Which statement about the -sC option is true?

Which statement about the -sC option is true?

• A. It runs default NSE scripts to perform common checks.
• B. It enables aggressive detection including OS detection.
• C. It saves outputs in XML only.
• D. It performs OS fingerprinting only.

Answer: (A)

Using the -sC option tells Nmap to run the default NSE scripts during the scan, equivalent to --script=default. These scripts perform common checks on the services that are discovered, providing quick extra information such as banners, basic service details, and simple checks for misconfigurations or common vulnerabilities. It doesn’t enable OS detection by itself (that’s a separate capability triggered by -O or -A), and it doesn’t force outputs to XML only (output format is controlled separately with flags like -oX). So the most accurate statement is that -sC runs the default NSE scripts to perform common checks.

Using the -sC option tells Nmap to run the default NSE scripts during the scan, equivalent to --script=default. These scripts perform common checks on the services that are discovered, providing quick extra information such as banners, basic service details, and simple checks for misconfigurations or common vulnerabilities. It doesn’t enable OS detection by itself (that’s a separate capability triggered by -O or -A), and it doesn’t force outputs to XML only (output format is controlled separately with flags like -oX). So the most accurate statement is that -sC runs the default NSE scripts to perform common checks.