BackTrack4–TheDefinitiveGuide

Introduction ..............................................................................................................................2Behindthecurtains.................................................................................................................2BackTrackBase ................................................................................................................................. 2BackTrackKernel............................................................................................................................. 2PackagesandRepositories............................................................................................................ 3Metapackages.................................................................................................................................... 4MetaMetaPackages......................................................................................................................... 4UpandrunningwithBackTrack.................................................................................................. 4

InstallingBackTracktoDisk................................................................................................5

UpdatingBacktrack ................................................................................................................5

CustomizingBackTrack.........................................................................................................6CreatingyourownLiveCD–Method1...................................................................................... 6CreatingyourownLiveCD–Method2...................................................................................... 6InstallingBackTracktoUSB.......................................................................................................... 6InstallingBackTracktoUSB­Persistentchanges ................................................................ 6

WorkingwithBackTrack ......................................................................................................7KDE3Quirks ....................................................................................................................................... 7Updatingtoolsmanually ................................................................................................................ 7FAQs ...................................................................................................................................................... 7Outro ..................................................................................................................................................... 8

Thisdocumentisaworkinprogress.ItisaquickattempttocoverthemostcommonlyaskedquestionsaboutBackTrack,

inoneplace.Checkonthispagefrequentlyforupdates.

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Introduction

BackTrack is the world’s leading penetration testing and information security

auditingdistribution.Withhundredsoftoolspreinstalledandconfiguredtorunout

of thebox,BackTrack4providesasolidPenetration testingplatform ‐ fromWeb

applicationHackingtoRFIDauditing–itsallworkinginonceplace.

Behindthecurtains

BackTrackBase

There have beenmany changes introduced into BackTrack 4 ‐most notably, our

movetoanUbuntuIntrepidbase.Wenowmaintainourownfullrepositorieswith

modifiedUbuntupackagesinadditiontoourownpenetrationtestingtools.

Anothersignificantchangeistheupdatedkernelversion,currentlyat2.6.29.4.This

newkernelbrought anonsetof internal changes,whichhavegreatly changed the

structureofBackTrack.

BackTrackKernel

Wenolongeruselzmaenabledsquashfsasourlivefilesystem,whichononehand

results in larger ISOsize,buton theotherhand, freesus fromhaving tomaintain

ourownkernelpatches.Thisisespeciallypainfulthesedays,assquashfsisslowly

movingintothemainstreamkernel(atthetimeofthiswriting).

BackTrack 4 uses squashfs‐tools version 4.0 (which is not backward compatible

withpreviousversions),andtheinbuiltsquashfskernelmodule,whichispresentin

2.6.29.4.AUFSisusedastheunificationfilesystem(aufs2.x).

Several wireless driver injection/optimization patches have been applied to the

kernel, as well as a bootsplash patch. These patches can be found in the kernel

sourcespackage(/usr/src/linux/patches).

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These changesmean that much of what youwere used to in BackTrack 2/3 has

changedintermsofbootcheatcodesandsuch,asthiskernelshiftalsomeansweno

longerusethelive­linuxscriptstocreateourimages(weusecaspernow).

PackagesandRepositories

Oneofthemostsignificantchanges introducedinBackTrack4aretheDebian like

repositories available, which are frequently updated with security fixes and new

tools.ThismeansthatifyouchoosetoinstallBackTracktodisk,youwillbeableto

getpackagemaintenanceandupdatesbyusingapt­getcommands.

Our BackTrack tools are arranged by parent categories. These are the categories

thatcurrentlyexist:

• BackTrack‐Enumeration

• BackTrack‐Tunneling

• BackTrack‐Bruteforce

• BackTrack‐Spoofing

• BackTrack‐Passwords

• BackTrack‐Wireless

• BackTrack‐Discovery

• BackTrack‐Cisco

• BackTrack–WebApplications

• BackTrack‐Forensics

• BackTrack‐Fuzzers

• BackTrack‐Bluetooth

• BackTrack‐Misc

• BackTrack‐Sniffers

• BackTrack‐VOIP

• BackTrack‐Debuggers

• BackTrack‐Penetration

• BackTrack‐Database

• BackTrack‐RFID

• BackTrack–Python

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• BackTrack–Drivers

• BackTrack‐GPU

Metapackages

Anice featurethatarises fromthetoolcategorization, is thatwecannowsupport

“BackTrackmeta packages”. Ameta package is a dummy packagewhich includes

several other packages. For example, the meta package “backtrack­web” would

includealltheWebApplicationpenetrationtestingtoolsBackTrackhastooffer.

MetaMetaPackages

Wehavetwo“metametapackages”–backtrack­worldandbacktrack­desktop.

backtrack­world contains all the BackTrack meta packages, while backtrack­

desktop contains backtrack­world, backtrack­networking and backtrack­

multimedia. The latter twometa packages are select applications imported from

Ubunturepositories.

