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Offensive Security released today Kali Linux 2022.1 as the first major update of their Debian-based ethical hacking and penetration testing distribution in 2022.
Coming two months after Kali Linux 2021.4, the Kali Linux 2022.1 release is here with a visual refresh as the development team updated the desktop, boot splash, and login backgrounds, along with a refreshed installer theme and more consistent boot menu options to make the ethical hacking distro look more modern.
Another major change in Kali Linux 2022.1 is the availability of a new ISO flavor called “Everything”, which apparently includes a complete Kali Linux environment with all the tools you’ll ever need for offline use. However, this image is huge in size (about 11GB) and it’s only offered as a torrent download.
A bunch of new hacking tools also landed in this release, including the dnsx multi-purpose DNS toolkit for running multiple DNS queries, email2phonenumber OSINT tool for obtaining a target’s phone number just by using an email address, as well as the naabu port scanner.
Moreover, the nuclei targeted scanning tool based on templates is included as well in Kali Linux 2022.1, along with the PoshC2 proxy aware C2 framework with post-exploitation and lateral movement, and the proxify Swiss Army knife proxy tool for on-the-go HTTP/HTTPS traffic capture, manipulation, and replay.
On top of that, the new Kali Linux release adds a few tweaks to the shell prompt to make your life easier. For example, the right-side prompt was removed and the root skull (💀) in the prompt got replaced with ㉿.
Among other noteworthy changes, Kali Linux’s first release in 2022 adds a fresh new look to the default browser landing page shipped inside the distribution, adds a new setting in Kali-Tweaks’ Hardening section to allow you to configure Kali’s SSH client for Wide Compatibility, and re-implements speech synthesis support for visually impaired users.
For ARM users, Kali Linux now comes with working Bluetooth support for Raspberry Pi devices, along with documentation for the latest RaspberryPi Zero 2 W model, and support for the feroxbuster and ghidra tools. For more details, check out the release announcement page.
You can download Kali Linux 2022.1 right now from the official website or by clicking on the direct download link below. Existing Kali Linux users need only to update their installations by running the sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade command in a terminal emulator.
Meanwhile, check out my first look run below, and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel!
Last updated 2 years ago
