Metasploit is one of the most widely used exploitation frameworks. If a scanner says, “this service is vulnerable,” Metasploit helps you confirm whether that’s actually exploitable in a controlled lab.
You can think of it like a professional locksmith’s “break-in simulation kit” for a building you own. The goal isn’t theft; it’s to prove which doors/windows can be opened so you can fix them before a real intrusion attempt.
Broadly speaking, Metasploit is a dual-purpose tool; while security teams use it to test and strengthen their security posture, the same tools can be used by attackers to break into a system.
Note: Use it only in labs or with explicit written permission.
What is Metasploit?
Metasploit is a collection of mostly open-source tools that lets you:
- Find and map systems (network enumeration)
- Identify known vulnerabilities
- Run controlled exploits to confirm if those vulnerabilities are truly exploitable
- Use payloads (what happens after the exploit succeeds, like opening a controlled session)
- Perform post-exploitation checks (what access you got, what the attacker could do next, again, in a permitted, safe way)
The two main versions of Metasploit
Metasploit generally comes in two flavors:
- Metasploit Pro (Commercial):
It’s a paid version built for teams that want more automation, reporting, and management features. Its GUI makes it easier to run and track larger assessments. - Metasploit Framework (Open-source):
It’s a free, community-driven version that’s most commonly used in the real world by pentesters and learners. It primarily runs through the command line and is available on many pentesting Linux distributions (and often pre-installed in lab environments like AttackBox-style setups).
Note: When people say “Metasploit,” they’re often referring to the open-source version.
Last updated: February 2026
What I’m seeing in the latest Metasploit update is that it adds new persistence options for Windows and WSL, brings in fresh exploit coverage (including WordPress and FreeBSD targets), and tightens up post-exploitation reliability with practical maintenance fixes. Metasploit is therefore leaning towards persistence- and post-exploitation-driven attack chains that better match today’s hardened environments.
Why Should You Trust Us and This Guide?
Class Central is a TripAdvisor for online education. We make it easier to discover the right courses without having to jump across multiple platforms. With over 250,000 courses in our catalog, we’ve already helped more than 100 million learners find their next course.
Now, why should you trust this guide?
As a senior security analyst, I’ve used Metasploit to validate suspected vulnerabilities and understand exploitation paths so findings can be explained clearly and fixed effectively. I’ve also seen where beginners get stuck: environment setup, module selection, and knowing what not to do. I’ve built this guide to address those points directly.
Related Guides
Metasploit for Beginners: Ethical Penetration Testing (Coursera)
- Level: Beginner
- Rating: 4.7
- Duration: 2 hours
- Cost: Paid
What You’ll Learn
- You’ll develop an understanding of the Metasploit framework, right from initial setup through to full exploit execution
- Learn about reconnaissance and scanning with the help of Nmap, building skills in initial vulnerability discovery
- Get hands-on experience with Metasploit modules by researching scan results to match vulnerabilities, thereby navigating through the framework
- Acquire knowledge about Metasploit exploits and gain access with payloads, hence mastering module options like RHOSTS and LHOST
- Gain proficiency in ethical reporting standards, managing sessions, and documenting findings into professional pentest reports.
Metasploit feels like a nightmare the first time you open it. I remember staring at msfconsole thinking, “Cool, now what?” This guided project fixes that by making you do the same loop until it finally clicks.
You’ll search for a module, use it, run show options, and then fill in the boring-but-important bits like set RHOSTS and set LHOST before you hit exploit. The first time you actually pop a session and can do sessions -l and sessions -i 1 without panicking, you feel a lot less lost. It also nudges you to use Nmap first, which is how you’d approach it in a lab anyway: scan, pick a target, and then try a module.
I noticed this course kind of assumes you already have a vulnerable VM or test target ready, and it doesn’t really explain why an exploit works. It’s more “how to drive the tool” than “how to be a pentester.”
Exploitation and Penetration Testing with Metasploit (IBM/Coursera)
- Level: Intermediate
- Rating: 4.2
- Duration: 14.5 hours
- Cost: Paid
What You’ll Learn
- You’ll learn about the architecture of Metasploit: payloads, sessions, msfconsole navigation
- Build understanding about basic exploitation in safe environments along with auxiliary modules and exploit development
- Gain knowledge about post-exploitation techniques like privilege escalation, evasion, etc
- Get hands-on experience about web app exploitation, phishing kits, etc., all using Metasploit as a tool
- Learn about the completion of the process with comprehensive pentesting, which involves full-cycle tests with reports and remedy recommendations.
If you want a course that’s basically “Metasploit, front and center,” this one fits.
It walks through exploits and payloads in a way that’s more than just copy-pasting commands, and the labs force you to actually drive the tool: search → use → show options → set RHOSTS / set LHOST → run it, then clean up your mess with sessions -l and sessions -i.
The first time I got a session back and realized I’d mis-set LHOST (classic), fixing it and rerunning made the whole thing feel less like magic and more like a system you can control.
It’s organized into five modules and leans on labs web attack paths, exploit work, and “full” pentest-style runs so you’re not just learning menus. But it doesn’t hold your hand on basics. If you’re not familiar with networking, ports, or how targets are laid out, you’ll pause a lot to catch up. It’s better once you already speak the language.
Metasploit Essential Training (LinkedIn Learning)
- Level: Intermediate
- Rating: 4.8
- Duration: 4 hours
- Cost: Free Trial Available
What You’ll Learn
- Understand Metasploit as a tool, what it is, its core commands, and the navigation of the framework for security analysis tasks.
- Learn about reconnaissance and vulnerability scans using Metasploit’s built-in scanners and auxiliary modules for identification of target weaknesses.
