Kia Zhi Tang (Ryen Tang)

Kia Zhi Tang (Ryen Tang)

Technology Evangelist, Infrastructure as Code Developer, Automation Guru

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Getting PowerShell in Kali Linux container

9 minute read

Continuing with my previous blog post about Installing PowerShell in Kali Linux, I will share on how you can install PowerShell in Kali Linux container with Dockerfile.

Getting PowerShell in Kali Linux container

In this section, I will provide a walkthrough on scripting the installation of PowerShell to Kali Linux container in a Dockefile that will be used by the DockerCLI docker build command.

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Pulling Kali Linux container image

Firstly, you will have to launch Visual Studio Code or any text editor to create a Dockerfile with the first line instructing docker build to pull an official Kali Linux container image from the official Kali Linux container register repository namespace as the base image layer.

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# Pull official Kali Linux container image
FROM kalilinux/kali-linux-docker:kali-rolling AS build

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Prepare the Kali Linux environment variables

Next, we will add the following environment variables using the ENV Dockerfile command:

  • $PS_INSTALL_FOLDER
  • $DOTNET_SYSTEM_GLOBALIZATION_INVARIANT
  • $LC_ALL
  • $LANG
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# Define Args and Env needed to create links
ENV PS_INSTALL_FOLDER=/opt/microsoft/powershell/6

# Define ENVs for Localization/Globalization
ENV DOTNET_SYSTEM_GLOBALIZATION_INVARIANT=false
ENV LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
ENV LANG=en_US.UTF-8

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Download the Kali repository certificate package

In order to download the Kali package to renew Kali package repository certificate, we will add Kali package URI and output the downloaded file to the /tmp folder using the ADD Dockerfile command.

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# Download the Kali repository package
ADD https://http.kali.org/kali/pool/main/k/kali-archive-keyring/kali-archive-keyring_2018.1_all.deb \
    /tmp/kali-archive-keyring_2018.1_all.deb

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Download the International Components for Unicode package

To install PowerShell Core 6.x, we will need to download the required International Components for Unicode package for installation. We will add the libicu57 package URI from Debian package repository and output the downloaded file to the /tmp folder using the ADD Dockerfile command.

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# Download the libicu57 Debian package
ADD http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/i/icu/libicu57_57.1-9_amd64.deb \
    /tmp/libicu57_57.1-9_amd64.deb

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Download the PowerShell Core 6.1 package

Finally, we will need the PowerShell Core 6.1 package from the PowerShell\PowerShell repository from GitHub. We will add the powershell_6.1.0-1.debian.9_amd64.deb package for Debian9 and output the downloaded file to the /tmp folder using the ADD Dockerfile command.

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# Download the PowerShell package for Debian9
ADD https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/download/v6.1.0/powershell_6.1.0-1.debian.9_amd64.deb \
    /tmp/powershell_6.1.0-1.debian.9_amd64.deb

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Install the Kali repository certificate package

Before we can use apt-get update to update the available packages from the Kali package repository, we will need to install the downloaded /tmp/kali-archive-keyring_2018.1_all.deb package file to renew the certificate for authenticating with Kali package repository.

We will add the RUN Dockerfile command to execute the apt-get install command to install the downloaded package and initiate rm -f to remove the downloaded package file after installation.

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# Renew Kali repository expired certificate in the
# container image
RUN apt-get install /tmp/kali-archive-keyring_2018.1_all.deb \
    # Remove the downloaded package file
    && rm -f /tmp/kali-archive-keyring_2018.1_all.deb

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Update the available package list

Once the kali-archive-keyring_2018.1_all.deb package has been installed, we will add the RUN Dockerfile command to initiate apt-get update command to update the available packages from Kali package repository.

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# Update package list
RUN apt-get update

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Install the International Components for Unicode package

After the update has completed, we will add the RUN Dockerfile command to execute dpkg -i Debian package management command to install the downloaded /tmp/libicu57_57.1-9_amd64.deb package and initiate rm -f to remove the downloaded package file after installation.

