Nmap integration returns no results on macOS
2 posts · Closed
I'm running Network Scanner on macOS and using the built-in Nmap integration. While Nmap itself works fine when used via the command line or Zenmap, I don't get any results when it's triggered from within Network Scanner. The Scanner launches Nmap, but nothing is returned. Any ideas why this might be happening?
This issue is likely related to how macOS handles privilege escalation for certain Nmap operations. Some advanced Nmap features (such as OS detection or vulnerability checks) require root privileges to function correctly. If Network Scanner is run as a regular user, those Nmap calls may silently fail or return no results.
To resolve this, try launching Network Scanner with sudo from the Terminal:
sudo /Applications/Network\ Scanner.app/Contents/MacOS/netscan
When launched successfully, you should see [root] in the window title bar, indicating that Nmap will also be executed with the necessary privileges.
Additionally, the latest version of Nmap has a known issue on macOS when run as root, which may cause it to return no output at all.
As a workaround, open Nmap Settings and add the following line in the Custom command line parameters field:
--disable-arp-ping
This disables the problematic ARP ping phase and allows the rest of the scan to proceed as expected.