Add: Host discovery for large IPv6 networks#2163
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nichtsfrei
previously approved these changes
Mar 16, 2026
With this patch, the host discovery for large ipv6 networks is introduced together with a new alive test method (int 32). Instead of creating a host list from an IPv6 network address and mask (e.g. 5858::0/64), which would take years to scan and it woudl consume all the RAM, it just call a new function in gvm-libs to perform an ICMPv6 to a multicast IPv6 address (ff02::1). Later, the found host are set as target and they will be handle as before. To avoid a double alive test, they are just considered alive. For now, it only supports only one IPv6 network address. This means it can not be combined with other networks or unicast addresses. Also, it is required that the local network has ICMPv6 enabled, otherwise the discovery won't work.
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It depends on greenbone/gvm-libs#1058 |
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Kraemii
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Mar 23, 2026
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…mentation To test this, try with the following command sudo target/debug/scannerctl alivetest --hostdiscovery -t 5858:0:0:0:0:0:1:0/124 -v Ensure you added the IP and network to your local host and ensure there are other alive hosts in the same network. You can try with subnets as well
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Kraemii
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Mar 23, 2026
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What:
With this patch, the host discovery for large ipv6 networks is introduced together with a new alive test method (int 32).
Instead of creating a host list from an IPv6 network address and mask (e.g. 5858::0/64), which would take years to scan and it would consume all the RAM, it just call a new function in gvm-libs to perform an ICMPv6 to a multicast IPv6 address (ff02::1).
Later, the found host are set as target and they will be handle as before. To avoid a double alive test, they are just considered alive.
For now, it only supports only one IPv6 network address. This means it can not be combined with other networks or unicast addresses.
Also, it is required that the local network has ICMPv6 enabled, otherwise the discovery won't work.
Jira: SC-1574
Why:
How:
Checklist: