Metasploit Console: Learn Basic Navigation Commands

Introduction

Welcome to the world of Metasploit! The Metasploit Framework is a powerful tool used by security professionals for penetration testing and vulnerability assessment. At its heart is the Metasploit Console, or msfconsole, an interactive command-line interface that gives you access to the framework's vast array of modules, exploits, and payloads.

In this lab, you will learn the essential commands for navigating msfconsole. Mastering these basics is the first step toward effectively using Metasploit. We will cover how to get help, manage your projects with workspaces, search for modules, view detailed information about them, and properly exit the console.

Let's get started by launching the console.

Explore Core Commands with help Command

In this step, you will launch the Metasploit Console and use the help command to explore the available commands. The help command is your most valuable resource when you're unsure about what a command does or what commands are available.

First, let's start the Metasploit Console. We'll use the -q (quiet) flag to skip the startup banner for a cleaner interface.

Execute the following command in your terminal:

msfconsole -q

You will notice that your command prompt changes to msf >, indicating that you are now inside the Metasploit Console.

Now, let's use the help command to see a list of all available commands.

help

You will see a long list of commands, categorized for easier navigation.

Core Commands
=============

    Command       Description
    -------       -----------
    ?             Help menu
    banner        Display an awesome metasploit banner
    cd            Change the current working directory
    color         Toggle color output
    connect       Communicate with a host
    ...

Module Commands
===============

    Command       Description
    -------       -----------
    advanced      Displays advanced options for a module
    back          Move back from the current context
    info          Displays information about a module
    ...

You can also get detailed help for a specific command. For example, to learn more about the search command, you can type help search.

help search

This will display the syntax and options for the search command.

Usage: search [options] <keywords>

Search for modules, plugins, and other framework objects.

OPTIONS:

    -h, --help             Help banner.
    -o <file>, --output <file>  Send output to a file in csv format.
    -S <string>, --search <string>  Search string for row filtering.
    -t <type>, --type <type>  The type of module to search for (exploit, payload, auxiliary, etc)
...

Feel free to explore other commands using help before moving to the next step.

View Workspace Management with workspace Command

In this step, you'll learn about workspaces. Workspaces are a way to organize your work in Metasploit. Each workspace is a self-contained environment that stores information about hosts, services, vulnerabilities, and loot for a specific engagement. This is incredibly useful for keeping different penetration testing projects separate.

By default, you are in the default workspace. You can view the current and available workspaces using the workspace command.

workspace

The output will show you the available workspaces, with an asterisk * indicating the one you are currently in.

* default

Let's create a new workspace for our project. We'll name it myproject. The -a flag is used to add a new workspace.

workspace -a myproject

Metasploit will confirm the creation and automatically switch you to the new workspace.

[*] Added workspace: myproject
[*] Workspace: myproject

Now, if you list the workspaces again, you will see both default and myproject, with myproject being the active one.

workspace

  default
* myproject

All subsequent actions, such as scanning hosts or collecting data, will now be saved within the myproject workspace.

List Available Modules with search Command

In this step, you will learn how to find modules using the search command. The Metasploit Framework contains thousands of modules, which are the core components you'll use to perform actions. These include exploits, auxiliary scanners, payloads, and more. The search command is essential for finding the right tool for the job.

You can search for modules based on keywords. For example, let's search for modules related to smb (Server Message Block), a common network protocol.

search smb

The output will be a long list of matching modules. The results are displayed in a table with several columns:

#: The index number of the result.
Name: The full path and name of the module.
Disclosure Date: The date the vulnerability was publicly disclosed.
Rank: The reliability of the exploit, from low to excellent.
Check: Indicates if the module has a check method to safely test for vulnerability.
Description: A brief summary of what the module does.

Matching Modules
================

   ##   Name                                    Disclosure Date  Rank       Check  Description
   -   ----                                    ---------------  ----       -----  -----------
   0   auxiliary/admin/smb/impacket/secretsdump  2021-11-09       normal     No     SMB Secrets Dump
   1   auxiliary/admin/smb/psexec_ntdsgrab       2021-11-09       normal     No     PsExec NTDSGRAB
   ...
   58  exploit/windows/smb/ms17_010_eternalblue  2017-03-14       average    Yes    MS17-010 EternalBlue SMB Remote Windows Kernel Pool Corruption
   ...

You can refine your search using keywords like type, platform, name, etc. For instance, to find only exploit modules for the windows platform related to smb, you can use the following command:

search type:exploit platform:windows smb

This will give you a much more focused list of results, making it easier to find the specific exploit you need.

Display Module Information with info Command

In this step, you'll learn how to get detailed information about a specific module using the use and info commands. After finding a promising module with search, you need to understand what it does, what options it requires, and what targets it affects.

First, you need to select a module to work with. This is done with the use command, followed by the module's full name from the search results. Let's select the famous eternalblue exploit.

use exploit/windows/smb/ms17_010_eternalblue

Notice that your prompt changes. It now includes the name of the active module, indicating that you are in its context.

msf exploit(windows/smb/ms17_010_eternalblue) >

Now that a module is selected, you can get detailed information about it using the info command.

info

This command displays a comprehensive overview of the module, including:

Name, Module, Platform, Arch
Privileged: Whether it requires special permissions.
License and Rank
Provided by: The authors of the module.
Available targets: The specific operating systems or applications it can target.
Basic options: The parameters you need to configure, like the target IP address (RHOSTS).
Payload information: The types of payloads it can deliver.
Description: A detailed explanation of the vulnerability.
References: Links to advisories and articles (CVE, BID, etc.).

       Name: MS17-010 EternalBlue SMB Remote Windows Kernel Pool Corruption
     Module: exploit/windows/smb/ms17_010_eternalblue
   Platform: Windows
       Arch: x86, x64
 Privileged: Yes
    License: Metasploit Framework License (BSD)
       Rank: Average
...

Basic options:
  Name      Current Setting  Required  Description
  ----      ---------------  --------  -----------
  RHOSTS                     yes       The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
  RPORT     445              yes       The target port (TCP)
  SMBDomain .                no        (Optional) The Windows domain to use for authentication
...

Reviewing this information is a critical step before attempting to run any exploit.

Exit Console with exit Command

In this final step, you will learn how to properly exit the Metasploit Console. While you can close the terminal window or use Ctrl+C, the recommended way to leave msfconsole is by using the exit command.

This ensures that the framework shuts down gracefully, stopping any running jobs and saving the current state.

Before you exit, you can return to the main msfconsole prompt from a module's context by using the back command.

back

Your prompt will return to the standard msf >.

Now, to exit the console completely, simply type exit.

exit

You will see a shutdown message, and you will be returned to your regular system shell prompt.

labex:project$

This concludes our basic tour of Metasploit Console navigation.

Summary

Congratulations! You have successfully completed this lab on Metasploit Console navigation basics.

In this lab, you learned how to perform the most fundamental operations within msfconsole:

Starting the console and using the help command to discover and learn about other commands.
Organizing your projects using the workspace command to create and manage separate environments.
Finding modules for any task with the powerful search command and its filters.
Examining a module's details, options, and targets with the info command.
Properly shutting down the framework using the exit command.

These commands are the foundation upon which all your future work in Metasploit will be built. With this knowledge, you are now ready to explore more advanced topics, such as configuring and running modules.

Metasploit Console Navigation Basics