"dnet: Failed to open device" errors on AIX, as root

[Ben Lentz <ben.lentz () gmail com>]

Hello,
I have downloaded and compiled Nmap 6.01 on AIX. Any time I perform any 
type of scan, as root, on any IP address on the interface's local 
network, I get the classic "dnet: Failed to open device" error.

However, when I perform a scan of an IP or network that's off network, 
it works just fine.

I searched on the website, in Google, and in the list archives, and it 
looks like I'm the only one in the universe having this problem.

I am definitely root, so I should have no problem opening the network 
device and having my way with it.

Nmap 6.01 was compiled from source using gcc for PPC on AIX 5.3 TL12 SP5 
(my build machine) and has this problem on all releases from AIX 5.3 
TL12 SP5 - AIX 6.1 TL7 SP5.

In this example, the locally connected network on interface en2 is 
10.0.17.0/24. Therefore, I can scan 10.0.18.1 (off network) but scanning 
10.0.17.1 (on network) is broken.

Please help!

$ ifconfig en2
en2: 
flags=1e080863,480<UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST,GROUPRT,64BIT,CHECKSUM_OFFLOAD(ACTIVE),CHAIN>
        inet 10.0.17.14 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.0.17.255
         tcp_sendspace 262144 tcp_recvspace 262144 rfc1323 1
$ netstat -rn
Routing tables
Destination        Gateway           Flags   Refs     Use  If   Exp  Groups

Route tree for Protocol Family 2 (Internet):
default            10.0.17.1         UG       59 3309544916 en2      
-      -
10.0.17.0          10.0.17.14        UHSb      0         3 en2      
-      -   =>
10.0.17/24         10.0.17.14        U         6 764345100 en2      
-      -
10.0.17.14         127.0.0.1         UGHS      3   8804650 lo0      
-      -
10.0.17.255        10.0.17.14        UHSb      2     41241 en2      
-      -
127/8              127.0.0.1         U        10     40340 lo0      
-      -

Route tree for Protocol Family 24 (Internet v6):
::1%1              ::1%1             UH        0      1109 lo0      
-      -
$ nmap --version

Nmap version 6.01 ( http://nmap.org )
Platform: powerpc-ibm-aix5.3.0.0
Compiled with: nmap-liblua-5.1.3 openssl-0.9.8x nmap-libpcre-7.6 
nmap-libpcap-1.2.1 nmap-libdnet-1.12 ipv6
Compiled without:
$ oslevel -s
6100-07-05-1228
$ sudo id
uid=0(root) gid=0(system) 
groups=2(bin),3(sys),7(security),8(cron),10(audit),11(lp)
$ sudo nmap -sS 10.0.18.1

Starting Nmap 6.01 ( http://nmap.org ) at 2012-11-10 10:29 EST
Nmap scan report for 10.0.18.1
Host is up (0.0011s latency).
Not shown: 998 closed ports
PORT    STATE SERVICE
22/tcp  open  ssh
161/tcp open  snmp

Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 5.91 seconds
$ sudo nmap -sS 10.0.17.1

Starting Nmap 6.01 ( http://nmap.org ) at 2012-11-10 10:29 EST
dnet: Failed to open device en2
QUITTING!
$





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