MSF Database Error on Startup

If you are using Metasploit framework software on Kali Operating System, you may have started to receive the following error at the start of msfconsole after the latest update. Using database in msfconsole is very useful for saving and reusing the scans you have made. The reason for this error is Postgresql 9.6 version installed in Kali with the latest update.

ERROR MESSAGE

Failed to connect to the database: could not connect to server: Connection refused Is the server running on host "localhost" (::1) and accepting TCP/IP connections on port 5432? could not connect to server: Connection refused Is the server running on host "localhost" (127.0.0.1) and accepting TCP/IP connections on port 5432?

Postgresql 9.5 version used before Kali OS update listened to incoming requests on port 5432. Postgresql 9.6 started listening on port 5433 by default with the settings made in the conf file. Metasploit Framework is still trying to communicate with Postgresql on port 5432. Let’s check and fix this situation with the steps below and continue using our database where we left off.

SOLUTION

• Start Postgresql Service:

service postgresql start

• What is Postgresql Listening Port Right Now?

You can see the port number that Postgresql is currently listening to with the command below.

ss -lntp | grep post

You will probably get a result similar to the output below. If you see 5433 as the listening port, we can move on to the next step.

LISTEN 0 128 127.0.0.1:5433 *****:***** users:**((**"postgres",pid**=**2732,fd**=**6**))**
LISTEN 0 128 ::1:5433 :::***** users:**((**"postgres",pid**=**2732,fd**=**3**))**

• Let’s Look at the Settings:

Using the command below, let’s see which port is set in the /etc/postgresql/9.6/main/postgresql.conf settings file.

grep "port =" /etc/postgresql/9.6/main/postgresql.conf

port = 5433 # (change requires restart)

If you see 5433 instead of 5432 in the output, that means the problem is here.

• Let’s Change the Port:

Let’s make the port number 5432 with the following command.

sed -i 's/\(port = \)5433/\15432/' /etc/postgresql/9.6/main/postgresql.conf

Let’s restart the service and then set the msfdb startup. Now, you can connect to the database when Metasploit Framework starts with msfconsole.

service postgresql restart
msfdb reinit