MAC address or is a broadcast or multicast addressed frame. In promiscuous mode, however, the NIC allows all frames through, thus allowing the computer to read frames intended for other machines or network devices. Many operating systems require superuser privileges to enable promiscuous mode. A non-routing node in promiscuous mode can generally only monitor traffic to and from other nodes within the same broadcast domain ( for Ethernet and IEEE 802.11 ) or ring ( for token ring or FDDI ). Computers attached to the same Ethernet hub satisfy this requirement, which is why network switches are used to combat malicious use of promiscuous mode. A router may monitor all traffic that it routes. Promiscuous mode is often used to diagnose network connectivity issues. There are programs that make use of this feature to show the user all the data being transferred over the network. Some protocols like FTP and Telnet transfer data and passwords in clear text, without encryption, and network scanners can see this data. Therefore, computer users are encouraged to stay away from insecure protocols like telnet and use more secure ones such as SSH. Contents 1 Detection 2 Some applications that use promiscuous mode 3 See also 4 References 5 External links Detection As promiscuous mode can be used in a malicious way to capture private data in transit on a network, computer security professionals might be interested in detecting network devices that are in promiscuous mode. In promiscuous mode, some software might send responses to frames even though they were addressed to another machine. However, experienced sniffers can prevent this ( e.g., using carefully designed firewall settings ). An example is sending a ping ( ICMP echo request ) with the wrong MAC address but the right IP address. If an adapter is operating in normal mode, it will drop this frame, and the IP stack never sees or responds to it. If the adapter is in promiscuous mode, the frame will be passed on, and the IP stack on the machine ( to which a MAC address has no meaning ) will respond as it would to any other ping. The sniffer can prevent this by configuring a firewall to block ICMP traffic. Some applications that use promiscuous mode The following applications and applications classes use promiscuous mode. Packet Analyzer NetScout Sniffer Wireshark ( formerly Ethereal ) tcpdump OmniPeek Capsa ntop Firesheep Virtual machine VMware 's VMnet bridging VirtualBox bridging mode Cryptanalysis Aircrack - ng AirSnort Cain and Abel Network monitoring KisMAC ( used for WLAN ) Kismet IPTraf Snort CommView Gaming XLink Kai See also Packet analyzer Monitor mode MAC spoofing References Jump up ^ Sniffers : Basics and Detection ( PDF ), retrieved 2017 - 10 - 13 External links SearchSecurity.com definition of promiscuous mode Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Promiscuous_mode&oldid=805201136 '' Categories : Network analyzers Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from August 2015 All articles needing additional references Talk Contents About Wikipedia Català Čeština Deutsch Español فارسی Français Galego Italiano Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Polski Português Русский 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 13 October 2017, at 19 : 07. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: to capture all passing packets through a network the nic needs to be in __ mode
Answer: promiscuous