UpandrunningwithBackTrack

We’vemadeashortmoviecalled“upandrunningwithBackTrack”–showingsome

commonandnot so common features.Agoodplace to start inorder tograsp the

newchangesinBackTrack4.

http://www.offensive‐security.com/videos/backtrack‐security‐training‐video/up‐

and‐running‐backtrack.html

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InstallingBackTracktoDisk

BackTrack 4 (both barebones and full version) now contains amodifiedUbiquity

installer.Theinstallshouldbestraightandsimple.Foravideotutorial,check

http://www.offensive‐security.com/videos/install‐backtrack‐hard‐disk/install‐

backtrack‐hard‐disk.html

UpdatingBacktrack

KeepingBackTrackuptodateisrelativelysimplebyusingtheapt‐getcommands.

apt­getupdatesynchronizesyourpackagelistwithourrepository.

apt­getupgradedownloadsandinstallsalltheupdatesavailable.

apt­getdist­upgradedownloadsandinstallsallnewupgrades.

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CustomizingBackTrack

CreatingyourownLiveCD–Method1

CreatingyourownflavorofBackTrackiseasy.

1. DownloadandinstallthebarebonesversionofBackTrack

2. Useapt‐gettoinstallrequiredpackagesormetapackages.

3. Useremastersystorepackageyourinstallation.

CreatingyourownLiveCD–Method2

DownloadtheBackTrack4 iso.Usethecustomizationscript toupdateandmodify

yourbuildasshowhere:

http://www.offensive‐security.com/blog/backtrack/customising‐backtrack‐live‐cd‐

the‐easy‐way/

InstallingBackTracktoUSB

The easiest method of getting BackTrack4 installed to a USB key is by using the

unetbootinutility(resentinBackTrackin/opt/).

InstallingBackTracktoUSB‐Persistentchanges

AVideotutorialcanbefoundhere:

http://www.offensive‐security.com/videos/backtrack‐usb‐install‐video/backtrack‐

usb‐install.html

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WorkingwithBackTrack

KDE3Quirks

BackTrack 4 contains an “imposed”KDE3 repository, alongside theKDE4Ubuntu

Intrepidrepositories.SinceBackTrackusesKDE3, it’s importanttorememberthat

KDE3packagescontaina“kde3”postfix,whichmakesthemeasilyidentifiable.

Forexample,ifyouwantedtoinstalltheprogramKDEprogram“kate”,youshould

apt­get install kate­kde3 (install the KDE3 version of kate) rather thanapt­get

installkate.(installtheKDE4versionofkate).

Updatingtoolsmanually

Our BackTrack repositories will always strive to keep updated with the latest

versions of tools, with the exception of a select few. These “special” tools get

updatedbytheirauthorsveryfrequently,andoftenincludesignificantupdates.We

feltthatcreatingstaticbinariesforthesetypesoftoolswouldnotbebeneficialand

users were better of keeping these tools synched with the SVN versions

respectively.ThetoolsincludeMSF,W3AF,Nikto,etc.

FAQs

‐ TheUbiquity Installer givesme a “Language failedwith exit code 10”

error.Whattheheck?

‐ Ignoreit.Havefaith.

‐ WhyistheISOsobig?Itusedtobehalfthesize!

‐ Fora long timewestruggled tokeepBTunder the700MB limit.Thiswas

alwaysachallengeandapaininthebackside.Wedecidedtobustthisbarrier

foracoupleofreasons:

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o We no longer use squashfswith LZMA compression –whichmakes

theimagesizesignificantlylarger.

o ACDisnottheidealmediaforrunningBT4inaliveenvironment.A

USBkeyismuchfasterandreliable.

‐ Whyisthisbuildcalleda“pre­release”?Isn’titstableenough?

‐ ThisisprobablythesturdiestversionofBackTrackwe’veevercomeupwith.

Sayingthis,somebugscanbereallyobscure.Onlyafterrunninganatheros

cardfor40straighthoursdidwenoticewirelessframecorruptions–which

resultedfromafaultypatchweapplied. It’s impossibleforustotestevery

driverandeveryhardwarecombination.ThatwhyweNEEDYOURINPUT(in

theforums).

‐ WhyohwhydidyouuseUbuntuasyourbase?

‐ Checkthisblogpost:

http://backtrack4.blogspot.com/2009/01/philosophical‐thoughts‐about‐

backtrack.html

‐ I’veinstalledBacktrack4toHardDisk.HowdoIlogin??

‐ Use the user / pas cmbination for the user you created during the install.

Onceloggedin,typesudosu,andchangetherootpasswordtoyourliking.

Checkthisvideoformoreinformation:

http://www.offensive‐security.com/videos/backtrack‐security‐training‐

video/up‐and‐running‐backtrack.html

OutroYoucanfindourforumsathttp://forums.remote‐exploit.org.

Feelfreetopostbugfixes,suggestions,toolrequests,etc.

Wehopeyouenjoythisfinerelease!

9

RemoteExploitTeam