Kali Linux 2022.2 released: Desktop enhancements, tweaks for the terminal, new tools, and more!

Offensive Security has released Kali Linux 2022.2, the latest version of its popular penetration testing and digital forensics platform.

Cosmetic changes

Kali Linux 2022.2 comes with:

• A new version of the GNOME desktop environment, for “a more polished experience”
• A design and usability improvement for the KDE Plasma graphical workspaces environment
• Several tweaks for the Xfce (lightweight) desktop environment
• Some new app icons
• Color tweaks in the Terminal, to improve legibility and element differentiation
• A new “hollywood-activate” screensaver that pays homage to popular movies about hacking

Functional additions and changes

Kali NetHunter, the distro’s mobile pentesting platform, has also been updated. It now has a new tab for performing various Wi-Fi protected setup (WPS) attacks, and the developers have delivered initial NetHunter support for TicWatch Pro 3 smartwatches.

There are a number of tweaks included in Kali for ARM, especially in the Raspberry Pi image (kernel, Wi-Fi firmware updates, additional support, Bluetooth fixes, etc.).

Kali Unkaputtbar, the (relatively) new feature that allows Kali Linux installed on bare-metal to make system snapshots automatically, has received support for BTRFS snapshotting. (BTRFS is a copy-on-write filesystem for Linux.)

The Win-KeX, the graphical desktop environment for Kali Linux running in Windows Subsystem for Linux can be run as root and any GUI application can be started with sudo.

New tools in Kali Linux 2022.2

As per usual, new tools have been added to Kali:

• BruteShark – A network forensic analysis tool
• Evil-WinRM – A Windows Remote Management (WinRM) shell
• Hakrawler – A web crawler for easy and quick discovery of endpoints and assets
• Httpx – A multi-purpose HTTP toolkit
• LAPSDumper – A toold for dumping LAPS passwords
• PhpSploit – A stealthy post-exploitation framework
• PEDump – A tool for dumping Win32 executable files
• SentryPeer – A SIP peer-to-peer honeypot for VoIP
• Sparrow-wifi – A graphical Wi-Fi Analyzer for Linux
• wifipumpkin3 – A powerful framework for rogue access points attacks

Download Kali Linux 2022.2

Kali Linux 2022.2 is ready for immediate download or updating.

Check out Offensive Security’s blog post for more details about the new release.

Kali Linux users might can also learn more about how Kali Linux creators plan to handle the future of penetration testing, and Offensive Security CEO’s thoughts on why automated pentesting won’t fix the cybersecurity skills gap.

Source: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/17/kali-linux-2022-2-released/