Nmap 5.50 [2011-01-28]

Some of the highlights are:

o [Zenmap] Added a new script selection interface, allowing you to
  choose scripts and arguments from a list.
o [Nping] Added echo mode, learn more about echo mode at
  http://nmap.org/book/nping-man-echo-mode.html.
o [NSE] Added an amazing 46 scripts, bringing the total to 177!
  You can learn more about any of them at http://nmap.org/nsedoc/
o [NSE] Added 12 new protocol libraries.
o [NSE] Added a new brute library that provides a basic framework and logic
  for brute force password auditing scripts.
o [Zenmap] Greatly improved performance for large scans by
  benchmarking intensively and then recoding dozens of slow parts.
o Performed a major OS detection integration run. The database has
  grown more than 14% to 2,982 fingerprints and many of the existing
  fingerprints were improved. David posted highlights of his integration work at
  http://seclists.org/nmap-dev/2010/q4/651
o Performed a huge version detection integration run. The number of
  signatures has grown by more than 11% to 7,355. David posted highlights at
  http://seclists.org/nmap-dev/2010/q4/761
o [NSE] Nmap has two new NSE script scanning phases. See
  http://nmap.org/book/nse-usage.html#nse-script-types
o Dramatically improved nmap.xsl (used for converting Nmap XML output
  to HTML).
o Integrated cracked passwords from the Gawker.com compromise
  (http://seclists.org/nmap-dev/2010/q4/674) into Nmap's top-5000
  password database.
o Merged port names in the nmap-services file with allocated names
  from the IANA (http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers).
o [Zenmap] Made the topology node radiuses grow logarithmically
  instead of linearly, so that hosts with thousands of open ports
  don't overwhelm the diagram.
o Improved IPv6 host output in that we now remember and report the
  forward DNS name (given by the user) and any non-scanned addresses
  (usually because of round robin DNS).
o [Zenmap] Upgraded to the newer gtk.Tooltip API to avoid deprecation
  messages about gtk.Tooltip.
o [NSE] Enhance ssl-cert to also report the type and bit size of SSL
  certificate public keys.
o [Nping] Nping now limits concurrent open file descriptors properly
  based on the resources available on the host.
o Ncat now logs Nsock debug output to stderr instead of stdout for
  consistency with its other debug messages.
o Changed the name of libdnet's sctp_chunkhdr to avoid a conflict with
  a struct of the same name in <netinet/sctp.h>.
o [NSE] Host tables now have a host.traceroute member available when
  --traceroute is used.
o Nmap now prints the MTU for interfaces in --iflist output.
o [Ncat,NSE] Server Name Indication (SNI) is now supported by Ncat and
  Nmap NSE, allowing them to connect to servers which run multiple SSL
  websites on one IP address.
o [Nsock] Added a new function, nsi_set_hostname, to set the intended
  hostname of the target.
o [NSE] Made sslv2.nse give special output when SSLv2 is supported,
  but no SSLv2 ciphers are offered.
o Fixed the fragmentation options (-f in Nmap, --mtu in Nmap & Nping),
  which were improperly sending whole packets in version 5.35DC1.
o [NSE] When receiving raw packets from Pcap, the packet capture time
  is now available to scripts as an additional return value from
  pcap_receive().
o Updated IANA IP address space assignment list for random IP (-iR)
  generation.
o [Ncat] Ncat now uses case-insensitive string comparison when
  checking authentication schemes and parameters.
o [NSE] There is now a limit of 1,000 concurrent running scripts,
  instituted to keep memory under control when there are many open
  ports.

Plus many bugfixes and improvements.

For full changelog, see http://nmap.org/changelog.html


(pettai)