Kali Linux via limactl

[atulsingh0]

Hey Folks,
I was trying to use Kali VM via lima and tried out few ways, a template is shared below where I am using a Live image.
Problem I am facing is, as Kali Linux provide either Installer image or Live image, both requires inputs from UI. I have able to boot up Kali Linux (Live) but SSH was not sucessful as sshd service was not enabled in distro.

Looking for ideas to customize the ISO such a way that I can create Kali VM like ubuntu.

minimumLimaVersion: "1.0.0"
images:
    - location: "https://cdimage.kali.org/kali-2024.4/kali-linux-2024.4-live-arm64.iso"
      arch: "aarch64"
    - location: "https://cdimage.kali.org/kali-2024.4/kali-linux-2024.4-live-amd64.iso"
      arch: "x86_64"

mounts:
    - location: "/tmp/lima"
      writable: true

# 🟢 Builtin default: min(4, host CPU cores)
cpus: 2 

# Memory size
# 🟢 Builtin default: min("4GiB", half of host memory)
memory: 4GiB

# Disk size
# 🟢 Builtin default: "100GiB"
disk: 50GiB

video:
    display: "vz"

# experimental settings
mountTypesUnsupported:
    - "9p"
vmType: vz
mountType: virtiofs

# make it a native M1 VM
arch: aarch64

ssh:
    localPort: 60023
    forwardAgent: true

provision:
    - mode: system
      script: |
          #!/bin/bash
          set -eux -o pipefail

          systemctl enable -now sshd    

Error when I am booting Live Kali VM -

INFO[0001] SSH Local Port: 60023                        
INFO[0000] [hostagent] Waiting for the essential requirement 1 of 2: "ssh" 
INFO[0000] [hostagent] [VZ] - vm state change: running  
INFO[0001] [hostagent] 2025-02-19 22:38:46.323 limactl[21477:3515800] +[IMKClient subclass]: chose IMKClient_Modern 
INFO[0001] [hostagent] 2025-02-19 22:38:46.323 limactl[21477:3515800] +[IMKInputSession subclass]: chose IMKInputSession_Modern 
INFO[0010] [hostagent] Waiting for the essential requirement 1 of 2: "ssh" 
INFO[0014] [hostagent] 2025/02/19 22:38:58 tcpproxy: for incoming conn 127.0.0.1:64691, error dialing "192.168.5.15:22": connect tcp 192.168.5.15:22: no route to host 
INFO[0023] [hostagent] Waiting for the essential requirement 1 of 2: "ssh" 
INFO[0027] [hostagent] 2025/02/19 22:39:11 tcpproxy: for incoming conn 127.0.0.1:64692, error dialing "192.168.5.15:22": connect tcp 192.168.5.15:22: no route to host  

[afbjorklund]

You need cloud-init support.

[atulsingh0]

I have added the provision step but still seeing the same issue -

DEBU[0000] [hostagent] executing ssh for script "ssh": /usr/bin/ssh [ssh -F /dev/null -o IdentityFile="/Users/atul/.lima/_config/user" -o IdentityFile="/Users/atul/.ssh/id_ed25519" -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost=yes -o GSSAPIAuthentication=no -o PreferredAuthentications=publickey -o Compression=no -o BatchMode=yes -o IdentitiesOnly=yes -o Ciphers="^[email protected],[email protected]" -o User=atul -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPath="/Users/atul/.lima/kali/ssh.sock" -o ControlPersist=yes -o ForwardAgent=yes -p 60023 127.0.0.1 -- /bin/bash -c "$(printf 'while read -r line; do [ -n "$line" ] && export "$line"; done<<EOF\n$(sudo cat /mnt/lima-cidata/param.env)\nEOF\n/bin/bash')"] 
DEBU[0000] [hostagent] stdout="", stderr="ssh: connect to host 127.0.0.1 port 60023: Connection refused\r\n", err=failed to execute script "ssh": stdout="", stderr="ssh: connect to host 127.0.0.1 port 60023: Connection refused\r\n": exit status 255 
INFO[0001] [hostagent] [VZ] - vm state change: stopped  
ERRO[0001] [hostagent] accept tcp 127.0.0.1:60023: use of closed network connection 

[jandubois]

You need a Kali image with cloud-init support. None of the Lima provisioning is happening unless the image processes cloud-init user-data during boot. There is no way to bootstrap ssh without it.

Afaik the Kali project doesn't publish images with cloud-init configured, so you need to build your own. Do a Google search to find blog posts from others who have done it.

[afbjorklund]

If you just want to run the Live CD, you could use some other tool instead of Lima. Like UTM?