Enter .

Professional, technical, yet slightly humorous (acknowledging the difficulty of setup) Introduction: The Return of the Intentional Victim If you have ever taken a cybersecurity course, you have likely cut your teeth on Metasploitable 2 . That old Ubuntu 8.04 virtual machine is the "Hello World" of ethical hacking. But in 2025, its vulnerabilities are ancient history.

Beginner to Intermediate Security Professionals

The build scripts break often. Dependencies change. Vagrant boxes disappear. As a result, pre-built .OVA files float around the internet like digital contraband—shared via Mega.nz links on Reddit and Twitter. Should you download a pre-built OVA? The Security Risk: Yes, even a "vulnerable" VM can be dangerous. If you download an unofficial .OVA from a random blog, you have no idea what is inside. It could contain a real cryptominer or a reverse shell pointed at a malicious C2 server.

Built by Rapid7 (the makers of Metasploit), version 3 is not just an update; it is a completely different beast. It is intentionally misconfigured, riddled with thousands of vulnerabilities, and designed to teach you how modern Windows (and Linux) exploitation works.

But there is a catch: Getting the file is notoriously difficult. Why isn't there a simple "Download OVA" link? Unlike its predecessor, Metasploitable 3 was designed as a "Build-your-own" VM. The official GitHub repository uses Packer (an automation tool) to download an ISO, install the OS, configure the vulnerabilities, and package it for you.

Metasploitable 3 OVA: The Ultimate (and Chaotic) Pentesting Lab Setup

Try this: use exploit/windows/smb/ms17_010_eternalblue