Metasploit

The Metasploit Project is a computer security project that provides data about security?vulnerabilities?and assists?penetration testing. It is owned by Rapid7, a US-based cybersecurity firm. A notable subproject of Metasploit is the open-source Metasploit Framework—a tool used to develop and run exploit code on remote target systems.

The Metasploit project includes anti-forensics and remediation tools, some of which are built into the Metasploit Framework. Metasploit comes pre-installed on the Kali Linux operating system.

Benefits of Penetration Testing Using Metasploit

• Open Source

One of the biggest reasons to adopt Metasploit is that Metasploit is open source and actively developed. Unlike many other pentesting tools, Metasploit provides deep customizability, giving pentesters full access to source code and the ability to add custom modules.

• Smart Payload Generation

Metasploit allows testers to easily switch payloads using the setpayload command. This provides great flexibility when attempting to penetrate a system using shell-based access or meterpreter, Metasploit’s dynamic scripting tool. Testers can also use the MsfVenom application to generate shellcode for manual exploitation directly from the command line.

• Clean Exits and Persistency

Metasploit is able to exit cleanly without being detected, even if the target system is not expected to restart after the penetration test. It also provides multiple options for achieving persistent access to a target system.

• Visual UI

Metasploit provides several easy-to-use GUIs, primarily Armitage. These GUIs let you perform common penetration testing functions such as managing vulnerabilities and creating workspaces at the click of a button.

7 Components of Metasploit Framework

The Metasploit Framework contains a large number of tools that enable penetration testers to identify security vulnerabilities, carry out attacks, and evade detection. Many of the tools are organized as customizable modules. Here are some of the most commonly used tools:

1. MSFconsole—this is the main Metasploit command-line interface (CLI). It allows testers to scan systems for vulnerabilities, conduct network reconnaissance, launch exploits, and more.
2. Exploit modules—allow testers to target a specific, known vulnerability. Metasploit has a large number of exploit modules, including buffer overflow and SQL injection exploits. Each module has a malicious payload testers can execute against target systems.
3. Auxiliary modules—allow testers to perform additional actions required during a penetration test which are not related to directly exploiting vulnerabilities. For example, fuzzing, scanning, and denial of service (DoS).
4. Post-exploitation modules—allow testers to deepen their access on a target system and connected systems. For example, application enumerators, network enumerators and hash dumps.
5. Payload modules—provide shell code that runs after the tester succeeds in penetrating a system. Payloads can be static scripts, or can use Meterpreter, an advanced payload method that lets testers write their own DLLs or create new exploit capabilities.
6. No Operation (NOPS) generator—produces random bytes that can pad buffers, with the objective of bypassing intrusion detection and prevention (IDS/IPS) systems.
7. Datastore—central configuration that lets testers define how Metasploit components behave. It also enables setting dynamic parameters and variables and reuse them between modules and payloads. Metasploit has a global datastore and a specific datastore for each module.