Use MongoDB on Kali Linux with PyCharm

Posted by Kulani Mahadewa on February 5, 2020
Posted in: Kali Linux, Linux. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Hi, In this post I will detail how I installed and used MongoDB on Kali Linux, including how I resolved the issues came across.

Step 1: Install mongodb on Kali Linux

  • Use the following command to install mongodb (refer: source)
sudo apt-get install mongodb

Alternatively, you can remove existing installations with the following command before executing the above install command.

sudo apt-get purge mongo*
  • Run the mongodb server

I tried the following  two commands based on the existing tutorials, however with errors.

#1 mongod

Error:error0

#2 sudo systemctl start mongod

Error:

erro1

Solution:

create /data/db directory

sudo mkdir -p /data/db
sudo chmod g+w /data/db
mongod

 

server run 2

Step 2: Set up PyCharm

  • Install pymongo using the PyCharm interpreter. (File -> Settings -> Under ‘Project’ find the  ‘Project Interpreter’)

Step 3: Create a mongodb database

Open a new terminal and use command

mongo

Following that you can use an existing tutorial : https://www.tutorialspoint.com/mongodb/mongodb_create_collection.htm on creating and managing mongoDBs as follows.

create db

Step 4: Use the created mongoDB on PyCharm

import pymongo

uri = 'mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017'
client = pymongo.MongoClient(uri)
db = client['actionmonitor']
collection = db['pagedefaults']

Cheers ! 🙂

Security Publications

Posted by Kulani Mahadewa on January 12, 2020
Posted in: Security Research. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Tech Star

Hi, I’am a security researcher at National University of Singapore. My research interests are:

  • Security Analysis of Smart Home Systems.
  • Formal Verification of Application-Layer Protocols.

Find me on:

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kulani_Mahadewa

Publications:

Security Analysis of IoT Smart Home Systems:

  1. Scrutinizing Implementations of Smart Home Integrations.
    Kulani Mahadewa, Kailong Wang, Guangdong Bai, Ling Shi, Yan Liu, Jin Song Dong and Zhenkai Liang. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, TSE 2019 [paper][demo]
  2. HOMESCAN: Scrutinizing Implementations of Smart Home Integrations. Kulani Mahadewa, Kailong Wang, Guangdong Bai, Ling Shi, Jin Song Dong and Zhenkai Liang. 23rd International Conference on Engineering of Complex Computer Systems, ICECCS 2018, Melbourne, Australia, December 12-14, 2018[paper][pptx][demo]
  3. Security Analysis of Smart Home Implementations. Mahadewa K. (2018) In: Sun J., Sun M. (eds) Formal Methods and Software Engineering. ICFEM 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 11232. Springer, Cham

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Move Android User Installed Certificates to System CA Store

Posted by Kulani Mahadewa on December 2, 2019
Posted in: certificate pinning. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Hi ! In android devices there are two CA stores i.e., system store and user store

  • system store path: /system/etc/security/cacerts
  • user store path: /data/misc/user/0/cacerts-added

Usually, the certificates such as FiddlerRoot cert that are installed by the user, are saved in the user store. Sometimes, the user installed certificates may not be trusted by the applications. Hence, you may want to move them into the system store.

You can follow the following steps to do that.

  • Check the user store
adb shell
cd /data/misc/user/0/cacerts-added
ls
  • Mount the system directory to enable read/write capability
adb shell
ja3gxx:/system/etc/security/cacerts # su
ja3gxx:/ # mount -o rw,remount /system
  • Move the required user installed Cert to system store
1|ja3gxx:/data/misc/user/0/cacerts-added # mv e5c3944b.0 /system/etc/security/cacerts

Cheers ! 🙂

Use MySQL Database with Pycharm Community Edition on Kali Linux

Posted by Kulani Mahadewa on June 2, 2019
Posted in: Kali Linux, Linux. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Hi! Here I provide a brief guide to enable using mysql database on PyCharm 2019.1.2 (community edition).

