Kali Linux | Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking Linux Distribution Join Free CTF Get Kali Blog Documentation Documentation Pages Tools Documentation Frequently Asked Questions Known Issues Community Community Support Forums Discord Join Newsletter Mirror Location Get Involved Courses Developers Git Repositories Packages Auto Package Test Bug Tracker Kali NetHunter Stats About Kali Linux Overview Press Pack Wallpapers Kali Swag Store Meet The Kali Team Partnerships Contact Us Kali Linux The most advanced Penetration Testing Distribution. Ever. The most advanced Penetration Testing Distribution Kali Linux is an open-source, Debian-based Linux distribution geared towards various information security tasks, such as Penetration Testing, Security Research, Computer Forensics and Reverse Engineering. Download Documentation 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-ng Burp Suite Hydra John the Ripper Maltego Metasploit Framework Nmap Responder sqlmap Wireshark NetExec FFUF Empire Starkiller 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. 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. 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. Cloud Hosting providers which have Kali Linux pre-installed, ready to go, without worrying about looking after the infrastructure. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 2026.2 Release (GNOME 50, KDE 6.6, Helper Scripts, APT Formats & VM Boot Tweaking) It’s the final week of Q2, and Kali Linux 2026.2 is here - right on schedule ;) We have been heads down since our last release, and we are ready to share what we have been working on. This release is a mix of desktop refreshes, infrastructure improvements, and quality-of-life changes that we think you will appreciate. 29 June 2026 Kali Linux 2026.1 Release (2026 Theme & BackTrack Mode) New year, new release - Kali 2026.1 is here! There is everything from a fresh coat of paint to a nod to our roots, with normal ongoing improvements. Building on from December’s 2025.4, the summary of the changelog: 2026 Theme Refresh - Our yearly theme refresh BackTrack Mode For Kali-Undercover - New mode celebrating BackTrack’s 20th anniversary Kali’s 13th Birthday Event - A little community event New Tools - 8 new programs 2026 Theme Refresh As with previous 20xx.1 releases, this major update brings our annual theme refresh, a long-standing tradition that keeps the Kali Linux interface as modern and innovative. This year’s release unveils a brand-new theme from the moment you boot. Everything from the boot menu, installer to the login display, and a fresh set of desktop wallpapers. 24 March 2026 Kali & LLM: Completely local with Ollama & 5ire We are extending our LLM-driven Kali series, where natural language replaces manual command input. This time however, we are doing everything locally and offline. We are using our own hardware and not relying on any 3rd party services/SaaS. 10 March 2026 Kali & LLM: macOS with Claude Desktop & Anthropic Sonnet LLM This post will focus on an alternative method of using Kali Linux, moving beyond direct terminal command execution. Instead, we will leverage a Large Language Model (LLM) to translate “natural language” descriptions of desired actions into technical commands. Achieving this setup requires the integration of three distinct systems: 25 February 2026 LIGHT DARK Links Home Download / Get Kali Blog OS Documentation Tool Documentation System Status Archived Releases Partnerships Platforms ARM (SBC) NetHunter (Mobile) Amazon AWS Docker Linode Microsoft Azure Microsoft Store (WSL) Vagrant Development Bug Tracker Continuous Integration Network Mirror Package Tracker GitLab Community Discord Support Forum PeerTube Follow Us Bluesky Facebook Instagram Mastodon Substack X Newsletter RSS Policies Cookie Policy Privacy Policy Trademark Policy © OffSec Services Limited 2026. All rights reserved. Kali Linux is part of OffSec's Community Projects Learn more about OffSec's free, open-source penetration testing tools for cybersecurity professionals