> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.aikido.dev/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.aikido.dev/virtual-machine-scanning/misc/virtual-machine-reachability-analysis.md).
# Virtual Machine Reachability Analysis
Virtual Machine Reachability Analysis shows how a VM can be reached inside your cloud network. It builds an interactive diagram of the network path to an instance (for example: Internet → Load Balancer → VM), including the ports involved, so you can quickly spot unintended exposure.
## What it helps you do
* **Confirm public exposure:** See if a VM is reachable from the internet, and through which components.
* **Understand the attack path:** Visualize the exact route traffic takes (load balancers, security groups, network hops) instead of just seeing a "public" or "private" label.
* **Reduce risk faster:** Identify surprising entry points and tighten access where needed.
## Where to find it
You can open the reachability diagram in two ways:
1. In [Virtual Machines](https://app.aikido.dev/virtual-machines), hover over your VM and select **"View Virtual Machine Reachability"**.
2. From the [feed](https://app.aikido.dev/queue), open any VM issue and click the reachability diagram link directly from the issue detail view.
### How reachability affects your issues
Aikido uses reachability data to automatically adjust the severity of VM issues, so you spend less time triaging findings that can't actually be exploited.
* **Severity downgrade:** If the affected package isn't reachable from the internet, Aikido lowers the severity. You'll see *"No network reachability"* in the scoring breakdown.
* **Severity upgrade:** If other risk factors apply (for example, a proof-of-concept exploit is publicly available), Aikido raises the severity accordingly.
* **Auto-ignore:** Aikido automatically ignores issues affecting specific packages if the VM is not reachable on the package-specific port(s). The issue shows an ignore reason of *"No network reachability"* in the feed.\
\
Here are some examples of packages and the ports Aikido checks:
| Package(s) | Port(s) |
| -------------------------------- | ------------- |
| `openssh`, `openssh-server` | 22 |
| `telnet`, `telnetd`, `inetutils` | 23 |
| `redis` | 6379 |
| `mongodb`, `mongod` | 27017 |
| `n8n` | 80, 443, 5678 |
This list continues to grow as Aikido adds support for more packages.
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