por ¿Do you know what Metasploitable is and what it is used for in cybersecurity? What versions exist and what differences are there between them?
Virtual machines are used in different areas of programming. In cybersecurity, they are mainly used for ethical hacking purposes and analysis of samples of malicious applications or files. In ethical hacking or pentesting, virtual machines are used to simulate cyberattacks in a realistic and secure way. Typically, tasks such as detecting vulnerabilities or exploiting them are carried out from a virtual machine hosted on a real computer.
However, What would you think if we told you that, in pentestingnot all virtual machines are used to audit from them? In this post, we will show you a type of virtual machine that is used for a very particular purpose. Next, we will explain what it is Metasploitable and what this virtual environment is used for.
What is Metasploitable?
Metasploitable is a pre-configured virtual machine, developed by cybersecurity company Rapid7, which is used to execute ethical hacking practices. That is, Metasploitable has been configured in such a way that it has different public vulnerabilities of software. Thus, the pentesters They can practice different hacking techniques and how to exploit these vulnerabilities.
Currently, there are three versions of Metasploitable. The most recent version is known as Metasploitable 3 and the difference with the previous two is the number and type of public vulnerabilities it has.. If you want to practice with as many known vulnerabilities as possible, we recommend installing the latest version.
Metasploitable 3 Vulnerabilities
We have already seen what Metasploitable is and the difference between its versions. The third installment of this open source project contains programs with vulnerabilities such as:
Ruby on Rails: framework for the development of web applications.elasticsearch: search server for databases.MySQL: database management system.Jenkins: automation server for application development.WordPress: blogs with this technology.Apache Softwares: such as Apache Tomcat.
All these software work with a server with Microsoft ISS vulnerabilities and, as a result, you get a precise virtual environment to practice all your skills pentesting.
What is a vulnerability?
In cybersecurity, when talking about a vulnerability we refer to a computer failure that puts the security of the system under compromise. That is, it is a bug which could allow an attacker to infiltrate a computer or network.
Discovering these failures in time is important to develop solutions or security patches before attackers discover the vulnerability and exploit it. A exploit is a program specially designed to take advantage of a security flaw.
What is Metasploit?
Now that you know what Metasploitable is, if you want to learn how to install Metasploitable 3, visit our tutorial to do it.
If you are starting out in the world of cybersecurity, the name Metasploitable will surely sound very familiar to you. It is because it is inspired by a framework vulnerability exploitation called Metasploitwhich is used in ethical hacking to simulate realistic cyberattacks.
Metasploit is a framework with open source and paid versions, which brings together a large set of tools to execute different vulnerability exploitation processes. The free version of Metasploit works with public vulnerabilities, that is, those that have already been reported in the past. Therefore, it works perfectly with Metasploitable, which includes as many of these bugs as possible.
If you already know what Metasploitable is and how to install it, then you are now ready to start practicing ethical hacking. Thanks to this preconfigured virtual machine, you will be able to gain practice scanning for vulnerabilities and exploiting them in a controlled and safe way.
How to learn more?
If you want to know more about what Metasploitable is and how to practice with this tool, at we offer you to do it live with professional ethical hackers. Sign up for our Full Stack Cybersecurity Bootcamp and become a specialist in just 7 months. Learn about pentesting, cryptography, analysis of malware and much more. What are you still waiting for? ¡Join now!