Kali Linux 2021.3 was released three months ago. The Debian-based Linux distro has now released with a new release, bringing new hacking tools and the newest packages and bug fixes. Kali Linux 2021.4 runs on Linux kernel 5.14 and supports Apple Silicon (M1) Macs. The new version also supports Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W single-board computer and extended compatibility for the Samba client.
Nine new tools for ethical hackers
The default desktop environment on the new Kali Linux is the same as before, Xfce that received a bunch of enhancements in this release. With the new release, the panel layout is tweaked to optimize the horizontal space and add two new widgets – showing CPU usage and VPN IP. The developers also configured the Task Manager to show “icons only”, changed the appearance of “Buttons” and assigned it to the workplaces overview. The number of virtual workspaces was increased to 4.
The Kali Linux team also announced that they upgraded the open-vm-tools and open-vm-tools-desktop packages for VMware users. As the previous Kali Linux releases, according to the official announcement, there are nine new hacking tools added as the following:
- Dufflebag – Search exposed EBS volumes for secrets
- Maryam – Open-source Intelligence (OSINT) Framework
- Name-That-Hash – Do not know what type of hash it is? Name That Hash will name that hash type!
- Proxmark3 – if you are into Proxmark3 and RFID hacking
- Reverse Proxy Grapher – graphviz graph illustrating your reverse proxy flow
- S3Scanner – Scan for open S3 buckets and dump the contents
- Spraykatz – Credentials gathering tool automating remote procdump and parse of lsass process.
- truffleHog – Searches through git repositories for high entropy strings and secrets, digging deep into commit history
- Web of trust grapher (wotmate) – reimplement the defunct PGP pathfinder without needing anything other than your own keyring
If you are an existing Kali Linux user and want to update your system to the latest Kali Linux 2021.4, run the command below on your terminal.
sudo apt update && sudo apt -y full-upgradeFor a clean installation, you can download Kali Linux 2021.4 from here.