The following document describes our own method of creating a custom Kali Linux ODROID image and is targeted at developers. If you would like to install a pre-made Kali ODROID image, check our Install Kali on ODROID article.

Start by building a Kali rootfs as described in our Kali documentation using an armhf architecture. By the end of this process, you should have a populated rootfs directory in ~/arm-stuff/rootfs/kali-armhf.

Next, we create the physical image file which will hold our ODROID rootfs and boot images:

kali@kali:~$ sudo apt install -y kpartx xz-utils uboot-mkimage
kali@kali:~$ mkdir -p ~/arm-stuff/images/
kali@kali:~$ cd ~/arm-stuff/images/
kali@kali:~$ dd if=/dev/zero of=kali-custom-odroid.img conv=fsync bs=4M count=7000

kali@kali:~$ parted kali-custom-odroid.img --script -- mklabel msdos
kali@kali:~$ parted kali-custom-odroid.img --script -- mkpart primary fat32 4096s 266239s
kali@kali:~$ parted kali-custom-odroid.img --script -- mkpart primary ext4 266240s 100%
kali@kali:~$
kali@kali:~$ loopdevice=`losetup -f --show kali-custom-odroid.img`
kali@kali:~$ device=`kpartx -va $loopdevice| sed -E 's/.*(loop[0-9])p.*/\1/g' | head -1`
kali@kali:~$ device="/dev/mapper/${device}"
kali@kali:~$ bootp=${device}p1
kali@kali:~$ rootp=${device}p2
kali@kali:~$ mkfs.vfat $bootp
kali@kali:~$ mkfs.ext4 -L kaliroot $rootp
kali@kali:~$ mkdir -p boot root
kali@kali:~$ mount $bootp boot
kali@kali:~$ mount $rootp root

Copy over the Kali rootfs you bootstrapped earlier using rsync to the mounted image:

kali@kali:~$ cd ~/arm-stuff/images/
kali@kali:~$ rsync -HPavz ~/arm-stuff/rootfs/kali-armhf/ root
kali@kali:~$ echo nameserver 8.8.8.8 > root/etc/resolv.conf

Edit the ~/arm-stuff/images/root/etc/inittab file and locate the “Example how to put a getty on a serial line”:

kali@kali:~$ vim root/etc/inittab

Add the following line to the end of that section:

T1:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 115200 ttySAC1 vt100

If you want the serial console to autologin as root, use the following line instead:

T1:12345:respawn:/bin/login -f root ttySAC1 /dev/ttySAC1 >&1

Now, make sure there is a ttySAC1 entry in the ~/arm-stuff/images/root/etc/udev/links.conf file:

kali@kali:~$ vim root/etc/udev/links.conf

If an entry for ttySAC1 doesn’t already exist, add it to the file so it looks as follows:

M null c 1 3
M console c 5 1
M ttySAC1 c 5 1

Add ttySAC entries in the ~/arm-stuff/images/root/etc/udev/links.conf file:

kali@kali:~$ cat <<EOF >> root/etc/securetty
ttySAC0
ttySAC1
ttySAC2
EOF

Place a basic xorg.conf file in the rootfs:

kali@kali:~$ cat <<EOF > root/etc/X11/xorg.conf
# X.Org X server configuration file for xfree86-video-mali

Section "Device"
Identifier "Mali-Fbdev"
# Driver "mali"
Option "fbdev" "/dev/fb1"
Option "DRI2" "true"
Option "DRI2_PAGE_FLIP" "true"
Option "DRI2_WAIT_VSYNC" "true"
Option "UMP_CACHED" "true"
Option "UMP_LOCK" "false"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Mali-Screen"
Device "Mali-Fbdev"
DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection
EOF

Link init in the root, rootfs directory:

kali@kali:~$ cd ~/arm-stuff/images/root/
kali@kali:~$ ln -s /sbin/init init

If you’re not using ARM hardware as the development environment, you will need to set up an ARM cross-compilation environment to build an ARM kernel and modules. Once that’s done, proceed with the following instructions.

We next need to fetch the ODROID kernel sources and place them in our development tree structure:

kali@kali:~$ mkdir -p ~/arm-stuff/kernel/
kali@kali:~$ cd ~/arm-stuff/kernel/
kali@kali:~$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/hardkernel/linux.git -b odroid-3.8.y odroid
kali@kali:~$ cd odroid/
kali@kali:~$ touch .scmversion

Configure, then cross-compile the ODROID kernel:

kali@kali:~$ export ARCH=arm
kali@kali:~$ export CROSS_COMPILE=~/arm-stuff/kernel/toolchains/arm-eabi-linaro-4.6.2/bin/arm-eabi-
kali@kali:~$
kali@kali:~$ # for ODROID-X2
kali@kali:~$ make odroidx2_defconfig
kali@kali:~$ # for ODROID-U2
kali@kali:~$ make odroidu2_defconfig
kali@kali:~$ # configure your kernel !
kali@kali:~$ make menuconfig
kali@kali:~$ # and enable
kali@kali:~$ CONFIG_HAVE_KERNEL_LZMA=y
kali@kali:~$ CONFIG_RD_LZMA=y
kali@kali:~$
kali@kali:~$ # If cross compiling, run this once
kali@kali:~$ sed -i 's/if defined(__linux__)/if defined(__linux__) ||defined(__KERNEL__) /g' include/uapi/drm/drm.h
kali@kali:~$
kali@kali:~$ make -j $(cat /proc/cpuinfo|grep processor | wc -l)
kali@kali:~$ make modules_install INSTALL_MOD_PATH=~/arm-stuff/images/root/