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# Install required libicu57
# (International Components for Unicode) package
RUN dpkg -i /tmp/libicu57_57.1-9_amd64.deb \
    # Remove the downloaded package file
    && rm -f /tmp/libicu57_57.1-9_amd64.deb

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Install the other PowerShell dependencies

Now, we will install other PowerShell dependencies such as:

  • less package for a terminal pager program on Unix-like systems used to view the contents of a text file one screen at a time for PowerShell’s Help
  • locales package to define language and country specific setting for your programs and shell session
  • ca-certificates package to handle SSL certificates for PowerShell

To do that, we add the RUN Dockerfile command to execute the apt-get install -y command for those packages using RUN Dockerfile command to install those packages in their own independent stage during the build.

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# Required less package for help in powershell
RUN apt-get install -y less

# Required locales package to setup the locale
RUN apt-get install -y locales

# Required ca-certificates package for SSL
RUN apt-get install -y ca-certificates

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Configure Kali system localization

With locales package installed, we will add the RUN Dockerfile command to echo an uncommented "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" string for American-English in the /etc/locale.gen file, generate the locale using the locale-gen command, and initate an update using update-locale command.

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# Enable specific locale
RUN echo "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" >> /etc/locale.gen \
    # Generate the specific locale
    && locale-gen \
    # Update the locale
    && update-locale

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Install the PowerShell Core 6.1

Then, we will add the RUN Dockerfile command to execute the apt-get install -y command to install the /tmp/powershell_6.1.0-1.debian.9_amd64.deb PowerShell package for Debian9 and initiate rm -f to remove the downloaded package file after installation.

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# Install PowerShell package
RUN apt-get install -y /tmp/powershell_6.1.0-1.debian.9_amd64.deb \
    # Remove the downloaded package file
    && rm -f /tmp/powershell_6.1.0-1.debian.9_amd64.deb

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Update Kali distro

This is optional. If you requires Kali Linux distro to be up to date, you can add the RUN Dockerfile command to initiate apt-get dist-upgrade -y command to upgrade the distro.

After the distro upgrade has completes, you can clear the retrieved package files in local repository using apt-get clean command, followed by removing the packages list using the rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* command.

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# Upgrade the Kali distro
RUN apt-get dist-upgrade -y \
    # Clear retrieved package files in local repository
    && apt-get clean \
    # Clear the packages list download from Kali package repository
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

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Set the default shell to PowerShell

This is also optional. If you prefers Kali Linux to set PowerShell Core 6 as the default shell environment for your container, you can add the ENTRYPOINT Dockerfile command with pwsh -c and CMD Dockerfile command with pwsh.

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# Configure entrypoint for the container
ENTRYPOINT ["pwsh", "-c"]

# Configure PowerShell as default shell for the container
CMD ["pwsh"]

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Build the Kali container image

Finally, save your Dockerfile file with your Visual Studio Code or text editor and use the DockerCLI with the command docker build and --tag parameter to specify your container image name and tag in the folder location where your Dockerfile is located.

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# Navigate to your directory where you saved your Dockerfile file
# Build the container image from content in the Dockerfile file
docker build --tag powershell:kali-rolling .

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Conclusion

After the container image build has completed, you can test the container image using the DockerCLI commands like the example below:

  • docker DockerCLI executable
  • run Run a command in a new container
  • --rm Automatically remove the container when it exits
  • --interactive Keep STDIN open even if not attached
  • powershell:kali-rolling Container Name followed : by Tag Name
  • $PSVersionTable Show PowerShell Version Table
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docker run --rm --interactive powershell:kali-rolling $PSVersionTable

If you have added the ENTRYPOINT in the Dockerfile for the build, the output will be returned as below:

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Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      6.1.0
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    6.1.0
OS                             Linux 4.9.125-linuxkit #1 SMP Fri Sep 7 08:20:28 UTC 2018
Platform                       Unix
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0

If you need to interactively work in the container, you can use the DockerCLI commands with the example below.

