Exploitation Tools

armitage

armitage puts a graphical face on Metasploit. Instead of typing console commands, you see the target network as a visual map of hosts, run scans and exploits from menus, and watch sessions open as icons you can click. Its standout feature is team collaboration: multiple testers can connect to one shared Metasploit instance and work the same engagement together, seeing each other’s hosts, sessions, and loot. For learning Metasploit’s flow, and for coordinating a team, the visual model helps.

Armitage is a graphical Java application, launched into its own window from Security → Exploitation Tools → armitage. Installed from the AUR.

Using it

  1. Start the database first — Armitage needs Metasploit’s PostgreSQL backend. Start it from Running Services and make sure msfdb init has been run once.
  2. Launch Armitage and connect to the local Metasploit instance (the defaults are correct for a local setup).
  3. Add hosts — import them from a scan, or run Armitage’s own Nmap scan from the Hosts menu; discovered hosts appear on the canvas.
  4. Find and run attacks — “Attacks → Find Attacks” matches exploits to each host, then you launch them from the host’s right-click menu.
  5. Work your sessions — a compromised host turns red with lightning; right-click it for shells, Meterpreter, pivoting, and post-exploitation.

Everything Armitage does routes through Metasploit, so anything you can do here you can also do from msfconsole — the GUI is about visibility and teamwork.