Two issues surfaced during the first end-to-end verification attempt
(verify.sh pwnkit, generic/ubuntu2004):
1. 'The machine with the name skk-pwnkit was not found' — the original
Vagrantfile used c.vm.box/hostname without a c.vm.define block, so
passing a machine name to 'vagrant up <name>' had nothing to match.
Wrap every per-machine config in 'c.vm.define host do |m| ... end'
so each module gets its own tracked machine in
.vagrant/machines/skk-<module>/parallels/.
2. 'Installing the proper version of Parallels Tools' fails on
Ubuntu 20.04: 'Error: current Linux kernel version 5.4.0-169-generic
is outdated and not supported'. The latest Parallels Tools wants
newer guest kernels. We don't need the Tools at all — rsync
sync_folder over plain SSH does our source mount. Disable both:
p.update_guest_tools = false
p.check_guest_tools = false
Verified externally (with Apple hypervisor as a temporary bypass
during the user's pending Parallels-extension allow + Mac restart):
the VM boots, SSH connects, network works. The only remaining gate
was the Parallels Tools provisioner now skipped.
Closes the gap between 'detect() compiles and passes unit tests' and
'exploit() actually works on a real vulnerable kernel'. One-time
setup + one command per module to verify against a known-vulnerable
guest, with results emitted as JSON verification records.
Files:
setup.sh — one-shot bootstrap. Installs Vagrant via brew if
missing, installs vagrant-parallels plugin, pre-
downloads 5 base boxes (~5 GB):
generic/ubuntu1804 (4.15.0)
generic/ubuntu2004 (5.4.0 + HWE)
generic/ubuntu2204 (5.15.0 + HWE)
generic/debian11 (5.10.0)
generic/debian12 (6.1.0)
Idempotent; can pass --boxes subset.
Vagrantfile — single parameterized config driven by SKK_VM_*
env vars. Provisioners: build-deps install,
kernel pin (apt + snapshot.debian.org fallback),
build-and-verify (kept run='never' so verify.sh
invokes explicitly after reboot if pin'd).
targets.yaml — module → (box, kernel_pkg, kernel_version,
expect_detect, notes) mapping for all 26 modules.
3 marked manual: true (vmwgfx needs VMware guest;
dirtydecrypt + fragnesia need Linux 7.0 not yet
shipping as distro kernel).
verify.sh — entrypoint. 'verify.sh <module>' provisions if
needed, pins kernel + reboots if needed, runs
'skeletonkey --explain --active' inside the VM,
parses VERDICT, compares to expect_detect, emits
JSON verification record. --list shows the full
target matrix. --keep / --destroy lifecycle flags.
README.md — workflow + extending the targets table.
Design notes:
- Pure bash + awk targets.yaml parsing — no PyYAML dep (macOS Python
is PEP-668 'externally managed' and refuses pip --user installs).
- Sources of vulnerable kernel packages: stock distro kernels where
they're below the fix backport, otherwise pinned via apt with
snapshot.debian.org as last-resort fallback (the Debian apt
snapshot archive is the canonical source for historical kernel .deb
packages).
- Repo mounted at /vagrant via rsync (not 9p — vagrant-parallels'
9p is finicky on macOS Sequoia per the plugin issue tracker).
- VM lifecycle defaults to suspend-after-verify so the next run
resumes in ~5s instead of cold-booting.
- kernel pin reboots are handled by checking 'uname -r' after the
pin provisioner and triggering 'vagrant reload' if mismatched.
Verification records (JSON on stdout per run) are intended to feed a
per-module verified_on[] table in a follow-up commit — that's the
'permanent trust artifact' angle from the earlier roadmap discussion.
Smoke tests (no VM actually spun up):
- 'verify.sh --list': renders the 26-module matrix correctly.
- 'verify.sh nf_tables': dispatches to generic/ubuntu2204 + kernel
5.15.0-43 + expect=VULNERABLE; fails cleanly at 'vagrant: command
not found' (expected — user runs setup.sh first).
- 'verify.sh vmwgfx': errors with 'is marked manual: true' + note.
.gitignore: tools/verify-vm/{logs,.vagrant}/ excluded.
Usage:
./tools/verify-vm/setup.sh # one time, ~5 min
./tools/verify-vm/verify.sh nf_tables # ~5 min first run, ~1 min after
./tools/verify-vm/verify.sh --list # show all targets