Chroot into the rootfs and create an initrd. Make sure to use the correct kernel version/extraversion for the mkinitramfs command. In our case, it was “3.8.13”:

kali@kali:~$ LANG=C chroot ~/arm-stuff/images/root/
kali@kali:~$ sudo apt install -y initramfs-tools uboot-mkimage
kali@kali:~$ cd /
kali@kali:~$ # Change the example "3.8.13" to your current odroid kernel revision
kali@kali:~$ mkinitramfs -c lzma -o ./initramfs 3.8.13
kali@kali:~$ mkimage -A arm -O linux -T ramdisk -C none -a 0 -e 0 -n initramfs -d ./initramfs ./uInitrd
kali@kali:~$ rm initramfs
kali@kali:~$ exit

Copy the kernel and generated initrd file to the mounted boot partition as shown below:

kali@kali:~$ mv ~/arm-stuff/images/root/uInitrd ~/arm-stuff/images/boot/
kali@kali:~$ cp arch/arm/boot/zImage ~/arm-stuff/images/boot/

Dump a boot.txt file, which contains required boot parameters for the ODROID in the boot partition:

kali@kali:~$ cat <<EOF > ~/arm-stuff/images/boot/boot.txt
setenv initrd_high "0xffffffff"
setenv fdt_high "0xffffffff"
setenv bootcmd "fatload mmc 0:1 0x40008000 zImage; fatload mmc 0:1 0x42000000 uInitrd; bootm 0x40008000 0x42000000"
setenv bootargs "console=tty1 console=ttySAC1,115200n8 root=LABEL=kaliroot rootwait ro mem=2047M"
boot
EOF

Generate a boot.scr file, which is required to boot the ODROID:

kali@kali:~$ mkimage -A arm -T script -C none -n "Boot.scr for ODROID" -d ~/arm-stuff/images/boot/boot.txt ~/arm-stuff/images/boot/boot.scr

Unmount the root and boot partitions, then umount the loop device:

kali@kali:~$ cd ~/arm-stuff/images/
kali@kali:~$ umount $bootp
kali@kali:~$ umount $rootp
kali@kali:~$ kpartx -dv $loopdevice
kali@kali:~$
kali@kali:~$ wget http://www.mdrjr.net/odroid/mirror/old-releases/BSPs/Alpha4/unpacked/boot.tar.gz
kali@kali:~$ tar -zxpf boot.tar.gz
kali@kali:~$ cd boot/
kali@kali:~$ sh sd_fusing.sh $loopdevice
kali@kali:~$ cd ../
kali@kali:~$ losetup -d $loopdevice

Now, image the file onto your USB storage device. Our device is /dev/sdX. Change this as needed:

kali@kali:~$ dd if=kali-linux-odroid.img of=/dev/sdX conv=fsync bs=4M

Once this operation is complete, connect your UART serial cable to the ODROID and boot it up with the microSD/SD card plugged in. Through the serial console, you will be able to log in to Kali (root / toor) and startx.

If everything works and you want the ODROID to start on boot, make sure to use the “autologin” line in the inittab given above and add the following to your bash_profile:

# If you don't have a .bash_profile, copy it from /etc/skel/.profile first
kali@kali:~$ cat <<EOF >> ~/.bash_profile
if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ] && [ $(tty) = /dev/ttySAC1 ]; then
startx
fi
EOF

These steps are experimental and not fully tested yet. They should be performed inside the Kali rootfs:

kali@kali:~$ # http://malideveloper.arm.com/develop-for-mali/drivers/open-source-mali-gpus-linux-exadri2-and-x11-display-drivers/
kali@kali:~$ sudo apt install -y build-essential autoconf automake make libtool xorg xorg-dev xutils-dev libdrm-dev
kali@kali:~$ wget http://malideveloper.arm.com/downloads/drivers/DX910/r3p2-01rel0/DX910-SW-99003-r3p2-01rel0.tgz
kali@kali:~$ wget http://malideveloper.arm.com/downloads/drivers/DX910/r3p2-01rel0/DX910-SW-99006-r3p2-01rel0.tgz
kali@kali:~$ wget --no-check-certificate https://dl.dropbox.com/u/65312725/mali_opengl_hf_lib.tgz
kali@kali:~$
kali@kali:~$ tar -xzvf mali_opengl_hf_lib.tgz
kali@kali:~$ cp mali_opengl_hf_lib/* /usr/lib/
kali@kali:~$
kali@kali:~$ tar -xzvf DX910-SW-99003-r3p2-01rel0.tgz
kali@kali:~$ tar -xzvf DX910-SW-99006-r3p2-01rel0.tgz
kali@kali:~$ cd DX910-SW-99003-r3p2-01rel0/x11/xf86-video-mali-0.0.1/
kali@kali:~$ ./autogen.sh
kali@kali:~$ chmod +x configure
kali@kali:~$
kali@kali:~$ CFLAGS="-O3 -Wall -W -Wextra -I/usr/include/libdrm -IDX910-SW-99006-r3p2-01rel0/driver/src/ump/include" LDFLAGS="-L/usr/lib -lMali -lUMP -lpthread" ./configure --prefix=/usr --x-includes=/usr/include --x-libraries=/usr/lib
kali@kali:~$ cp -rf ../../../DX910-SW-99006-r3p2-01rel0/driver/src/ump/include/ump src/
kali@kali:~$ mkdir -p umplock/
kali@kali:~$ cd umplock/
kali@kali:~$ wget http://service.i-onik.de/a10_source_1.5/lichee/linux-3.0/modules/mali/DX910-SW-99002-r3p0-04rel0/driver/src/devicedrv/umplock/umplock_ioctl.h
kali@kali:~$ cd ../
kali@kali:~$
kali@kali:~$ make
kali@kali:~$ make install