Cleaning up BackTrack/Ubuntu NIC's

Copying BackTrack virtual box images around and the network wouldn't start.  I'm Recording the commands here as its not something I do everyday and I will have the same issue again .. Same process would work for Ubuntu.

root@bt:~# ifconfig eth0 up
eth0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device

root@bt:~# lspci
Will list all the hardware devices.  Confirm the Ethernet controller is loaded.

root@bt:~# ifconfig -a
Will list all the interfaces known to the system regardless if they are 'UP'.  In my case the card was ETH4.

root@bt:~# ifconfig eth4 up
Worked.

I wanted to clean this up as ETH0-3 are all a result of switching machines and MAC address.

nano /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

remove the redundant config and switch your NIC to ETH0

Backtrack Chromium

Chromium can be installed from the repo's but by default won't run - root error

Follow the steps below :

1. apt-get install chromium-browser
You can also use synaptic and select the chromium-browser.

2. cd /usr/lib/chromium-browser

3. Replace geteuid to be getppid using hexedit with the following command :

hexedit chromium-browser

Then press tab to switch to the mode string. Then press ctrl+s and type geteuid. Replace geteuid to be getppid then press ctrl+x to exit!

4. Finished

EDIT 9/11/2012

This same process works for the Google Chrome.  File to edit is /opt/google/chrome/chrome

Alfa AWUS036H/RTL8187L on OSX 10.6

The drivers on the Alfa site only support up to OSX 10.5.  I found various blogs, which were all EXACT copies of each other and none of which worked.

Eventually stumbled this article which got me close.

This post will just extend that blog with the things I found.

1. Download the 10.5 driver from the Alfa download site
2. Install, ignore the corrupt warning & reboot
3. Open a terminal and type :
   

sudo kextutil /System/Library/Extensions/RTL8187l.kext

Notice: /System/Library/Extensions/RTL8187l.kext has debug properties set.
/System/Library/Extensions/RTL8187l.kext has problems:
Authentication Failures:
File owner/permissions are incorrect (must be root:wheel, nonwritable by group/other):
/System/Library/Extensions/RTL8187l.kext/Contents/Resources
/System/Library/Extensions/RTL8187l.kext/Contents/Resources/English.lproj
/System/Library/Extensions/RTL8187l.kext/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/InfoPlist87l.strings
4. You now need to :

sudo chmod go-w [The File]

eg : 

sudo chmod go-w /System/Library/Extensions/RTL8187l.kext/Contents/Resources
sudo chmod go-w /System/Library/Extensions/RTL8187l.kext/Contents/Resources/English.lproj
sudo chmod go-w /System/Library/Extensions/RTL8187l.kext/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/InfoPlist87l.strings

Now this is where it goes a little off piste.  Following the reference article you should now just run the Realtech util and off you go.  For me that didn't work and the app wouldn't even run.

I restarted again and ran :

sudo kextutil /System/Library/Extensions/RTL8187l.kext

It reported no file permission errors but at the same time I was both prompted with OSX's "found a new network interface" and the RealTech app launched and allowed me to configure the NIC.

UPDATE 12/11/2012 : These drivers are 32bit.  Apple has removed the ability to do anything in 32bit with the Mountain Lion release.  So far I can't find anyway to get the 8187L working on ML. <sad face>

Ubuntu/Backtrack eth0/wlan0 Missing

My good deed for the week was to offer my laptop as a replacement for one with a screwed VGA port.

'Yeah just switch the disks' - Linux is clever, it will work it out. #FAIL

Dual boot with Ubuntu 11.10 & BackTrack (Ubuntu).  Both failed to connect to the network and had created eth1 & wlan1 interfaces.

Google took me to http://www.orzeszek.org/blog/2010/07/25/fix-missing-eth0-when-cloning-ubuntu-vmware-virtual-machines/

Its discussing the same problem, but in a virtual environment.  The conclusion is the same in that the MAC address has changed and Ubuntu stores this as a reference in :

/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

Delete the file, reboot, problem fixed.

Installing flash on Backtrack 5

Backtrack comes with flash installed, but it doesn't work.  Believe it or not Nessus requires flash ! A security scanner that requires flash, oh the irony ..

Following the instructions provided by BT didn't work for me so I'm reproducing the 32bit steps which did :

Grab the correct/latest flash install from adobe.com : 

install_flash_player_11_linux.i386.tar.gz

Run the following commands : 

Remove BT installed files 

apt-get purge flashplugin-nonfree flashplugin-installer gnash gnash-common mozilla-plugin-gnash swfdec-mozillarm -f /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/*flash*

rm -f /usr/lib/firefox-addons/plugins/*flash*rm -f /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/*flash*

rm -f ~/.mozilla/plugins/*flash*sorm -rfd /usr/lib/nspluginwrapper

Install downloaded version

tar xvfz install_flash_player_11_linux.i386.tar.gz

mkdir ~/.mozilla/plugins

mv -f libflashplayer.so ~/.mozilla/plugins/

Test within the browser, firefox about:plugins

UPDATE : This process also works for Chromium