apt-get automatically tries to update metasploit, causing dpkg to exit unexpectedly.

[optimusprimeduck]

So, my problem seems to be a problem with Metasploit. first, when I use apt-get, it always tries to update metasploit. when it does this, it is all fine until the part which says: "Stopping Metasploit web server: thin". It then says"E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg exited unexpectedly". The next time I try to use apt-get, it says "E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.". So I do that. But the next time I try to use apt-get it still tries to automatically update Metasploit. And fails. It just keeps repeating. I am currently using a 16 gigabyte USB with persistence on kali, booted into a HP Pavillion a6807c PC that was manufactured in 2007.

[brandont]

Hi optimusprimeduck. I've seen this issue before but have been unable to reproduce it. One thing you can do to get back to normal is to manually stop and remove metasploit:

/etc/init.d/metasploit stop
rm /etc/init.d/metasploit
dpkg --purge metasploit
dpkg --configure -a
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

I will continue to look for the root cause of this issue.

[optimusprimeduck]

Unfortunately, at dpkg --purge metasploit, I end up with:

dpkg: error processing metasploit (--purge):
Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should
reinstall it before attempting a removal.
Errors were encountered while processing:
metasploit

[bl4ck5w4n]

Have you tryied reinstalling it?

aptitude reinstall metasploit

[optimusprimeduck]

I tried, but this is what I end up with:

The following packages will be REMOVED:
metasploit
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 177 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B of archives. After unpacking 163 MB will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] y
dpkg: error processing metasploit (--remove):
Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should
reinstall it before attempting a removal.
Errors were encountered while processing:
metasploit
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
A package failed to install. Trying to recover:

Current status: 178 updates [+1].

[Mehran]

I tried, but this is what I end up with:

The following packages will be REMOVED:
metasploit
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 177 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B of archives. After unpacking 163 MB will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] y
dpkg: error processing metasploit (--remove):
Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should
reinstall it before attempting a removal.
Errors were encountered while processing:
metasploit
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
A package failed to install. Trying to recover:

Current status: 178 updates [+1].

Same Error , please someone help .

[zimmaro]

Same Error , please someone help .

i make test in vm live(1.0.4)64bit & seem to work in MY-kali ...but....I am not responsible if your kali "" broken""
try:
apt-get remove metasploit-framework (this remove metasploit & some """dipendence-tools"")
apt-get update
apt-get install metasploit metasploit-framework set ikat armitage jboss-autopwn kali-linux kali-linux-full set u3-pwn -y
....
after for metasploit start the "service"(service metasploit start && service postgresql start) and launch msfconsole
bye

[system_crash]

First start postgresql and metasploit services then run apt-get update && apt-get upgrade....

service postgresql start && service metasploit start
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

there is no need to remove metasploit and reinstall it.

[Mehran]

First start postgresql and metasploit services then run apt-get update && apt-get upgrade....

service postgresql start && service metasploit start
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

there is no need to remove metasploit and reinstall it.

i did it But i got This error :

Preparing to replace metasploit 4.6.2-2013061901-1kali0 (using .../metasploit_4.7.0-2013072401-1kali0_i386.deb) ...
[....] Stopping Metasploit web server: thinE: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg exited unexpectedly

[Mehran]

i make test in vm live(1.0.4)64bit & seem to work in MY-kali ...but....I am not responsible if your kali "" broken""
try:
apt-get remove metasploit-framework (this remove metasploit & some """dipendence-tools"")
apt-get update
apt-get install metasploit metasploit-framework set ikat armitage jboss-autopwn kali-linux kali-linux-full set u3-pwn -y
....
after for metasploit start the "service"(service metasploit start && service postgresql start) and launch msfconsole
bye

i Cannot Remove metasploit :

root@kali:~# apt-get remove metasploit-framework
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
metasploit metasploit-framework
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 30 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 232 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
dpkg: error processing metasploit (--remove):
Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should
reinstall it before attempting a removal.
(Reading database ... 255120 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing metasploit-framework ...
dpkg: warning: while removing metasploit-framework, directory '/usr/share/metasploit-framework/data/meterpreter' not empty so not removed
Errors were encountered while processing:
metasploit
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[jackpwns]

i Cannot Remove metasploit :

Your error message refers to your meterpreter directory. What is the result of "ls /usr/share/metasploit-framework/data/meterpreter"? Could you move the contents of that folder somewhere else and then try to remove metasploit?

