Install Firesheep on Ubuntu 10.04 or 10.10
This morning I had a little bit of free time so I thought I’d (finally) check out the Firefox extension Firesheep. The main website mentions that it isn’t supported for Linux, but the source code is available and as it turns out very easy to compile. Below are instructions for downloading, compiling and installing the Firesheep security plugin for Firefox.
Get the Source
You’ll need to download the source code from github, which can be done using the following two commands:
git clone https://github.com/codebutler/firesheep.git
cd firesheep
git submodule update --init
These two commands will download the code required to compile Firesheep, putting the source into a new directory called “firesheep”.
Build Tools
To compile Firesheep on Ubuntu 10.04 or 10.10 you’ll need the following development packages installed. Simply copy-paste the following list of packages into your terminal:
sudo apt-get install autoconf libtool libpcap-dev libboost-all-dev libhal-dev xulrunner-1.9.2-dev
On my machine this installed quite a few packages, and while the main Firesheep website lists 10.10 specifically, I had no problems on my 10.04 installation.
Build Firesheep
You’re now ready to compile Firesheep. Run the following command and hopefully you’ll be able to build it without error:
./autogen.sh && make
Install the Plugin
If all is well you should find a new file called ‘firesheep.xpi’ in a subdirectory called build (ie; firesheep/build/). Simply drag-and-drop that file into your Addons dialog box, restart Firefox and you should be set.
I’ve been having some issues in actually capturing data on my Dell D630 with an Intel Pro/Wireless 3945ABG card. It looks like this tool is often hardware specific, so your mileage may vary. I’d be interested in anyone offering suggestions on getting it to capture properly on OS X 10.6 (macbook) or Ubuntu 10.04+.
On another website it suggested that you may need to put your interface into MONITOR mode
http://randommusingsofarealgeek.blogspot.com/2010/11/firesheep-on-linux.html
Although Promiscuous mode is probably what you want… I’ll let you know how I get on
I followed your steps exactly and worked out well for me on ubutnu 10 .. on a gateway t6345 w/ INtel Pro/Wireless 3945 thank you very much for the steps. It’s working well when I test out on my own logins , haven’t tested more then that. No errors, . . and I also have the compat wireless drivers installed previously for use w/ the airocrack-ng suite. That might be of use if you haven’t looked into it yet
V
Thanks for this!
Some of my own ubuntu tutorials (maybe they’ll help you like this helped me
) can be found at http://ruanfourie.za.net.
I’ll definitely link to this so more people can find it.
I followed your explanation and it worked great. I opened up firefox though to test firesheep and I got the error “ReferenceError: Cc is not defined”
Have any ideas what could be causing this?
I was thinking libpcap… but my version is up to date.
Any help would be wonderfully helpful! Thanks boss!
Andy,
“Monitor” mode is que wireless-interface equivalent of promiscuous mode in wired(ethernet)-interfaces. Same thing, different names.
@ Russoz
).
Or rather, not the same thing: putting your wireless into Monitor mode is probably going to end your association with the wireless router or AP. (Glad I remembered that *before* changing it
This is not working for me here, running on Ubuntu 10.10, on a hp Pavillion dv4, 64-bits.
Hi…I followed all steps exactly but in the last one, when i put ./autogen.sh && make the result is:
autoreconf: Entering directory `.’
autoreconf: configure.ac: not using Gettext
autoreconf: running: aclocal –force -I .
autom4te: cannot create autom4te.cache: Nessun file o directory
aclocal: /usr/bin/autom4te failed with exit status: 1
autoreconf: aclocal failed with exit status: 1
Anyone help me,please!!!!!!
that’s really tricky and useful. this can be useful for people trying to learn ubuntu development and significance of open source code
I followed the steps, under Uuntu 10.04 on an HP 6910p.
It seemed to compile fine, but when I ran it I also got Ref. Error CC undefined error messages,
and the properties were blank. — i.e. no predefined websites to monitor.
Hi…I followed all steps exactly but in the last one, when i put ./autogen.sh && make the result is:
bash: ./autogen.sh: No such file or directory
what can i do now ??
Installing this on Fedora 14 required installing libpcap-devel boost-devel xulrunner-devel hal-devel autoconf gcc-c++ and libtool.
Also, dragging-and-dropping the xpi file onto the add-in window didn’t work, but I was able to use the File / Open mechanism.
Thanks for the article!
@ Jonas
Same here… And no errors during the compile process.
dude! an extra 255mb of files??? FAIL. not worth it.
I installed firesheep on ubuntu, but when i press ‘start capturing’ it says ‘Run –fix-permissions first’
What does this mean?
Does anyone have this working in Debian? To build this it calls for xulrunner-1.9.2-dev, but 1.9.1 is the latest in testing and unstable.
Just an FYI, I built Firesheep in Ubuntu, then transfered the xpi file to my Debian laptop and did a ‘File -> Open’ to install it – works. Thanks for the guide
So, everything worked out but the last step.. I’m fairly new to Ubuntu.
You said to drag and drop the file into the Add Ons dialog box? Where’s that? I went to tools>Add ons and everytime I try to drag and drop, it just slides the folder back where I got it. :///
Help!
@Marco
to avoid some compile errors due to windows line endings on ubuntu 10.04 I needed to add command:
git config –global core.autocrlf input
Dealing with line endings
http://help.github.com/dealing-with-lineendings/
To all who wants to get backtrack 4 tools for ubuntu 10.10 please visit http://www.ubuntucommand.com/2011/04/install-backtrack-4-tools-in-ubuntu-10-10/ a complete tutorial. More hacking tools can be found there…
The extension cannot work on firefox 4.0?! Is it possible?!
@ Marco
Were you able to solve this issue? Please advise with the solution. Thanks
whether ubuntu 11.04 is feasible to use?, currently I’m using ubuntu 10.10, 11.04 ubuntu does require hardware that is higher than the previous ubuntu version?
Firesheep is not compatible with Firefox 4. Thanks
@ Goa
wha?
@guido
find firesheep-backend in your ~/.mozilla folder and run:
sudo ./firesheep-backend –fix-permissions
@Stz, @Jonas
In Ubuntu Natty, you need to install hal as well. And use Firefox 3.
Dragging and dropping the xpi file doesn’t work for Firefox 4 or higher.
You could try changing the compatibility but they say Firesheep only works with Firefox 3…
@Stz, @Jonas
In Ubuntu Natty, you need to install hal as well. And use Firefox 3.
Dragging and dropping the xpi file doesn’t work for Firefox 4 or higher.
You could try changing the compatibility but they say Firesheep only works with Firefox 3…
install hal and start hald.. Cc error will go away..
@Tevin Did u find a solution to the drag and drop thing. I am stuck at the same thing.
> cd ~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default/extensions/firesheep@codebutler.com/platform/*gcc3
> sudo ./firesheep-backend –fix-permissions