hacktricks/network-services-pentesting/pentesting-irc.md

# 194,6667,6660-7000 - Pentesting IRC

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## Basic Information

IRC was **originally a plain text protocol** (although later extended), which on request was assigned port **194/TCP by IANA**. However, the de facto standard has always been to **run IRC on 6667/TCP** and nearby port numbers (for example TCP ports 6660–6669, 7000) to **avoid** having to run the IRCd software with **root privileges**.

For connecting to a server it is required merely a **nickname**. Once connection is established, the first thing the server does is a reverse-dns to your ip:

![](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/C9AbjS9Jn4GvZJ-syptvebGU2jtI4p1UmLsmkBj3--utdFjft1B3Qfij3GDiUqxyp9wq\_mbupVdUtfW-\_rSo1W\_EPFZzCQ7iHSn7-DK3l4-BfylIHluQBNrDWxO0lxCuAMz8EkQ9oi9jwDlH6A)

It seems that overall **there are two kinds of users**: **operators** and ordinary **users**. For logging in as an **operator** it is required a **username** and a **password** (and in many occasions a particular hostname, ip and even a particular hostmask). Within operators there are different privilege levels wherein the administrator has the highest privilege.

**Default ports:** 194, 6667, 6660-7000

```
PORT     STATE SERVICE
6667/tcp open  irc
```

## Enumeration

### Banner

IRC can support **TLS**.

```bash
nc -vn <IP> <PORT>
openssl s_client -connect <IP>:<PORT> -quiet
```

### Manual

Here you can see how to connect and access the IRC using some **random nickname** and then enumerate some interesting info. You can learn more commands of IRC [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_Internet\_Relay\_Chat\_commands#USERIP).

```bash
#Connection with random nickname
USER ran213eqdw123 0 * ran213eqdw123
NICK ran213eqdw123
#If a PING :<random> is responded you need to send
#PONG :<received random>

VERSION
HELP
INFO
LINKS
HELPOP USERCMDS
HELPOP OPERCMDS
OPERATOR CAPA
ADMIN      #Admin info
USERS      #Current number of users
TIME       #Server's time
STATS a    #Only operators should be able to run this
NAMES      #List channel names and usernames inside of each channel -> Nombre del canal y nombre de las personas que estan dentro
LIST       #List channel names along with channel banner
WHOIS <USERNAME>      #WHOIS a username
USERHOST <USERNAME>   #If available, get hostname of a user
USERIP <USERNAME>     #If available, get ip of a user
JOIN <CHANNEL_NAME>   #Connect to a channel

#Operator creds Brute-Force
OPER <USERNAME> <PASSWORD>
```

### **Find and scan IRC services**

```bash
nmap -sV --script irc-botnet-channels,irc-info,irc-unrealircd-backdoor -p 194,6660-7000 irked.htb
```

### [Brute Force](../generic-methodologies-and-resources/brute-force.md#irc)

### Shodan

* `looking up your hostname`

<details>

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**Share your hacking tricks submitting PRs to the** [**hacktricks github repo**](https://github.com/carlospolop/hacktricks)**.**

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