Learn how to – Upgrade Kali Linux 2021.x to Kali Linux 2022.x

Learn how to – Upgrade Kali Linux 2021.x to Kali Linux 2022.x.

Kali Linux 2022.1 was released on 14 February 2022,  just in time for Valentine’s Day!. In Kali Linux 2022.1 release, there are various visual updates and tweaks to previous features and addition of new tools to the OS. Most feature improvements are additions to 2021.4 release that came out in December 2021.

The summary of new features and improvements in Kali Linux 2022.1 are listed below.

• Theme Updates – This release includes new wallpapers for login, boot displays, and desktop. Additionally, the installer theme was refreshed.
• Refreshed Browser Landing Page – In this update there is a fresh new look for the default browser landing page
• VMware i3 Improvements – If you’re running Kali in a guest VM with the i3 desktop environment(kali-desktop-i3), the VMware’s host-guest features (e.g. drag ‘n’ drop, copy/paste) are now working properly. This was a major issue in 2021.x releases.
• New Kali Everything ISO Image – A new flavor of Kali Linux, the “kali-linux-everything” is available for use. This is ideal for users who are doing complete offline standalone image (ISO) installation and require all of Kali’s tools to be pre-installed.
• Shell Prompt Changes – A few tweaks on Shell prompt to improve your productivity. The the skull in the root prompt has been replaced with a simple ㉿.
• Kali-Tweaks: Legacy SSH Made Easy – You can now configure Kali’s SSH client for Wide Compatibility, which means that old algorithms and ciphers are enabled. The intention of this it to make it easier to discover vulnerable SSH servers.
• Kali ARM Updates – The feroxbuster and ghidra packages have been added to arm64 architecture

There are new tools shipped in 2022.1 edition of Kali Linux. Below is a quick breakdown of various tools added:

• dnsx – Fast and multi-purpose DNS toolkit allow to run multiple DNS queries
• email2phonenumber – An OSINT tool to obtain a target’s phone number just by having his email address
• naabu – A fast port scanner with a focus on reliability and simplicity
• nuclei – Targeted scanning based on templates
• PoshC2 – A proxy aware C2 framework with post-exploitation and lateral movement
• proxify – Swiss Army knife Proxy tool for HTTP/HTTPS traffic capture, manipulation, and replay on the go

Upgrade Kali Linux 2021.x to Kali Linux 2022.x

Login to your Kali Linux 2021.x with username and password

$ ssh username@ipaddress
Warning: Permanently added '192.168.100.32' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts.
Enter passphrase for key '/Users/jkmutai/.ssh/id_rsa':
Linux kali 5.14.0-kali4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.14.16-1kali1 (2021-11-05) x86_64

The programs included with the Kali GNU/Linux system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

Kali GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by applicable law.
Last login: Wed Nov 24 07:49:51 2021 from 192.168.100.1
┏━(Message from Kali developers)
┃
┃ We have kept /usr/bin/python pointing to Python 2 for backwards
┃ compatibility. Learn how to change this and avoid this message:
┃ ⇒ https://www.kali.org/docs/general-use/python3-transition/
┃
┗━(Run: “touch ~/.hushlogin” to hide this message)

Check the current OS release by viewing the contents of /etc/os-release

$ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Kali GNU/Linux Rolling"
NAME="Kali GNU/Linux"
ID=kali
VERSION="2021.3"
VERSION_ID="2021.3"
VERSION_CODENAME="kali-rolling"
ID_LIKE=debian
ANSI_COLOR="1;31"
HOME_URL="https://www.kali.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://forums.kali.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.kali.org/"

Ensure correct repositories are added to sources.list.

sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list<<EOF
# See https://www.kali.org/docs/general-use/kali-linux-sources-list-repositories/
deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free

# Additional line for source packages
#deb-src http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free
EOF

Download package information from the configured repository sources

$ sudo apt update
Get:1 http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/kali kali-rolling InRelease [30.6 kB]
Get:2 http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/kali kali-rolling/non-free Sources [127 kB]
Get:3 http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/kali kali-rolling/main Sources [14.4 MB]
Get:4 http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/kali kali-rolling/contrib Sources [69.8 kB]
Get:5 http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/kali kali-rolling/main amd64 Packages [18.0 MB]
Get:6 http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/kali kali-rolling/main amd64 Contents (deb) [40.6 MB]
Get:7 http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/kali kali-rolling/contrib amd64 Packages [115 kB]
Get:8 http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/kali kali-rolling/contrib amd64 Contents (deb) [155 kB]
Get:9 http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/kali kali-rolling/non-free amd64 Packages [212 kB]
Get:10 http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/kali kali-rolling/non-free amd64 Contents (deb) [990 kB]
Fetched 74.7 MB in 1min 43s (727 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
873 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.

Update your Shell configurations.

cp -rbi /etc/skel/. ~

With the confirmation that repositories are working, perform a full OS upgrade.

sudo apt -y full-upgrade

After the upgrade process reboot the OS if this is require.

[ -f /var/run/reboot-required ] && sudo reboot -f

Check new release version of Kali Linux

┌──(jmutai㉿kali)-[~]
└─$ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Kali GNU/Linux Rolling"
NAME="Kali GNU/Linux"
ID=kali
VERSION="2022.1"
VERSION_ID="2022.1"
VERSION_CODENAME="kali-rolling"
ID_LIKE=debian
ANSI_COLOR="1;31"
HOME_URL="https://www.kali.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://forums.kali.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.kali.org/"

This is a proof our upgrade from Kali Linux 2021.x to 2022.x was successful. We have more guides on different package installations for Kali Linux distribution. Visit Kali Linux category on our website to read through our guides at your convenience.