[Mehran]

Your error message refers to your meterpreter directory. What is the result of "ls /usr/share/metasploit-framework/data/meterpreter"? Could you move the contents of that folder somewhere else and then try to remove metasploit?

root@kali:~# ls /usr/share/metasploit-framework/data/meterpreter
elevator.dll                   ext_server_sniffer.x64.dll
elevator.x64.dll               ext_server_stdapi.dll
ext_server_espia.dll           ext_server_stdapi.jar
ext_server_espia.x64.dll       ext_server_stdapi.lso
ext_server_incognito.dll       ext_server_stdapi.php
ext_server_incognito.x64.dll   ext_server_stdapi.x64.dll
ext_server_lanattacks.dll      metcli.exe
ext_server_lanattacks.x64.dll  meterpreter.jar
ext_server_mimikatz.dll        meterpreter.php
ext_server_mimikatz.x64.dll    metsrv.dll
ext_server_networkpug.lso      metsrv.x64.dll
ext_server_pivot.dll           metsvc.exe
ext_server_pivot.x64.dll       metsvc-server.exe
ext_server_priv.dll            msflinker_linux_x86.bin
ext_server_priv.x64.dll        screenshot.dll
ext_server_sniffer.dll         screenshot.x64.dll
ext_server_sniffer.lso

i Also move all in meterpreter folder but still cant remove Metasploit :

root@kali:~# apt-get remove metasploit-framework 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  metasploit metasploit-framework
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 30 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 232 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
dpkg: error processing metasploit (--remove):
 Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should
 reinstall it before attempting a removal.
(Reading database ... 255120 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing metasploit-framework ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 metasploit
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

root@kali:~# apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 metasploit : Depends: metasploit-framework (>= 4.6.2-2013061901-1) but it is not installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.

root@kali:~# apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  metasploit metasploit-framework
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  metasploit-framework
The following packages will be upgraded:
  metasploit
1 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 34 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/140 MB of archives.
After this operation, 101 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
Reading changelogs... Done
Selecting previously unselected package metasploit-framework.
(Reading database ... 246871 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking metasploit-framework (from .../metasploit-framework_4.7.0-2013072401-1kali0_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package metasploit.
Preparing to replace metasploit 4.6.2-2013061901-1kali0 (using .../metasploit_4.7.0-2013072401-1kali0_i386.deb) ...
[....] Stopping Metasploit web server: thinE: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg exited unexpectedly

[matteboy]

I feel your pain. I also get this exact same error process. It started after I did apt-get update followed by apt-get upgrade from a Kali terminal. I don't know if it makes a difference but I am running Kali as a VM in VB. I ended up hosing the thing and reinstalling the whole VM from scratch. Every time I try and update either when it was BT5 R3 or Kali, Metasploit stopped working and despite several suggestions from other forums I have never recovered and always had to reinstall. Was a fix ever found for the above problem. Is there a better way to update Kali as at present I just don't do it anymore because it always breaks something (usually Metasploit) Thanks

[hdcase]

Had this problem for a few weeks now. But I somehow got it fixed last night, following brandont and zimmaro's suggestions. Went as far as apt-get update then issued apt-get remove metasploit-framework. Encountered the error about the meterpreter directory not being empty so rm'ed them. Issued another apt-get remove metasploit-framework and got another error about unmet dependencies so I tried apt-get -f install. Everything went smooth after that. No more errors. Lastly, apt-get install --reinstall metasploit-framework to see if I'd encounter the error again. No errors. Was able to apt-get upgrade the other packages.

[DrDinosaur]

Had this problem for a few weeks now. But I somehow got it fixed last night, following brandont and zimmaro's suggestions. Went as far as apt-get update then issued apt-get remove metasploit-framework. Encountered the error about the meterpreter directory not being empty so rm'ed them. Issued another apt-get remove metasploit-framework and got another error about unmet dependencies so I tried apt-get -f install. Everything went smooth after that. No more errors. Lastly, apt-get install --reinstall metasploit-framework to see if I'd encounter the error again. No errors. Was able to apt-get upgrade the other packages.

Thank you so much! This fixed my problem for me. God, it was so annoying. I'm going to bookmark this so I can always fix it when it inevitably comes back again.

[Hackaholic]

So, my problem seems to be a problem with Metasploit. first, when I use apt-get, it always tries to update metasploit. when it does this, it is all fine until the part which says: "Stopping Metasploit web server: thin". It then says"E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg exited unexpectedly". The next time I try to use apt-get, it says "E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.". So I do that. But the next time I try to use apt-get it still tries to automatically update Metasploit. And fails. It just keeps repeating. I am currently using a 16 gigabyte USB with persistence on kali, booted into a HP Pavillion a6807c PC that was manufactured in 2007.

rm /opt/metasploit/apps/pro/ui/log/thin.pid
apt-get upgrade