FreeBSD Is a Strong Base for a Pentest OS

[ahamidplg]

Why FreeBSD Is a Strong Base for a Pentest OS

• Security-first architecture: With features like Jails, Capsicum, MAC, and ZFS encryption, FreeBSD is already hardened.
• Minimalist and auditable: You control every package — no bloat, no surprises.
• Linux compatibility layer: Run many Linux-based tools via the linuxulator.

Key Components to Build a FreeBSD Pentest Distro

Component	FreeBSD Equivalent / Strategy
Package Management	pkg, ports, or curated meta-packages
Isolation	jail, chroot, bhyve
GUI Environment	XFCE, MATE, or Fluxbox (lightweight and customizable)
Tool Integration	Port or compile tools like Nmap, Metasploit, BurpSuite
Linux Tools Support	Use linux_base-c7 and linuxulator for compatibility
Persistence	ZFS snapshots, encrypted USB boot

Example: Installing Burp Suite on FreeBSD
A user on the FreeBSD Forums shared a tutorial for running Burp Suite using the Linux compatibility layer. This proves that even GUI-heavy tools can be adapted with some effort.
Project Vision: “FuryBSD-Sec” or “BSDStrike”?
You could create a Live USB image with:

• Pre-installed pentest tools (Nmap, Nikto, Hydra, etc.)
• Hardened kernel and secure defaults
• Optional GUI with XFCE or tiling WM
• Jail-based sandboxing for tool isolation
• bhyve integration for VM-based testing

Challenges to Consider

• Tool availability: Some tools (like Metasploit) may require patching or containerization.
• Community size: Smaller than Kali/Parrot, so more DIY.
• Hardware support: Especially for Wi-Fi chipsets used in wireless auditing.

Prototyping Tips

• Use bsdinstall to create a minimal base system.
• Build a custom ports tree with security tools.
• Create a bootable ISO using make release or bsdinstall scripts.
• Consider using vm-bhyve to test your builds in isolated environments.

 

[SirDice]

Sounds like a plan, looking forward to see your first release.

 

[blackbird9]

Some time ago frenzy did something like that:- http://frenzy.org.ua/

One nice feature was that you could load the entire system into RAM (it used squashfs, like knoppix 'toram' mode), pull out the USB stick and then run it until hardware reset / power cycle, with zero trace left on the host machine. Very small too. From memory they used fluxbox too.

 

[jbo@]

Jup... More LLM generated non-content that will be used as training data for future LLMs.

 

[blackbird9]

Eeek... a pox on all your llm's... I hope they are listening, in fact I'm certain of it.

 

[Beastie7]

WiFi auditing tools would be great too once our stack stabilizes.

 

[kpedersen]

Why FreeBSD Is a Strong Base for a Pentest OS

• Security-first architecture: With features like Jails, Capsicum, MAC, and ZFS encryption, FreeBSD is already hardened.

Security isn't important for a pentest OS. It is the systems you are using it on that are meant to be the secure ones. I doubt they will be hacking you back...

• Minimalist and auditable: You control every package — no bloat, no surprises.

Many pentesting tools are not in the packages system (because they are very short lived until a hole gets plugged). So you will be compiling from source anyway.

• Linux compatibility layer: Run many Linux-based tools via the linuxulator.

Many tools are typically just sending "clever" stuff through a network and are often very portable. Sure, you sometimes need patched drivers for the ancient aircrack stuff, but that won't work in the linuxulator anyway. Often "hacking" tools are engineered very poorly and have terrible build systems, so perhaps linux emulation can help skip that.

FreeBSD is great but I would also argue that Windows 98 would make a suitable pentest OS too.

 

[unitrunker]

I was excited to see Metasploit working on FreeBSD ... and then it wasn't. And then it worked again ... and then ... I've not checked to see if it is working today.

 

[drhowarddrfine]

Am I the only one to understand the jist of SirDice post?

 

[ralphbsz]

Am I the only one to understand the jist of SirDice post?

No you're not.

 

[jbo@]

Am I the only one to understand the jist of SirDice post?

Nope.

While I agree with what kpedersen is saying, I am actually surprised to see him (them? - don't cancel me guys!) engaging.

 

[kpedersen]

Heh, I dropped the ball on this one. The browser I responded on didn't render the silly little icons in the OP. A classic telltale sign of ChatGPT specifically. I missed the use of em-dash too which I am admittedly disappointed in myself for.

That said, I suppose I responded because I see the opposite a lot. Newbies going straight to Backtrack/Kali, etc because they think it is secure because its a "hacker distro". Which of course is not a correct assumption, so the OPs low effort of typing nonsense into ChatGPT was only going to result in nonsense out. We certainly don't want script kiddies coming here.

 

[Beastie7]

On second though it'd probably be more practical to bundle these sorts of tools into a meta-port. These "sporks" are sort of getting ridiculous IMO.