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docker run --rm --interactive powershell:kali-rolling

If you have added the CMD in the Dockerfile for the build, you will obtain PowerShell as the default shell in the container interactive session.

You can switch between pwsh, bash or sh shells with the example below.

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PowerShell 6.1.0
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

https://aka.ms/pscore6-docs
Type 'help' to get help.

PS /> # Switch from pwsh to bash
PS /> /bin/bash

root@83a669d2bd41:/# # Exit from bash back to pwsh
root@83a669d2bd41:/# exit

PS /> # Switch from pwsh to system shell
PS /> /bin/sh

# # Exit from system shell to pwsh
# exit

PS />

There you have it on how you can obtain PowerShell in Kali Linux container.

Note:

If you followed the walkthrough above line by line, please kindly take note that it is not the most optimized way of building a container containing multiple RUN in Dockerfile because each RUN creates a new layer.

The intent of this blog post structure containing multiple RUN is purely for educational purposes for people who are new to Docker and PowerShell on Kali Linux.

For a more optimized container build, you can refer to the following Dockerfile below.

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# Pull official Kali Linux container image
FROM kalilinux/kali-linux-docker:kali-rolling AS build

# Define Args and Env needed to create links
ENV PS_INSTALL_FOLDER=/opt/microsoft/powershell/6 \
    # Define ENVs for Localization/Globalization
    DOTNET_SYSTEM_GLOBALIZATION_INVARIANT=false \
    LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 \
    LANG=en_US.UTF-8

# Download the Kali repository package
ADD https://http.kali.org/kali/pool/main/k/kali-archive-keyring/kali-archive-keyring_2018.1_all.deb \
    /tmp/kali-archive-keyring_2018.1_all.deb

# Download the libicu57 Debian package
ADD http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/i/icu/libicu57_57.1-9_amd64.deb \
    /tmp/libicu57_57.1-9_amd64.deb

# Download the PowerShell package for Debian9
ADD https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/download/v6.1.0/powershell_6.1.0-1.debian.9_amd64.deb \
    /tmp/powershell_6.1.0-1.debian.9_amd64.deb

# Install and Configure
RUN \
    # Renew Kali repository expired certificate in the
    # container image
    apt-get install /tmp/kali-archive-keyring_2018.1_all.deb \
    # Remove the downloaded package file
    && rm -f /tmp/kali-archive-keyring_2018.1_all.deb \
    # Update package list
    && apt-get update \
    # Install required libicu57
    # (International Components for Unicode) package
    && dpkg -i /tmp/libicu57_57.1-9_amd64.deb \
    # Remove the downloaded package file
    && rm -f /tmp/libicu57_57.1-9_amd64.deb \
    # Install dependencies
    && apt-get install -y \
      # Required package for SSL
      ca-certificates \
      # Required package for help in powershell
      less \
      # Required package to setup the locale
      locales \
    # Enable specific locale
    && echo "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" >> /etc/locale.gen \
    # Generate the specific locale
    && locale-gen \
    # Update the locale
    && update-locale \
    # Install PowerShell package
    && apt-get install -y /tmp/powershell_6.1.0-1.debian.9_amd64.deb \
    # Remove the downloaded package file
    && rm -f /tmp/powershell_6.1.0-1.debian.9_amd64.deb \
    # Upgrade the Kali distro
    && apt-get dist-upgrade -y \
    # Clear retrieved package files in local repository
    && apt-get clean \
    # Clear the packages list download from Kali package repository
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# Configure entrypoint for the container
ENTRYPOINT ["pwsh", "-c"]

# Configure PowerShell as default shell for the container
CMD ["pwsh"]

If you find that this information useful, feel free to bookmark this or share it with your colleagues and friends.

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References

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