Metasploit Framework
Table of Contents
In keeping with the Kali Linux Network Services Policy, no network services, including database services, run on boot as a default, so there are a couple of steps that need to be taken in order to get Metasploit up and running with database support.
Quick way
You an have everything up and running, by starting the PostgreSQL service and set it up just by doing:
kali@kali:~$ sudo msfdb init
[+] Starting database
[+] Creating database user 'msf'
[+] Creating databases 'msf'
[+] Creating databases 'msf_test'
[+] Creating configuration file '/usr/share/metasploit-framework/config/database.yml'
[+] Creating initial database schema
kali@kali:~$
You can even take it one step further by doing sudo msfdb run
and it will do the same as the above, as well as start msfconsole
afterwards
MSFDB
To help interactive with various parts of the Metasploit configuration there is msfdb
:
kali@kali:~$ sudo msfdb
Manage the metasploit framework database
msfdb init # start and initialize the database
msfdb reinit # delete and reinitialize the database
msfdb delete # delete database and stop using it
msfdb start # start the database
msfdb stop # stop the database
msfdb status # check service status
msfdb run # start the database and run msfconsole
kali@kali:~$
Please note: this is a different version of msfdb
that is shipped with the default project
Start the Kali PostgreSQL Service
Start the Kali PostgreSQL Service
Metasploit uses PostgreSQL as its database so it needs to be launched first:
kali@kali:~$ sudo msfdb start
[+] Starting database
kali@kali:~$
You can verify that PostgreSQL is running by checking the output of ss -ant
and making sure that port 5432 is listening, or using sudo msfdb status
:
kali@kali:~$ sudo msfdb status
● postgresql.service - PostgreSQL RDBMS
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/postgresql.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: active (exited) since Sun 2021-02-07 02:15:42 EST; 4s ago
Process: 157089 ExecStart=/bin/true (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 157089 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Feb 07 02:15:42 kali systemd[1]: Starting PostgreSQL RDBMS...
Feb 07 02:15:42 kali systemd[1]: Finished PostgreSQL RDBMS.
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
postgres 157071 postgres 5u IPv6 647182 0t0 TCP localhost:5432 (LISTEN)
postgres 157071 postgres 6u IPv4 647183 0t0 TCP localhost:5432 (LISTEN)
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY STAT TIME CMD
postgres 157071 1 1 02:15 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/lib/postgresql/13/bin/postgres -D /var/lib/postgresql/13/main -c config_file=/etc/postgresql/13/main/postgresql.con
[i] No configuration file found
kali@kali:~$
Initialize the Metasploit PostgreSQL Database
With PostgreSQL up and running, we next need to create and initialize the msf database:
kali@kali:~$ sudo msfdb init
[i] Database already started
[+] Creating database user 'msf'
[+] Creating databases 'msf'
[+] Creating databases 'msf_test'
[+] Creating configuration file '/usr/share/metasploit-framework/config/database.yml'
[+] Creating initial database schema
kali@kali:~$
Launch msfconsole in Kali
Now that the PostgreSQL service is up and running and the database is initialized, you can launch msfconsole and verify database connectivity with the db_status command as shown below:
kali@kali:~$ msfconsole -q
msf6 >
msf6 > db_status
[*] Connected to msf. Connection type: postgresql.
msf6 >
Updated on: 2023-Oct-29
Author:
g0tmi1k