How To Install Chkrootkit on Debian 12

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Chkrootkit on Debian 12. In the vast realm of cybersecurity, Chkrootkit stands as a stalwart defender, a Unix-based utility designed to help system administrators safeguard their systems against rootkits. Rootkits, a type of malicious software, are notorious for their ability to gain unauthorized access to a computer system, thereby posing a significant threat to the integrity of your Debian Linux installation.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the Chkrootkit on a Debian 12 (Bookworm).

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Debian 12 (Bookworm).
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
• You will need an active internet connection to download the Chkrootkit package.
• A user account with sudo privileges: sudo, or “superuser do,” is a powerful command that allows users to execute commands with the security privileges of another user (by default, the superuser).

Install Chkrootkit on Debian 12 Bookworm

Step 1. Keeping your system up-to-date is a fundamental best practice in system administration. Before installing any new software, ensure that your Debian system is up-to-date by opening a terminal and running the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

 This command will update the package lists for upgrades and new package installations.

Step 2. Installing Chkrootkit on Debian 12.

• Method 1: Installation via APT

With your system updated, you’re now ready to install Chkrootkit. Since Chkrootkit is available in the Debian repositories, the installation process is straightforward. Execute the following command to install Chkrootkit:

sudo apt install chkrootkit

This command will fetch the Chkrootkit package from the Debian repositories and install it on your system.

Once the installation is complete, it’s good practice to verify it. You can do this by checking the Chkrootkit version. Run the following command:

sudo chkrootkit -V

• Method 2: Installation via Source Code

The first step is to download the Chkrootkit source code from its official FTP site. You can use the wget command to download files from the command line:

wget ftp://ftp.chkrootkit.org/pub/seg/pac/chkrootkit.tar.gz

Before you can compile the Chkrootkit from its source code, you need to install some necessary development tools. The following command will install the GCC compiler, the ‘make’ utility and a set of libraries and utilities called ‘build-essential’, which are necessary for creating executables from source code:

sudo apt install gcc make build-essential

After installing the necessary development tools, you can extract the Chkrootkit source code and compile it. Navigate to the directory where you downloaded the source code and run the following commands:

tar -xzf chkrootkit.tar.gz
cd chkrootkit-*
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As with the APT method, you can verify the installation by checking the Chkrootkit version:

./chkrootkit -V

Step 3. Running Chkrootkit on Debian.

With Chkrootkit installed, you’re now ready to scan your system for potential rootkits. To do this, run Chkrootkit with the following command:

sudo chkrootkit

This command will initiate a comprehensive scan of your system, reporting any potential rootkits found. It’s recommended to run this scan regularly to ensure your system remains secure.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Chkrootkit. Thanks for using this tutorial to install the latest version of Chkrootkit on Debian 12 Bookworm. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official Chkrootkit website.