14 DAY TRIAL // Offensive Security, the team of developers behind the widely-used Kali Linux ethical hacking and penetration testing GNU/Linux distribution, released the first snapshot for 2018 with latest security fixes and software updates.
Kali Linux 2018.1 is the operating system's first snapshot for the new year, which can be used by users for new deployments or if they planned on reinstalling their Kali Linux computers because of various reasons.
Being based on Debian, it goes without saying that this release includes all the latest updates and security fixes from upstream. While it comes with the Linux 4.14.12 kernel, Offensive Security promises to upgrade it to the most recent Linux 4.15 kernel release.
The reason is to patch the well known Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities that put billions of devices at risk of attacks, besides offering users all the new features and improved hardware support of the Linux 4.15 kernel series.
"This fine release contains all updated packages and bug fixes since our 2017.3 release last November," says Offensive Security. "This release wasn’t without its challenges–from the Meltdown and Spectre excitement (patches will be in the 4.15 kernel) to a couple of other nasty bugs."
Kali Linux 2018.1 offers second-gen Hyper-V virtual machine support
Another interesting aspect of the new Kali Linux release is that it includes the second-generation of Hyper-V virtual machine support, which lets users run Kali Linux on UEFI-based virtual machines and expand or shrink the attached disk drive.
On top of that, Offensive Security says that they also included the Hyper-V integration services to add support features like replication, network monitoring and scaling, as well as dynamic memory.
Other than that, Kali Linux 2018.1 includes various updated hacking and penetration testing tools like Burp Suite, DBeaver, PixieWPS, SecLists, Secure Socket Funneling, Reaver, and the OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) a.k.a. zaproxy.
You can download Kali Linux 2018.1 right now through our web portal or from the official website if you want to install the most acclaimed ethical hacking and pentesting operating system on your personal computer. Existing users need only to update their systems.