impacket-ping6

View documentation for the original command

$ tldr ping6.py

impacket-ping6 [-h] [-d] [-c count] [-W timeout] [-n ttl] destination

-h
    Display help message and exit.

-d
    Enable debug output.

-c count
    Stop after sending count ECHO_REQUEST packets.

-W timeout
    Time to wait for a response, in seconds.

-n ttl
    Set the IP TTL.

destination
    The IPv6 address or hostname to ping.

The `impacket-ping6` command is a Python script provided by the Impacket library. It leverages raw IPv6 sockets to send ICMPv6 Echo Request packets to a specified target and listen for ICMPv6 Echo Reply packets. This allows for basic IPv6 network reachability testing, similar to the standard `ping` utility but operating at a lower level, offering more control over the packet construction.

Unlike the standard `ping` command, `impacket-ping6` gives the user finer control over the ICMPv6 packet contents. This can be useful for troubleshooting network issues, testing IPv6 firewall rules, or understanding IPv6 network behavior. It's particularly valuable in scenarios where traditional `ping` might be blocked or behave unexpectedly. The command relies on the Impacket library's ability to craft and decode network packets, thus allowing for flexible and sophisticated network probing and analysis. Its usage typically requires elevated privileges to directly interact with network interfaces using raw sockets.

Requires root privileges to run, as it utilizes raw sockets. The Impacket library must be installed. May be blocked by firewalls or network configurations that filter ICMPv6 traffic.

Example 1: Ping the IPv6 address 2001:db8::1:
`impacket-ping6 2001:db8::1`

Example 2: Ping the IPv6 address fe80::20c:29ff:fe9a:7a81 with a TTL of 64:
`impacket-ping6 -n 64 fe80::20c:29ff:fe9a:7a81`

Example 3: Ping google.com six times and wait for 1 second:
`impacket-ping6 -c 6 -W 1 google.com`

Part of the Impacket library, a collection of Python classes for working with network protocols. Developed for security auditing and network testing purposes. The `impacket-ping6` utility provides a lower-level alternative to standard ping6, offering more control over packet construction.

ping(8), ping6(8), traceroute6(8)