Kali Linux is a popular operating system designed for security professionals and Linux enthusiasts. It is a Debian-based distribution developed, funded, and maintained by Offensive Security.
Following the February release of version 2022.1, the new Kali Linux 2022.2 update significantly improves the user experience for all fans of this security-oriented Linux distribution.
What’s New in Kali Linux 2022.2
There are many new features in this Kali release, so we’ll attempt to highlight the most important ones.
GNOME 42
One of the most notable changes in Kali Linux 2022.2 is the addition of GNOME 42. Much has been written over the past month on what makes GNOME 42 a special release.
The short answer is GTK 4 and libadwaita. They provide next-generation capabilities for GNOME apps, and many GNOME apps have begun to use these components for GNOME 42.
As a result, these apps perform better, have a more modern and unified UI style, and new user interface elements.
On top of that, the Kali Linux 2022.2 shell theme has been updated with a more modern appearance, with arrows removed from pop-up menus and more rounded corners.
Furthermore, there is an upgraded and adjusted Dash-to-Dock extension, making it more compatible with the new style and fixing certain bugs.
KDE Plasma 5.24
But let’s not forget about the other major contender in Linux desktop circles, KDE. Fortunately, Kali Linux 2022.2 includes the most recent KDE Plasma 5.24 version.
Improvements include a redesigned overview panel, unique accent colors, updated System Settings, etc.
Of course, improvements to the Kali Linux default desktop environment, Xfce, have not been overlooked. It comes with a disabled motherboard beep on Xfce, alternate panel layout for ARM, improved support for VirtualBox shared files, and much more.
Tweaks to Kali’s Terminal
There have also been modest changes made to the syntax-highlighting colors in Zsh to increase legibility in the Kali terminal.
In addition, python3-pip and python3-virtualenv are now included by default Kali installations. Finally, we can’t forget to note that in Kali Linux 2022.2, John The Ripper now has shell autocompletion.
Btrfs Snapshots
Another exciting change in Kali Linux 2022.2 is the inclusion of Unkaputtbar. Yeah, I know, it sounds weird. But behind that strange name lies something familiar – the functionality to take snapshots of your system.
All required is to install Kali Linux 2022.2 with Btrfs as the file system and enable snapshotting after installation. Furthermore, you may use the boot menu to boot into any of your saved snapshots and instantly roll back to a previous system state.
New Security Tools in Kali Linux 2022.2
Of course, without adding new security tools, Kali never launches an update, and the latest Kali Linux 2022.2 release contains 10 of them:
- BruteShark – Network Forensic Analysis Tool (NFAT)
- Evil-WinRM – Ultimate WinRM shell
- Hakrawler – Web crawler designed for easy, quick discovery of endpoints and assets
- Httpx – Fast and multi-purpose HTTP toolkit
- LAPSDumper – Dumps LAPS passwords
- PhpSploit – Stealth post-exploitation framework
- PEDump – Dump Win32 executable files
- SentryPeer – SIP peer-to-peer honeypot for VoIP
- Sparrow-wifi – Graphical Wi-Fi Analyzer for Linux
- wifipumpkin3 – Powerful framework for rogue access points
Other Highlights
Apart from those mentioned above, some additional changes also deserve to be noted here.
Under the hood, Kali Linux 2022.2 featured the Linux 5.16 kernel. In addition, the distro also bumps the kernel to 5.10.103 for its Raspberry Pi version.
Continuing with the Rasberry Pi improvements, the most important to note is the updated version of the Wi-Fi firmware and the fixed Bluetooth functionality.
Now let’s move on to virtualization. Many of you probably prefer to install Kali Linux as a virtual machine using VirtualBox to test its functionality. Fortunately, now you have shared folder support in VirtualBox by default.
So, when you create a user account in VirtualBox, it is now immediately assigned to the vboxsf group. In other words, there’s now one less step if you want to use shared folders.
We’ll wrap up our look at what’s new in this Kali version with something entertaining. You may have noticed that Kali Linux has been used in many movies and TV series.
The hacking shown ranges from genuinely humorous to the absolutely impossible, so the developers of Kali Linux have decided to have some fun with some of the “hacking” performances in the form of a screensaver.
You can enjoy them by typing the commands below.
sudo apt install kali-screensaver
sudo apt install hollywood-activate
hollywood-activate
For detailed information about all changes in Kali Linux 2022.2, you can refer to the official announcement.
And at the end, if you are planning a new installation, Kali Linux 2022.2 is ready for immediate download from the project’s website.
