Complete Host Environment Setup before proceeding.

Throughout this documentation, you will see two options:

  1. Pre-built Disks: Ready-to-use VM images with everything pre-configured and pre-installed.
  2. Fresh Installation: Manual setup process to create your own VM images.

The pre-built disks were created using the exact steps described in the manual installation sections.

So while we recommend using the pre-built disks, you can also create your own VMs by following the manual installation steps.

Choose Setup Method

Download Images

Download both QCOW2 images and place them in /var/lib/libvirt/images/:

VM DiskPathDownload URLSize
Attacker VMvm/attacker.qcow2https://drive.proton.me/urls/2E04NSP328#AcZRfzvBje6U5.6 GB
Victim VMvm/victim.qcow2https://drive.proton.me/urls/EGVVVF6YXW#THevlby2e62E5.6 GB
  # After downloading
cd ~/Downloads
sudo mv {attacker.qcow2,victim.qcow2} /var/lib/libvirt/images/

What You Get:

  • Attacker VM: Ubuntu + project files + dependencies installed (tbh it’s the same Ubuntu 20.04 LTS with kernel 5.4.0 from the victim because I’m lazy)
  • Victim VM: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS with kernel 5.4.0 (Fresh install with only autologin user victim and password jules)

Check VMs 

  ./scripts/check_vms.sh

Launch VMs 

  # run this command before running the vm
newgrp libvirt
# then this command to launch the vm
sudo ./scripts/run_vms.sh

If you prefer to build the disks yourself because you don’t trust me (which is fair tbh), follow these steps:

Download Ubuntu ISO

Create Disks 

  sudo qemu-img create -f qcow2 /var/lib/libvirt/images/attacker.qcow2 10G
sudo qemu-img create -f qcow2 /var/lib/libvirt/images/victim.qcow2 10G

Install Ubuntu (Attacker) 

  sudo qemu-system-x86_64 \
  -enable-kvm -machine accel=kvm -cpu host \
  -m 4096 -smp 4 \
  -name attacker-install \
  -drive file=/var/lib/libvirt/images/attacker.qcow2,format=qcow2,if=virtio,cache=writeback \
  -cdrom vm/ubuntu-20.04-desktop-amd64.iso -boot once=d \
  -netdev user,id=net0 -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0 \
  -graphics vnc

Install Ubuntu (Victim) 

  sudo qemu-system-x86_64 \
  -enable-kvm -machine accel=kvm -cpu host \
  -m 4096 -smp 4 \
  -name victim-install \
  -drive file=/var/lib/libvirt/images/victim.qcow2,format=qcow2,if=virtio,cache=writeback \
  -cdrom vm/ubuntu-20.04-desktop-amd64.iso -boot once=d \
  -netdev user,id=net0 -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0 \
  -graphics vnc

Setup: Create user attacker/victim with password jules for consistency.

Verification 

  ./scripts/check_vms.sh  # Verify disks and files

Launch VMs 

  sudo scripts/run_vms.sh

Next Steps

Configure individual VMs:

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