The Industry Standard

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

Generic laptop PC Kali Linux desktop

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

Kali 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.

Choose the desktop you prefer

Xfce logoXfce

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.

Kali Linux with Xfce desktop
Kali Linux with GNOME desktop

GNOME logoGNOME 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 logoKDE 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.

Kali Linux with KDE Plasma desktop

Latest news from our blog

xz-utils backdoor: how to get started

Following the recent disclosure of a backdoor in upstream xz/liblzma, we are writing this “get started” kind of blog post. We will explain how to setup an environment with the backdoored version of liblzma, and then the first commands to run to validate that the backdoor is installed. All in all, it should just take a few minutes, and there’s no learning curve, it’s all very simple.

All about the xz-utils backdoor

As of 5:00 pm ET on March 29, 2024 the following information is accurate. Should there be updates to this situation, they will be edited onto this blog post. The xz-utils package, starting from versions 5.6.0 to 5.6.1, was found to contain a backdoor (CVE-2024-3094). This backdoor could potentially allow a malicious actor to compromise sshd authentication, granting unauthorized access to the entire system remotely.

Kali Linux 2024.1 Release (Micro Mirror)

Hello 2024! Today we are unveiling Kali Linux 2024.1. As this is our the first release of the year, it does include new visual elements! Along with this we also have some exciting new mirrors to talk about, and of course some package changes - both new tools and upgrades to existing ones.

Kali Linux DEI Promise

Last month we were privileged to be invited by GitLab to participate in the introduction of GitLab’s DEI Badging integration. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) badging is an initiative that the Community Health Analytics in Open Source Software (CHAOSS) project created to acknowledge and encourage open source projects’ efforts. Since we first heard of this initiative we have been very excited for the launch.