Hi all,

Has anybody managed to create a functioning hacking lab on Apple silicon?

Im trying to create a hacking lab so I could practice hacking vulnhub machines.

To my understanding, there are 2 alternatives to Virtual Box: 1. Using parallels 2. Using UTM

I’m okay with buying these software, I just cant get them to work.

Things I’ve tried: 1. Following this tutorial:

https://patrick-rottlaender.medium.com/create-a-virtual-hacking-lab-on-apple-silicon-mac-a86d9b3b2e5f

I was able to create a kali vm with 2 network interfaces (one internal for contacting the target and one external for contacting the www) But when I follow the process of converting the .ova to .qcow2 and creating the machines, a lot of machines boot up with out a network interface (even though I have defined one) I will note that some machines work fine, making the problem harder to debug. (Ive tried deleting the network adapter and creating a new one, as well as changing the “host only” to “bridged” and it didn’t work)

1. Using parallels:

I was able to create a working kali vm but couldn’t find a guide that explains how to open vulnhub’s machines in parallel. (They are usually a .ova files or .vmdk)

My main question is if anyone was able to create a lab that works with vulnhub machines on apple silicon.

My side questions are: 1. Does anyone knows how to debug my problem with UTM? (That some machines don’t recognize the network adapter) 2. Has anyone know a guide that explains how to import vulnhub machines to parallels? 3. Is there a third alternative I’m missing?

Will appreciate any help, Thanks in advance!