Introduction

Kali Linux or ParrotOS are probably still the best ways to use Metasploit (in a VM or not) but I really wanted to give it a spin on Mac. It’s not too difficult, but there are a few caveats.

First of all, we’ll have to update this guide after 01-09-2026:

Deprecated because it does not pass the macOS Gatekeeper check! It will be disabled on 2026-09-01.

Also, it requires Rosetta:

==> Caveats
metasploit is built for Intel macOS and so requires Rosetta 2 to be installed.
You can install Rosetta 2 with:
softwareupdate –install-rosetta –agree-to-license
Note that it is very difficult to remove Rosetta 2 once it is installed.

So Metasploit on Mac is a bit of a pain, not at the moment, but in the near future. If you don’t mind, prep your system:

sudo softwareupdate --install --all
xcode-select --install
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
brew --version

And install Metasploit with Homebrew for Mac:

brew install metasploit

Best to not start it until your database is set up!

Metasploit database setup

On Linux you’ll run msfdb init. Metasploit’s msfdb helper is built primarily for Linux. On a Mac you do the setup manually. See below for the proper steps.

Step 1: Install and start PostgreSQL

Install Ruby and the database:

brew install ruby postgresql
brew services start postgresql

Check if it’s running:

brew services list

Step 2: Create a database and user

createuser and createdb are PostgreSQL command-line tools that ship with the installation. Run them straight from your terminal.

createuser msf -P
createdb -O msf msf_database

• -P prompts you to set a password for the msf user
• -O msf makes that user the owner of the database

Step 3: Create the config file

Create ~/.msf4/database.yml. The folder name msf4 is historical and was never renamed; Metasploit 6 still uses it.

mkdir -p ~/.msf4
cat > ~/.msf4/database.yml << 'YAML'
production:
  adapter: postgresql
  database: msf_database
  username: msf
  password: <your-password>
  host: 127.0.0.1
  port: 5432
  pool: 5
  timeout: 5
  managed: false
YAML

Replace <your-password> with what you set during createuser.

managed: false tells Metasploit not to try to manage or start the database server itself; Homebrew already handles that via brew services.

Step 4: Check the connection

Check your hard work:

msfconsole
db_status

Expected output:

[*] Connected to msf_database. Connection type: postgresql.

Key database commands

Couple of key command to get you going.

Connection

Command	What it does
db_status	Shows whether you’re connected and to which database

Hosts

Command	What it does
hosts	Lists all saved hosts
hosts -R	Loads found hosts as active targets (RHOSTS)
db_nmap <options> <target>	Runs nmap and saves results directly to the database

Services

Command	What it does
services	Lists all found services/ports
services -p 445	Filters by a specific port
services -S http	Searches by service name

Credentials and loot

Command	What it does
creds	Shows saved credentials (usernames, hashes, passwords)
loot	Shows files and data collected during the session

Workspaces

Keep different rooms or assessments separate by creating a workspace per project.

Command	What it does
workspace	Lists all workspaces and shows the active one
workspace -a <name>	Creates a new workspace
workspace <name>	Switches to an existing workspace
workspace -d <name>	Deletes a workspace

Other

Command	What it does
db_rebuild_cache	Reloads the module cache from the database

Next

The coming days I want to score the SEC0 cert of TryHackMe. Very basic, but THM is great fun. After that, I’ll pick up the THM SEC1 certification as well.

Then back on schedule: Security+ is still the primary goal for the summer.