Kali Linux | Penetration Testing And Ethical Hacking Linux Distribution

The Industry Standard

Kali Linux is not about its tools, nor the operating system. Kali Linux is a platform.

• Make Your Job Easier

  You can take any Linux and install pentesting tools on it, but you have to set the tools up manually and configure them. Kali is optimized to reduce the amount of work, so a professional can just sit down and go.

• Kali Everywhere

  A version of Kali is always close to you, no matter where you need it. Mobile devices, Containers, ARM, Cloud providers, Windows Subsystem for Linux, Pre-built Virtual Machine, Installer Images, and others are all available.

• Customization

  With the use of metapackages, optimized for the specific tasks of a security professional, and a highly accessible and well documented ISO customization process, it's always easy to generate an optimized version of Kali for your specific needs.

• Documentation

  Whether you are a seasoned veteran or a novice, our documentation will have all the information you will need to know about Kali Linux. Multiple tips and “recipes” are available, to help ease doubts or address any issues. All documentation is open, so you can easily contribute.

• Community

  Kali Linux, with its BackTrack lineage, has a vibrant and active community. There are active Kali forums, IRC Channel, Kali Tools listings, an open bug tracker system, and even community provided tool suggestions.

All the tools you need

The Kali Linux penetration testing platform contains a vast array of tools and utilities. From information gathering to final reporting, Kali Linux enables security and IT professionals to assess the security of their systems.

Find out all about Kali's Tools

Aircrack-ngBurp SuiteHydraJohn the RipperMaltegoMetasploit FrameworkNmapRespondersqlmapWiresharkNetExecFFUFEmpireStarkillerKali Everywhere

Undercover Mode

Using Kali in an environment where you don't want to draw attention to yourself? Kali Undercover is the perfect way to not stand out in a crowd.

Kali NetHunter

A mobile penetration testing platform for Android devices, based on Kali Linux. Kali NetHunter is made up of an App, App Store, Kali Container and KeX

Win-KeX

Win-KeX provides a full Kali Desktop Experience for Windows WSL. Applications started via Kali's panel will share the desktop with Microsoft Windows applications.

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  ARM

  Cheap & low powered devices, which make for great leave behind devices. Modern ARM based laptops provide high speed with long battery life as an assessment platform.
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  Bare Metal

  Single or multiple boot Kali, giving you complete control over the hardware access (perfect for in-built WiFi and GPU), enabling the best performance.
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  Cloud

  Hosting providers which have Kali Linux pre-installed, ready to go, without worrying about looking after the infrastructure.
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  Containers

  Using Docker or LXD, allows for extremely quick and easy access to all of Kali's tools, without the overhead of a isolated virtual machine.
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  Mobile

  A mobile penetration testing platform for Android devices, based on Kali Linux. Kali NetHunter consists of an NetHunter App, App Store, Kali Container, and KeX.
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  USB

  Kali in your pocket, ready to go with Live Boot. Your Kali, always with you, without altering the host OS, plus allows you to benefit from hardware access.
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  Virtual Machines

  VMware, VirtualBox & QEMU pre-built images ready to go. Allowing for a Kali install as bare as possible, with additional features such as snapshots, without altering the host OS. And we have vagrant images too.
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  WSL

  WSL is included out of the box with modern Windows. You can then start to use Kali (and Win-KeX) without any installing any extra software.

Choose the desktop you prefer

Xfce

Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and low on system resources, while still being visually appealing and user friendly.

Xfce consists of separately packaged parts that together provide all functions of the desktop environment, but can be selected in subsets to suit user needs and preferences. This is Kali's default desktop environment.

GNOME Shell

Every part of GNOME Shell has been designed to make it simple and easy to use. The Activities Overview is an easy way to access all your basic tasks. A press of a button is all it takes to view your open windows, launch applications, or check if you have new messages. Having everything in one place is convenient and means that you don't have to learn your way through a maze of different technologies.

KDE Plasma

Plasma is made to stay out of the way as it helps you get things done. But under its light and intuitive surface, it's a powerhouse. So you're free to choose ways of usage right as you need them and when you need them.

With Plasma the user is king. Not happy with the color scheme? Change it! Want to have your panel on the left edge of the screen? Move it! Don't like the font? Use a different one! Download custom widgets in one click and add them to your desktop or panel.

Latest news from our blog

Kali Linux 2025.4 Release (Desktop Environments, Wayland & Halloween Mode)

Say hello to Kali Linux 2025.4! Expect updated tools, performance tweaks, and improved support - no fluff, just the essentials.The summary of the changelog since the 2025.3 release from September is:Desktop Environments - Changes to all! GNOME, KDE & Xfce Wayland - VM Guest Utils Support Halloween Mode - dresses the desktop for the occasion 3 New Tools - As always, new packages added and upgraded! Desktop Environments GNOME 49 As with previous GNOME updates in Kali, we’ve given all our themes a fresh coat of paint - everything has been tuned to look sharp and feel smooth.

12 December 2025

Kali Linux 2025.3 Release (Vagrant & Nexmon)

Another quarter, another drop - Kali 2025.3 is now here! Bringing you another round of updates, new features and introducing some new tools - pushing Kali further. The summary of the changelog since the 2025.2 release from June is:Packer & Vagrant - HashiCorp’s products have had a refresh Nexmon Support - Monitor mode and injection for Raspberry Pi’s in-built Wi-Fi 10 New Tools - As always, various new packages added (as well as updates) HashiCorp: Packer & Vagrant Kali has been using two HashiCorp products, which go hand-in-hand with each other:

23 September 2025

Kali Vagrant Rebuilt: Out With Packer, In With DebOS

Vagrant files, *.box, are pre-configured Virtual Machines (VM) VM images, which when imported into HashiCorp’s Vagrant, allow for VMs to be interacted with via the command line. You create, start, interact, stop, destroy VMs all without leaving the terminal. Think containers (Docker/Podman), but for VMs.Previously we have been using HashiCorp’s Packer to generate our HashiCorp’s Vagrant images.

21 August 2025

Kali Linux & Containerization (Apple's Container)

If you’re an Apple user, you may have heard of Apple’s upcoming feature Containerization during WWDC 2025. Quick summary:Container is a CLI tool, which works with Containerization. This is what end-users interact with. Containerization handles creating the containers, that talks to Virtualization.framework. Virtualization.framework is the hypervisor API (high level), and creates a new VM per container via Hypervisor.framework. Hypervisor.framework is the low level hypervisor API, which uses the macOS kernel (the hypervisor). It is similar to Microsoft’s Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL), where a very small lightweight virtual machine (VM) is launched in the background, so a Linux kernel can be used on a non Linux host (WSL2 uses Hyper-V). Not to be confused with WSL1, which was more like WINE!

29 July 2025