- Gain knowledge about techniques used for discovering, selecting and configuration of exploits and payloads
- Build hands-on experience by executing real-world-like attacks as well as monitoring post-exploitation sessions.
- Learn about basic antivirus evasion techniques and strategies and the constraints of launching exploits in defended environments.
This course is basically four hours of getting your hands dirty with Metasploit, not just reading about it.
You spend time doing the loop you’ll actually repeat in a lab: scan and enumerate, pick an exploit and payload, show options, set RHOSTS/LHOST, start a handler, and try to land a reverse shell.
The first time I got a session back and then accidentally lost track of it, learning to check sessions with -l and jump back in with sessions -i was weirdly the most useful part.
The quizzes are there, but they feel more like quick checkpoints than something that teaches you by itself.
Keep in mind that It does assume you already speak basic networking ports, subnets, what a listener is, and why LHOST matters, so a complete beginner is going to pause a lot. There’s also a small taste of “defended environment” thinking (light AV evasion/why payloads fail), which is nice, but it’s not a deep dive. You’ll leave knowing how to run the tool; you won’t leave knowing how to design a full pentest from scratch.
Penetration Testing Essential Training (LinkedIn Learning)
- Level: Intermediate
- Rating: 4.8
- Duration: 3 hours
- Cost: Paid
What You’ll Learn
- Network and perimeter hacking techniques, including social engineering and sniffing, firewalls, honeypots, etc
- Gain knowledge about reconnaissance methods like network scanning with tools such as Nmap
- Learn about Metasploit as a core exploitation tool along with getting used to Kali Linux environments
- Understand vulnerability analysis, malware threats and system hacking techniques
- Gain proficiency in cryptography basics, wireless network hacking, web application testing, etc.
This course by Malcolm Shore delivers a hands-on experience in the field of ethical penetration testing and helps build the relevant skill set, such as getting acquainted with the Kali Linux environment, along with the use of exploitation tools such as Metasploit.
Learners are able to learn about reconnaissance and scanning techniques using Nmap and similar tools for the identification of vulnerabilities on networks. All skills learned are further enhanced with hands-on labs that help in correlating the concepts with real-world applications.
The course helps prepare learners for roles like penetration tester, where skills such as evasion techniques and OSCP certification help in upskilling.
A Brief Introduction to Metasploit (YouTube)
- Level: Intermediate
- Duration: Approx. 3 hours
- Cost: Free
What You’ll Learn
- Navigate Metasploit via msfconsole and get comfortable with the core command flow.
- Use built-in Metasploit tools for reconnaissance against a test network (pre-exploitation workflow).
- Move from targeting to exploitation of systems on that test network in a guided demo format.
- Understand what “post-exploitation” means in Metasploit terms, beyond just getting a session.
- Work with Meterpreter as a more powerful payload option (called out explicitly).
- Build a foundation for later study by learning the core concepts the instructor says will make deeper courses/self-study easier.
This is a conference workshop recording of one long session by Joey Maresca. You’re basically sitting in a three-hour class where the instructor walks you through Metasploit from the inside of msfconsole, then shows you how it’s used in a simple pentest flow on a test network.
It starts where most people get stuck: the console. Joey shows you the basic msfconsole flow and the “okay, now what?” commands, then moves into using Metasploit for recon, walks through a guided exploitation example, and finishes by showing what you can actually do after you land a session mostly through Meterpreter.
What you shouldn’t expect is a structured online course experience. There’s no quiz after each section, no lab worksheet, and no checklist that says “use Kali + this VM + this subnet.”
If you try to follow along hands-on, you’ll likely pause to sort out your lab, and that’s where most of the time will go. But if you watch it like a workshop first and then replay specific parts while practicing, the value is real: it gives you a clear picture of how the pieces connect, so Metasploit stops feeling like a random pile of modules.
Best for beginners who want a grounded overview before heavier lab work or for security folks who want to understand what Meterpreter actually does. If you already live in Metasploit and want a deeper strategy, you’ll outgrow this quickly.
Metasploit Training Course (Cybrary)
- Level: Beginner
- Platform: YouTube
- Cost: Free video
What You’ll Learn
- Follow an end-to-end intro + walkthrough format across five lessons (1 intro + 4 hands-on walkthroughs).
- Get a Metasploit environment running (multiple reviews emphasize setup as a major part of the course experience).
- Practice basic Metasploit usage in a guided way via “hands-on walkthrough” lessons rather than theory-only video.
- Understand the “why” of vulnerability assessment at a high level (the listing frames the course around running assessments).
- Recognize when course content may be dated (several reviewers mention older commands/tools/GUI differences).
- Build early operational discipline: safe, controlled practice and step-by-step validation (implied by the walkthrough focus; no labs/tools are formally specified).
This is a quick five-video Metasploit intro: one “What is Metasploit?” lesson and four walkthroughs where you follow along in msfconsole.
The practical part mostly involves getting your lab to behave. You’ll spend time sorting out Kali, a target VM, networking, and figuring out why your box can’t talk to the VM (I had to double-check the adapter mode and my IP more than once). Once you’re in, it’s the usual Metasploit rhythm: search for a module, use it, show options, set RHOSTS/LHOST, then run/exploit and see what you actually get back.
A few bits feel dated; some commands/screens don’t match what you’ll see on newer setups, so don’t treat it like a polished, up-to-the-minute course. It’s better as a “get oriented and stop feeling lost” starter, not something that teaches strategy. You won’t get much depth on choosing payloads, handling sessions cleanly, or knowing what to do after you land access.
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