All tools, software, VMs and programs needed across the VAPT (BCY701) video lab manual
Prerequisites
Everything below is used somewhere across Experiments 1–8. Set these up once before starting; each experiment page links back here if you need a refresher on what a tool is for.
Virtual Machines
VM
Role
Used in
Kali Linux
Attacker machine — runs almost every tool on this page
Hosts both VMs; must be configured with both VMs on the same NAT Network (not Bridged, not Host-Only) so Kali and Metasploitable2 can reach each other
Network Traffic Analysis
Tool
Purpose
Used in
Wireshark
Captures and inspects live network traffic packet-by-packet; used both for general traffic analysis and for sniffing plaintext credentials (POP3/FTP/Telnet/HTTP)
Experiment 1, Experiment 4
Network / Host Discovery and Scanning
Tool
Purpose
Used in
Nmap (Network Mapper)
Host discovery, port scanning, service/version detection, OS fingerprinting, and vulnerability scanning via its built-in NSE scripts (--script vuln, ftp-anon, smb-vuln*, http-vuln*, etc.)
Experiments 2, 4, 5, 6
Zenmap
GUI front-end for Nmap; used specifically for its Topology tab to generate a visual network map
Full vulnerability-scanning platform — includes gvmd (manager daemon), openvas-scanner (scan engine), and gsa (web UI); web interface at https://127.0.0.1:9392
Experiment 3
Nessus (Tenable)
Vulnerability scanner with severity-ranked (Critical/High/Medium/Low) reporting; web interface at https://localhost:8834; Essentials edition is free for up to 16 IPs
Experiment 7
Nikto
Open-source web server scanner; checks 6700+ files/scripts for outdated software, dangerous files, and misconfigurations
Experiments 6, 8
Exploitation
Tool
Purpose
Used in
Metasploit Framework (msfconsole)
Exploit development and execution framework; used here to exploit a known vsftpd 2.3.4 backdoor on Metasploitable2
Experiments 4, 5
Man-in-the-Middle / Spoofing
Tool
Purpose
Used in
Ettercap
ARP poisoning (MITM) and DNS spoofing (via its dns_spoof plugin and /etc/ettercap/etter.dns file)
Experiment 4
Web Application Testing
Tool
Purpose
Used in
Burp Suite (Community Edition)
Web app security testing proxy; used here with its built-in Chromium browser and the Intruder module to brute-force a login form
Experiment 8
Command-Line Network Utilities
These ship with Kali Linux already — no separate install needed.
Command
Purpose
Used in
ping / ping6
Check host reachability (IPv4 / IPv6)
Experiments 4, 5
traceroute
Show the hop-by-hop path to a target
Experiment 5
nslookup
Reverse/forward DNS lookups
Experiment 5
whois
Domain/IP ownership and registry lookups
Experiment 5
dig
Detailed DNS record queries (ANY, AAAA, etc.)
Experiment 5
ifconfig / ip addr
Find a machine's own IP address
Experiments 4, 5, 6
System / Package Management
Tool
Purpose
apt
Kali's package manager — installs OpenVAS, keeps the system updated
dpkg
Installs standalone .deb packages (used for the Nessus installer)
Deliberately vulnerable practice site for credential sniffing and Burp Suite Intruder practice
Experiments 4, 8
thestudentscircle.com (example target)
Example Nikto scan target
Experiment 8
example.com
Used as a real public domain for safe WHOIS/dig practice (contrasted against the private lab IP)
Experiment 5
Scope reminder
Only point scanners, exploits, sniffers, or brute-force tools at machines you own or have explicit written permission to test — Metasploitable2 inside your own isolated VirtualBox network, or publicly posted practice targets like testphp.vulnweb.com.
