Baseboxes

Table of contents

1. What are baseboxes?
2. How do I use baseboxes in SecGen?
3. Where are base modules stored?
4. What do base modules actually contain?
5. Where can I get new base modules from?
6. Why do I need to import my own baseboxes?
7. Where will we be importing the basebox from?
8. Why not create my own basebox?
9. Create a custom basebox
10. Where can I get more information on creating base modules?

TODO re-arrange contents and sections to be similar to services, vulnerabilities and utilities modules

What are baseboxes?

Baseboxes are copies of an operating system with all the prerequisite software installed in order for SecGen to function properly.

How do I use baseboxes in SecGen?

SecGen uses base modules to spawn baseboxes and to install them on virtual machines.
Base modules contain all necessary information on the selected baseboxes operating system, distro/version, author, licence and where to download the basebox from (usually an online repository).

Where are base modules stored?

Base modules are stored in the bases directory, a simplified SecGen file structure to the bases directory is below:

/SecGen
  /modules
    /bases

What do base modules actually contain?

Base modules contain all information necessary to spawn the selected basebox into a virtual machine in vagrant.
A variation on the default module structure is used for base modules.
The module structure for base modules is:

/bases
  /{module_#1_name}
    /secgen_metadata.xml
  /{module_#2_name}
    /secgen_metadata.xml

What does secgen_metadata.xml actually contain?

The secgen_metadata.xml files for the base modules are based on following structure:
Minimal bases secgen_metadata.xml file

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<base xmlns="http://www.github/cliffe/SecGen/base"
      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
      xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.github/cliffe/SecGen/base">
      
      <name>“”</name>
      <author>“”</author>
      <module_licence>MIT // Apache v2 // GPLv3</module_licence>
      <description>“”</description>
      <type>server // desktop // cli</type>
      <platform>“”</platform>
      <distro>“”</distro>
      <url>“”</url>
</base>

All values for bases secgen_metadata.xml file

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<base xmlns="http://www.github/cliffe/SecGen/base"
      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
      xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.github/cliffe/SecGen/base">

      <name>“”</name>
      <author>“”</author>
      <module_licence>MIT // Apache v2 // GPLv3</module_licence>
      <description>“”</description>
      <type>server // desktop // cli</type>
      <platform>“”</platform>
      <distro>“”</distro>
      <url>“”</url>
      <reference>“”</reference>
      <software_name>“”</software_name>
      <software_licence>“”</software_licence>

      <conflict>
            <module_path>“”</module_path>
            <name>“”</name>
            <author>“”</author>
            <module_licence>“”</module_licence>
            <description>“”</description>
            <type>“”</type>
            <platform>linux // unix // windows</platform>
            <distro>“”</distro>
            <url>“”</url>
            <vagrantbase>“”</vagrantbase>
            <reference>“”</reference>
            <software_licence>“”</software_licence>
      </conflict>

      <requires>
            <module_path>“”</module_path>
            <name>“”</name>
            <author>“”</author>
            <module_licence>“”</module_licence>
            <description>“”</description>
            <type>“”</type>
            <platform>linux // unix // windows</platform>
            <distro>“”</distro>
            <url>“”</url>
            <vagrantbase>“”</vagrantbase>
            <reference>“”</reference>
            <software_licence>“”</software_licence>
      </requires>
</base>

For more in depth detail on what secgen_metadata.xml contains, visit here.

Where can I get new base modules from?

Baseboxes are usually downloaded from a remote repository, an example repository that some of the SecGen baseboxes use is https://atlas.hashicorp.com/boxes/search.
Atlas contains a large selection of baseboxes, however most are biased towards linux. The most probable scenario for gaining more windows baseboxes is by creating them yourself, this can also help with licensing, as you can use your own windows licenses or free trials.
Please note: Like all code in SecGen, we do not want non foss (free open source software) licences in SecGen's core code repositories, this is because SecGen will not be able to group the entire code base under a foss license. This doesn't however mean that you can't use other licenses in your local copies, just that we don't want these licenses to touch the main SecGen repositories.

Why do I need to import my own baseboxes?

Baseboxes include all Operating system and Distro information, therefore acting as a base to the whole generated system.

Where will we be importing the basebox from?

Baseboxes can be imported from many sites, the site used in this tutorial is Atlas by Hashicorp.

Why not create my own basebox?

Baseboxes can be simple to make, but complex to optimise, therefore it is recommended to use pre-made baseboxes for secgen. However, as some baseboxes may be hard to find or may not exist, creating baseboxes for Operating Systems like windows may be neccesary.

Steps to importing a basebox

First log onto Atlas and find a sufficient basebox, we will be using ubuntu-16.04-32-puppet.

First, create a new directory inside the bases directory

mkdir ~/{path_to_SecGen}/SecGen/modules/bases/ubuntu_puppet_32

Next, change to the newly created directory

cd ~/{path_to_SecGen/SecGen/modules/bases/ubuntu_puppet_32

Then, create the secgen_metadata.xml file for the basebox.

Create a custom basebox

TODO

Where can I get more information on creating base modules?

More detailed information about the general structure of modules can be found in: Module development overview.
A detailed analysis of all the different tags and types allowed in the secgen_metadata.xml and scenario files is in: SecGen schemas.