Exercise 9-5: Kali live build auto mini-installer

Exercise 5 – Kali live build auto mini installer

Create a self installing ISO which contains the minimum possible packages, and include only openssh-server and salt-minion.
Add your public SSH keys to this image for easy access later on.
Make sure the ISO works as expected. We will use this ISO in the next chapter.

The live-build suite uses an entire directory structure as input for its configuration. We store this configuration and some associated helper scripts in a live-build-config Git repository. We will use this repository as a basis for building customized images. Install the packages needed and to retrieve the Git repository with the Kali live-build configuration:


apt install curl git live-build
git clone git://gitlab.com/kalilinux/build-scripts/live-build-config.git
cd live-build-config

apt install curl git live-build

git clone git://gitlab.com/kalilinux/build-scripts/live-build-config.git

cd live-build-config

Create the list of packages to include, starting with salt-minion:


echo salt-minion > kali-config/variant-default/package-lists/kali.list.chroot

echo salt-minion > kali-config/variant-default/package-lists/kali.list.chroot

.. Add another.


echo openssh-server >> kali-config/variant-default/package-lists/kali.list.chroot

echo openssh-server >> kali-config/variant-default/package-lists/kali.list.chroot

Create a directory for includes, and place our custom pressed.cfg.


mkdir -p kali-config/common/includes.installer
wget https://www.kali.org/dojo/preseed.cfg -O ./kali-config/common/includes.installer/preseed.cfg

mkdir -p kali-config/common/includes.installer

wget https://www.kali.org/dojo/preseed.cfg -O ./kali-config/common/includes.installer/preseed.cfg

You can add files to the ISO image by putting them at their expected location below the includes.binary config directory. For example, install.cfg (boot menu options)…


cat << EOF > kali-config/common/includes.binary/isolinux/install.cfg
label install
menu label ^Install
linux /install/vmlinuz
initrd /install/initrd.gz
append vga=788 --quiet file=/preseed.cfg locale=en_US keymap=us hostname=kali domain=local.lan
EOF

cat << EOF > kali-config/common/includes.binary/isolinux/install.cfg

label install

menu label ^Install

linux /install/vmlinuz

initrd /install/initrd.gz

append vga=788 --quiet file=/preseed.cfg locale=en_US keymap=us hostname=kali domain=local.lan

EOF

.. and an isolinux.cfg file with boot options:


cat << EOF > kali-config/common/includes.binary/isolinux/isolinux.cfg
include menu.cfg
ui vesamenu.c32
default install
prompt 0
timeout 5
EOF

echo 'systemctl enable ssh' >  kali-config/common/hooks/live/01-start-ssh.chroot

cat << EOF > kali-config/common/includes.binary/isolinux/isolinux.cfg

include menu.cfg

ui vesamenu.c32

default install

prompt 0

timeout 5

EOF

echo 'systemctl enable ssh' > kali-config/common/hooks/live/01-start-ssh.chroot

Add our SSH key to the ISO:


ssh-keygen -f /root/.ssh/id_rsa -t rsa -N '' # optional if you've already done it!
mkdir -p kali-config/common/includes.chroot/root/.ssh/
cat /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub > kali-config/common/includes.chroot/root/.ssh/authorized_keys

ssh-keygen -f /root/.ssh/id_rsa -t rsa -N '' # optional if you've already done it!

mkdir -p kali-config/common/includes.chroot/root/.ssh/

cat /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub > kali-config/common/includes.chroot/root/.ssh/authorized_keys

Build the ISO:


./build.sh --verbose

./build.sh --verbose

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Exercise 5 – Kali live build auto mini installer

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