Step 1. Create mysql database.

Kali linux comes with mysql pre-installed.

  • Start mysql server.

Open terminal and type,

 :~# service mysql start
 :~# mysql -u root -p  // provide password when prompt

screenshot-from-2019-06-02-11-18-28.png

  • Give privilege to ‘user’@localhost.
MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO '<username>'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '<password>';

screenshot-from-2019-06-02-11-24-06.png

Step 2. Install DB Navigator on PyCharm IDE.

  • Select project -> File –> Settings –> Plugins
  • Search “DB Navigator”
  • Install package

screenshot-from-2019-06-02-11-26-49.png

Step 3. Connect the mysql database with PyCharm.

  • Press “+” on “DB Browser” –> select ‘MySQL’
  • In DB Navigator settings, select “+” again in “Connection” tab.
  • Fill the form with required information.
    • For authentication: select “user/password”, and provide the ‘<username>’ and ‘<password>’ provided during grant privilege above.

screenshot-from-2019-06-02-11-29-35.png

  • Test Connection.

screenshot-from-2019-06-02-11-29-44.png

Cheers ! 🙂

Running Xposed Module: “Default Activity not Specified” error

Posted by Kulani Mahadewa on April 19, 2019
Posted in: Getting Started with Android, xposed. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Hi! When you try to run the xposed module on Android Studio, at the build configuration select the “Nothing” from the drop down list of “Launch Options” to avoid the “Default Activity not specified” error.

Screenshot from 2019-04-20 01-10-16

Cheers!

“Module not Specified” in Android Studio

Posted by Kulani Mahadewa on April 19, 2019
Posted in: android studio. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Hi!, This error occurs when you haven’t select the “module” from the drop down list at build configurations of Android Studio IDE. The module may not appear in drop down list for several reasons.

If you get this error while running an imported project to Android Studio IDE most probably the reason are:

  • You may haven’t imported the project correctly. Select the “settings.gradle” file when importing existing project.
  • The content of the module may be missing. This happened to me while downloading the project from Dropbox. The file structure of the project was slightly messed.

Otherwise, “syncing the gradle files” should work as usual.

Fiddler on Kali Linux

Posted by Kulani Mahadewa on April 19, 2019
Posted in: Kali Linux, Linux. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Hi! Here I briefly describe my experience on setting up Fiddler on Kali Linux and capturing traffic from Firefox ESR browser.

Installing Fiddler

  • Install mono
sudo apt install mono-complete
mono Fiddler.exe

Configuring Firefox to capture traffic

  • Open the Firefox browser and press ‘Alt’ button. The tool bar at the top will appear.
  • Next, Goto Edit –> Preferences to view the “Options” in Firefox.
  • Select Advanced –> Network .

Screenshot from 2019-04-19 12-42-23

  • Click on “Settings”. It says “No Proxy”

Screenshot from 2019-04-19 12-44-34

  • Tick the “User system proxy settings” option and press OK.

Screenshot from 2019-04-19 12-44-41

Configuring Firefox to trust Fiddler root certificate

If you try to load a https page at Firefox you will see following error. To avoid that need to configure Firefox with Fiddler’s root certificate.

Screenshot from 2019-04-19 12-54-05

Step 1: Download the Fiddler’s root certificate.

  • At Fiddler, goto Tools –>Options .
  • Select “HTTPS” tab.
  • Press “Actions” button at the right top corner.
  • Select “Export Root Certificate to Desktop”.

Screenshot from 2019-04-19 13-04-07

Step 2: Import the Fiddler’s root certificate at Firefox browser.

  • Goto  Edit –> Preferences –> Advanced –> Certificate.
  • Press “View Certificate” button.

Screenshot from 2019-04-19 13-10-53

  • Select “Import” –> Choose the root certificate on desktop.

Screenshot from 2019-04-19 13-11-05

  • Tick “Trust this CA to identify websites”. Press OK. done.

Screenshot from 2019-04-19 13-11-43

Cheers!