Month: August 2019

Pi 4 Hacking Platform using DietPi and PTF

Building a Raspberry Pi 4 Ethical Hacking platform using The Pentesters Framework and DietPi.

I’ve been playing with using different hacking tools and Operating Systems with the Pi 4. In this article I cover installing The Pentesters Framework on a RPi 4 running DietPi.

DietPi is a very lightweight Debian OS for the Raspberry Pi. The Pentesters Framework by TrustedSec is an Ethical Hacking installation script that automatically installs and updates over 250 modules/ tools. It would be great if they would work together on a Raspberry Pi 4. The good news is that is does – With a couple tweaks.

I cover installing and using The Pentesters Framework on Raspberry Pi in my latest book. So, I am not going to go into great detail on using the tools in PTF. I just want to cover actually installing it on DietPi.

Installing

NOTE: You will need a Raspberry Pi 4, and at the minimum a 32 GB MicroSD card if you want to install all of the PTF tools. Don’t have a Pi 4? Seeed is currently offering free shipping for orders over $119 with a Raspberry Pi 4 4GB.

Insert the MicroSD card into your Pi, attach peripherals and lastly connect power (always connect power last). When DietPi boots up you will be presented with some options.

  • Pick any software install options you want, then “Go install software”
  • Requested software and updates will be installed
  • Reboot when finished

I just run through it quickly the first time to get the latest OS updates. Note the CPU temp warning, it’s a Pi 4, it runs hotter than a Pi 3.

To install an “X” Desktop or any other included software, type, “dietpi-software”.

There are a ton of add-on software options under “Software Optimised”. For example, if you want a graphical desktop, pick the X-Desktop you want and then the “Go install software” option. You can also setup your login preferences from this menu – auto login, desktop login, etc.

All we really need here is to install Python. Then we need to make a small config file tweak and finally install PTF.

Installing Python

From the DietPi-Software menu, go to “Software Additional” and install Python:

  • Cursor down to Python Pip, hit the space bar to select it.
  • Select “OK”

You will return to the main menu.,

  • Cursor down and select “Go >> Start Installation”
  • Reboot when finished

We need to install git:

  • Open a terminal and enter, “apt install git”

Next we need to comment out a line in the ‘/etc/hosts’ file or the PTF install will error out.

  • Comment out the “::1 localhost  IPv6 localhost” line
  • Reboot

That’s it! We can now proceed with the standard PTF install:

You will then see the main PTF interface:

Type “show modules” to see all available modules. You can install individual ones if you wish. If you have a large memory card (32 Gb), you can install all of them.

  • To install all tools, enter “use modules/install_update_all“
  • Reboot when finished

The install will take a very long time, especially if you install all of the modules. After install, all tools will be located in category themed directories under the ‘/pentest’ directory, as seen below:

Many of the tools can be run from anywhere, but some tools require you to change into its install directory for it to work properly. This is usually ‘/pentest’, but some run from ‘/usr/share’ as well. Check it out, there are a ton of very good tools at your disposal, like “Sniper”:

And there you have it. Again, I go into much deeper detail in my book about using PTF on a Pi, I just wanted to show how it could be installed on DietPi. If you want to learn a lot more about using Raspberry Pi for Ethical hacking check out my latest book – Security Testing with Raspberry Pi