Kali linux open source

Kali linux open source

Kali Linux is specifically geared to meet the requirements of professional penetration testing and security auditing. To achieve this, several core changes have been implemented in Kali Linux which reflect these needs:

Network services disabled by default: Kali Linux contains systemd hooks that disable network services by default. These hooks allow us to install various services on Kali Linux, while ensuring that our distribution remains secure by default, no matter what packages are installed. Additional services such as Bluetooth are also blacklisted by default.

Custom Linux kernel: Kali Linux uses an upstream kernel, patched for wireless injection.

A minimal and trusted set of repositories: given the aims and goals of Kali Linux, maintaining the integrity of the system as a whole is absolutely key. With that goal in mind, the set of upstream software sources which Kali uses is kept to an absolute minimum. Many new Kali users are tempted to add additional repositories to their sources.list, but doing so runs a very serious risk of breaking your Kali Linux installation.

Is Kali Linux Right For You?

As the distribution’s developers, you might expect us to recommend that everyone should be using Kali Linux. The fact of the matter is, however, that Kali is a Linux distribution specifically geared towards professional penetration testers and security specialists, and given its unique nature, it is NOT a recommended distribution if you’re unfamiliar with Linux or are looking for a general-purpose Linux desktop distribution for development, web design, gaming, etc.

Even for experienced Linux users, Kali can pose some challenges. Although Kali is an open source project, it’s not a wide-open source project, for reasons of security. The development team is small and trusted, packages in the repositories are signed both by the individual committer and the team, and — importantly — the set of upstream repositories from which updates and new packages are drawn is very small. Adding repositories to your software sources which have not been tested by the Kali Linux development team is a good way to cause problems on your system.

While Kali Linux is architected to be highly customizable, do not expect to be able to add random unrelated packages and repositories that are “out of band” of the regular Kali software sources and have it Just Work. In particular, there is absolutely no support whatsoever for the apt-add-repository command, LaunchPad, or PPAs. Trying to install Steam on your Kali Linux desktop is an experiment that will not end well. Even getting a package as mainstream as NodeJS onto a Kali Linux installation can take a little extra effort and tinkering.

If you are unfamiliar with Linux generally, if you do not have at least a basic level of competence in administering a system, if you are looking for a Linux distribution to use as a learning tool to get to know your way around Linux, or if you want a distro that you can use as a general purpose desktop installation, Kali Linux is probably not what you are looking for.

In addition, misuse of security and penetration testing tools within a network, particularly without specific authorization, may cause irreparable damage and result in significant consequences, personal and/or legal. “Not understanding what you were doing” is not going to work as an excuse.

However, if you’re a professional penetration tester or are studying penetration testing with a goal of becoming a certified professional, there’s no better toolkit — at any price — than Kali Linux.

If you are looking for a Linux distribution to learn the basics of Linux and need a good starting point, Kali Linux is not the ideal distribution for you. You may want to begin with Ubuntu, Mint, or Debian instead. If you’re interested in getting hands-on with the internals of Linux, take a look the Linux From Scratch project.

Summary

So, after having read this you should have figured out if Kali Linux is the distribution you were looking for or at least got an idea about your choice.

If still you have not figured it out, here is a summary that will hopefully remove your remaining doubts:

• Kali Linux is made with pentesters and pentesting in mind so, expecting it to fit with your necessity might not be as simple even though it’s completely possible.
• If you are new to Linux or have less experience with command line you might find Kali Linux to be not so user-friendly, even though our developers try to make it as user-friendly as possible some things might be intimidating to you if you are new.
• The developers always try to make Kali Linux as much hardware compatible as possible but, still some hardware/s might not work as expected or not work at all. So, its better to research hardware compatibility beforehand rather than breaking your computer later.
• If you are installing Kali Linux for the first time, it is recommended to install first in Virtual Machine then, after getting familiar with it, you can install it in your own hardware.

Hopefully, now you know if you need to install Kali Linux or not. If you have decided to install Kali Linux then, we welcome you to our community.

If not, then see you later, and remember always “Try Harder”.

Updated on: 2021-Sep-27
Author: g0tmi1k

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Kali linux open source

Kali Linux (formerly known as BackTrack Linux) is an open-source, Debian-based Linux distribution aimed at advanced Penetration Testing and Security Auditing. Kali Linux contains several hundred tools targeted towards various information security tasks, such as Penetration Testing, Security Research, Computer Forensics and Reverse Engineering. Kali Linux is a multi platform solution, accessible and freely available to information security professionals and hobbyists.

Kali Linux was released on the 13th March 2013 as a complete, top-to-bottom rebuild of BackTrack Linux, adhering completely to Debian development standards.

