Pentoo Explained

Pentoo Linux
Developer:	Grimmlin (Michael Zanetta - founder), Zero_Chaos (Rick Farina), blshkv (Anton Bolshakov), Wuodan (Stefan Kuhn), Jensp (Jens Pranaitis)^[1]
Family:	Linux (Unix-like)
Working State:	Active^[2]
Source Model:	Open source
Latest Release Version:	2019.1
Update Model:	Emerge
Package Manager:	Portage with Pentoo overlay
Supported Platforms:	IA-32, x86-64
Kernel Type:	Modular (Linux)
Userland:	GNU
Ui:	Xfce4 WM from LiveCD, various
License:	Free software licenses (mainly GPL)

Pentoo is a Live CD and Live USB designed for penetration testing and security assessment. Based on Gentoo Linux, Pentoo is provided both as 32 and 64-bit installable live CD. Pentoo is also available as an overlay^[3] for an existing Gentoo installation. It features packet injection patched Wi-Fi drivers, GPGPU cracking software, and many tools for penetration testing and security assessment. The Pentoo kernel includes grsecurity and PAX hardening and extra patches - with binaries compiled from a hardened toolchain with the latest nightly versions of some tools available.

Features

• Available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions, the latter having a significant speed increase from 32 bits
• Includes the required environment to crack passwords using GPGPU with openCL and CUDA configured 'out of the box'^{[4] [5] [6]}
• Built on hardened linux, including a hardened kernel and toolchain
• Hardened kernel with extra patches^[7]
• Uses a Pentoo overlay, which allows tools to be built on top of a standard Gentoo build
• Support for full disk encryption with LUKS if installed on HDD
• Automated installation^[8]

Tools

Tools are installed with versioned ebuilds and open-ended ebuilds,^[9] making it possible to pull in the latest subversions and still have installs tracked by package management. The following tool categories are included:^[10]

• Analyzer
• Bluetooth
• Cracker
• Database
• Development
• Exploit
• Footprint
• Forensics
• Forging
• Fuzzers
• Misc
• MitM
• Pentoo
• Proxy
• RCE
• Scanner
• SIP-VOIP
• Wireless

Releases

Pentoo uses rolling releases with periodic ISO snapshots of the latest committed updates.

Date	Release^[11]
2005/06/22	Pentoo 2005.1
2006/02/02	Pentoo 2006.0
2006/07/05	Pentoo 2006.1
2009/12/04	Pentoo 2009.0
2012/07/30	Pentoo 2012.0
2013/03/09	Pentoo 2013.0 RC1.1
2013/07/04	Pentoo 2013.0 RC1.8
2014/08/08	Pentoo 2013.0 RC1.9
2014/03/17	Pentoo 2014.0 RC2.1
2014/08/08	Pentoo 2014.0 RC3
2014/09/25	Pentoo 2014.0 RC3.5
2014/11/16	Pentoo 2014.0 RC3.6
2015/01/05	Pentoo 2015.0 RC3.7
2015/12/02	Pentoo 2015.0 RC4.6^[12]
2016/08/02	Pentoo 2015.0 RC5
...	...-->
2018/03/26	Pentoo 2018.0 RC6.3
2018/07/10	Pentoo 2018.0 RC7.1
...	...-->
2019/01/17	Pentoo 2019.0

External links

• • Official blog
  • Shmoocon 2010 Firetalks Presentation: Pentoo
• BSides Delaware 2013 Presentation: Pentoo
• Report Bugs
• Working betas

Notes and References

1. Web site: Developers. 2015-07-18.
2. https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=pentoo DistroWatch.com: Pentoo
3. Web site: Overlay usage . https://web.archive.org/web/20140426213808/http://code.google.com/p/pentoo/wiki/OverlayUsage. 2014-04-26. 2013-01-08 . dead.
4. Web site: Cuda, Stream, mpi, and Multiforcer . 3 February 2009 . 2011-01-22 .
5. Web site: Pentoo Updates . 2011-01-22 .
6. Web site: Pentoo, another security distro . 4 January 2010 . 2011-01-22 .
7. Web site: Kernel Patches. https://web.archive.org/web/20120322170154/https://www.pentoo.ch/svn/kernel/trunk/2.6/2.6.37/. 2012-03-22. 2011-01-22. dead.
8. Web site: Installation video . . 2013-01-08 .
9. Web site: SVN ebuild example. https://web.archive.org/web/20120322170218/https://www.pentoo.ch/svn/portage/trunk/app-exploits/exploitdb/exploitdb-9999.ebuild. 2012-03-22. 2011-04-10. dead.
10. Web site: Menu Categories. https://web.archive.org/web/20120322170349/https://www.pentoo.ch/svn/portage/trunk/pentoo/. 2012-03-22. 2011-04-10. dead.
11. Web site: Index. Pentoo . 2015-01-01.
12. News: Surprise! A working iso just in time for nothing at all!. Pentoo. 2016-10-06.