Create a Vulnerable Desktop VM

Mathew J. Heath Van Horn, PhD

13 Create a Vulnerable Desktop VM

Mathew J. Heath Van Horn, PhD

Metasploitable is an intentionally vulnerable virtual machine (VM) that can be used to conduct security training, test security tools, and practice common penetration testing techniques. There are different flavors of Metasploitable (original, 2, and 3) and it offers many features provided by servers and websites except it is completely vulnerable to attacks. Metasploitable 2 is easier to build and based on Linux. However, it’s outdated and has been replaced by Metasploitable 3 which is based on Windows Server.

Learning Objectives

Successfully download, install, and run Metasploitable 2 in VirtualBox and add it to the GNS3 environment.
Successfully download, build, and run Metasploitable 3 in VirtualBox and add it to the GNS3 environment.

Prerequisites

Deliverables

None – this is a preparatory lab that supports other labs in this book

Resources

Contributors and Testers

Dante Rocca, Cybersecurity Student, ERAU-Prescott

Phase I – Installing Metasploitable 2 – Sourceforge

This is an easy way to download Metasploitable 2 as a VM. However, it is an older repository.

NEVER expose this VM to an untrusted network. Use NAT or Host-Only modes when using this VM.

Metasploitable 2 is VERY old. It still works as a vulnerable machine, but its usefulness may be limited.

Visit SourceForge and download the Metasploitable 2 zip file here
Once downloaded unzip the file and note where the file is extracted. In our example, we extracted it to the downloads folder

Figure 1 – Metasploitable 2 in Downloads folder
Open VirtualBox and create a new virtual machine
1. On the VirtualBox menu click on Machine then New…
  
  Figure 2 – Create a new VM
2. Choose a name for the new Virtual Machine (VM). In this case, we will call it Metasploitable 2
3. Select the folder where you want the VM to reside
4. Select Type: Linux
  Select Version: Oracle Linux (64-bit)
  
  Figure 3 – VM name and operating system selections
5. Click Next
6. Base memory: 2048 MB
  Processors: 2
  
  Figure 4 – VM Hardware Selections
7. Click Next
8. Click on Use an existing virtual hard disk file
9. Click on the folder next to the dropdown menu
  
  Figure 5 – Use and Existing Virtual Hard Disk
10. Click on the Add button
  
  Figure 6 – Virtual Hard Disk Selector
11. Navigate to the location of the file you extracted and select it
  
  Figure 7 – Add the Metasploitable Virtual Hard Disk File
12. Click on Open and notice it is now in the hard disk selector menu. Keep it selected and click on Choose
  
  Figure 8 – Select the Metasploitable Virtual Hard Disk File
13. It is now selected as our hard disk file, so click Next
  
  Figure 9 – Use Metasploitable Virtual Hard Disk File
14. Click Finish and you can see it added to the rest of your VMs
  
  Figure 10 – Metasploitable 2 VM added to Virtual Machines
Now you can start it up like any other VM and the login information is
USER: msfadmin
PASSWORD: msfadmin

A note on hardware

Picture of Metasploitable 2 startup error — Figure 11 – Metasploitable 2 startup error

Metasploitable2 is very old and hardware and software have changed. If you get an error when you try to start the machine, take the following steps:

Close the virtual machine
Open settings, go to the motherboard settings and disable all the extended features

Figure 12 – Disable Extended Features
Press ok
Start the virtual machine and get ready to hit the Esc key as soon as it starts

Figure 13 – Start the VM and press the Esc key
Press e to edit the boot commands

Figure 14 – Edit the boot commands
Press e to edit the root command to add

noapic

Figure 15 – Add the noapic command
Repeat for the kernel command and add

noapic
Press b for boot
This is a temporary solution. But the machine will boot so you can apply a more permanent solution. Log onto the machine using msfadmin msfadmin. Then type

sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst

NOTE: /boot/grub/menu.lst is a lowercase ‘L’ as in list, NOT a ‘1’ as in 1st

Figure 16 – menu.lst file opened in nano

This will open the grub boot configuration file called menu.lst
Use the arrow keys to scroll down after the default options and stop at a line called kernel (highlighted in yellow)

Figure 17 – kernel line in menu.lst file
Use the right arrow key to go to the end of this line and add –> noapic (highlighted in yellow) after the word splash

Figure 18 – noapic added to end of kernel line in menu.lst file
Save your change by pressing ^O Write Out (old school way of saying save)
Exit nano by pressing ^X Exit
Reboot the VM and it should boot without having to type noapic twice

Phase II – Installing Metasploitable3

Metasploitable3 comes in two flavors: Windows and Linux. Because of licensing issues, sharing Metasploitable 3 as a Windows VM is prohibitive, but you may build the image without violating any laws.

Visit Rapid7’s GitHub page for metasploitable3 and read the README file. You will see lots of steps. We are going to follow the steps for building the VM using Windows
Install some supporting software
1. Install Packer
  1. Download the precompiled binary (AMD64) for Windows 11 here
  2. Once downloaded, extract it from the zip file. We are extracting all the supporting software files to the Downloads folder
    
    Figure 19 – Extract the downloaded file
  3. In the Windows Start menu type “environment variables” and click on the menu item when it appears
    
    Figure 20 – Search environment variables
  4. Click on the Environment Variables button
    
    Figure 21 – System Properties Window
  5. Scroll down to Path and click on edit
    
    Figure 22 – Environment Variables Window
  6. Click on new then browse then click on the downloads folder
    
    Figure 23 – Adding a folder to the path variable
  7. Click ok until the system properties menu closes
  8. Open a new PowerShell window for the changes to take effect
  9. Type packer (highlighted in yellow) and you should get a list of available commands. This means Packer is working
    
    Figure 24 – Image of packer working
2. Install Vagrant
  1. Visit the Vagrant downloads page and download the appropriate package
  2. Once downloaded, you can click on the file and install it like any other Windows program
  3. Restart the Computer
  4. Open Windows PowerShell
  5. Type vagrant to see a menu of commands
  6. Create a new vagrant environment by typing
    
    vagrant init
  7. Install the vagrant reload plugin that allows the reloading of VMs as they are being created by typing
    
    vagrant plugin install vagrant-reload
  8. Create a new vagrant box by typing
    
    vagrant box add hashicorp/bionic64
  9. When asked, choose option 2 for VirtualBox
    
    Figure 25 – Select option 2 for VirtualBox
3. Install both versions of metsasploitable (Windows and Linux) by doing the following:
  1. Create a new directory by typing
    
    mkdir metasploitable3-workspace
  2. Navigate to the directory by typing
    
    cd metasploitable-workspace
  3. Extract both versions of metasploitable3 by typing the following (all on one line)
    
    Invoke-WebRequest -Uri “https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rapid7/metasploitable3/master/Vagrantfile” -OutFile “Vagrantfile”
  4. Start the building of the VMs by typing
    
    vagrant up
    
    Figure 26 – This could take awhile
4. This will take a while, but when it is finished, you will have two new VMs in VirtualBox. The credentials for both machines is:
  USER: vagrant
  PASSWORD: vagrant
Now add them to the GNS3 environment for future use

End of Lab

License

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