Kali Linux Features

• More than 600 penetration testing tools included: After reviewing every tool that was included in BackTrack, we eliminated a great number of tools that either simply did not work or which duplicated other tools that provided the same or similar functionality. Details on what’s included are on the Kali Tools site.
• Free (as in beer) and always will be: Kali Linux, like BackTrack, is completely free of charge and always will be. You will never, ever have to pay for Kali Linux.
• Open source Git tree: We are committed to the open source development model and our development tree is available for all to see. All of the source code which goes into Kali Linux is available for anyone who wants to tweak or rebuild packages to suit their specific needs.
• FHS compliant: Kali adheres to the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, allowing Linux users to easily locate binaries, support files, libraries, etc.
• Wide-ranging wireless device support: A regular sticking point with Linux distributions has been support for wireless interfaces. We have built Kali Linux to support as many wireless devices as we possibly can, allowing it to run properly on a wide variety of hardware and making it compatible with numerous USB and other wireless devices.
• Custom kernel, patched for injection: As penetration testers, the development team often needs to do wireless assessments, so our kernel has the latest injection patches included.
• Developed in a secure environment: The Kali Linux team is made up of a small group of individuals who are the only ones trusted to commit packages and interact with the repositories, all of which is done using multiple secure protocols.
• GPG signed packages and repositories: Every package in Kali Linux is signed by each individual developer who built and committed it, and the repositories subsequently sign the packages as well.
• Multi-language support: Although penetration tools tend to be written in English, we have ensured that Kali includes true multilingual support, allowing more users to operate in their native language and locate the tools they need for the job.
• Completely customizable: We thoroughly understand that not everyone will agree with our design decisions, so we have made it as easy as possible for our more adventurous users to customize Kali Linux to their liking, all the way down to the kernel.
• ARMEL and ARMHF support: Since ARM-based single-board systems like the Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone Black, among others, are becoming more and more prevalent and inexpensive, we knew that Kali’s ARM support would need to be as robust as we could manage, with fully working installations for both ARMEL and ARMHF systems. Kali Linux is available on a wide range of ARM devices and has ARM repositories integrated with the mainline distribution so tools for ARM are updated in conjunction with the rest of the distribution.
• For more features of Kali Linux, please see the following page: Kali Linux Overview.

Kali Linux is specifically tailored to the needs of penetration testing professionals, and therefore all documentation on this site assumes prior knowledge of, and familiarity with, the Linux operating system in general. Please see Should I Use Kali Linux? for more details on what makes Kali unique.

Updated on: 2021-Sep-27
Author: g0tmi1k

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Kali linux open source

The topic of repositories is always a large one, and comes up frequently. It is an item which people often get wrong and confused with. Please take the time to read the information below and any references which is linked to before acting on anything.

Default Network Repository Value

On a standard, clean install of Kali Linux, with network access, you should have the following entry present in /etc/apt/sources.list :

If the output doesn’t exactly match up to the above output, you may not be able to install any new additional packages or receive updates. This may happen for any number of reasons, such as:

• You have switched your branch.
• Using a different hardcoded mirror.

You will probably want to read the “switching branches” section to alter this.

Since Kali 2020.3, after Kali’s setup is complete, network repositories will be enabled by default, even if there was no network access during installation.

Switching Branches/Regular Repositories

Kali has various different branches to choose from (please take the time to read which one would be the best option for your setup), and you may be able to switch or include additional repositories.

kali-rolling (Default & frequently updated):

kali-last-snapshot (Point release so more “stable” & the “safest”):

kali-experimental (Packages which are under testing — often used with the rolling repository):

Sources.list Format

• Archive is going to be deb (Regular Binary) or deb-src (Source), depending if you want a package or the source of the package.
• Mirror should be http.kali.org/kali as this is our load balancer, which will direct you to best mirror.
• Branch is what version of Kali you wish to use.
• Component is what packages you wish to use, based on the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG). Kali defaults to everything.

Default Offline Install Values

During the Kali setup process, if you don’t have access to a network connection to reach a repository, you will perform an offline installation of Kali Linux. You will be limited to the packages & the version which is on the medium you installed Kali from. This will then configure Kali to continue to use this medium to install packages from, even after Kali has been installed.

This means you will not get any updates to packages, or any new additional tools, which can be frustrating. You can see if you the offline media enabled if your values match up with whats below (or if you want to enable this option):

If your output matches whats above, please see the switching branch section, if you wish to receive updates.

However, if you do have network connection, which has access to network repositories, it will be enabled for you. You don’t need to do anything.

Non-Kali Repositories

If you want to install additional tools and software (such as signal) outside of what Kali has to offer, you may need to include an extra repository for this to happen. Please do not alter /etc/apt/sources.list , as this is used for the Kali Linux Operating System. Any extra tools and software needs to be placed into their own file in the directory /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ (such as /etc/apt/sources.list.d/repo-name.list , replacing repo-name with the mirror name). It is highly recommended that each mirror should be in its own file.

By adding Kali’s repository to a non-Kali OS (such as trying to add Kali to Ubuntu), this will highly increase the chance of your system not working. It may not happen straight away, but without any warning, it may break. We will not be able to offer support (and based on what we have seen over the years, most other OS will not help too).

Likewise, adding other operating system’s repositories into Kali (such as trying to put Ubuntu on Kali), will break your installation. This is the single most common reason why Kali Linux systems break.

If any guides are telling you to do anything else than the above, this is unofficial advice, and completely not supported by Kali Linux. More often than not, users in this case end up doing a reinstall after learning this lesson.

Mirrors

We have a list of official Kali Linux mirrors, as well as a guide on how to setup your own. This may be kept as a local repository which is only accessible on a LAN, or a remote private one, or if you have the ability to, you may wish to share back to the community and make it public allowing for anyone else in your geographical area to benefit from it.

Source Repositories

By using a deb in the repositories, it will allow for binary packages to be downloaded. However, should you require the source to a package (so you can compile the package yourself if you so wish, or look into debugging a problem with a package), you can add deb-src as a extra line in the repositories.

We used kali-rolling for the branch above, but you can select any value you wish.

Updated on: 2021-Sep-27
Author: g0tmi1k

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