Offensive Security has announced the release of Kali Linux 2020.4, the forth and the final release for 2020. The new release is packed with new features to amaze ethical hackers.
What Is Linux?
Linux is a family of open-source operating systems based on the Linux kernel. The first Linux system kernel was released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds.
Popular Linux distributions include Debian, Fedora, and Ubuntu, and the commercial distributions include Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. There are also a lot of other customized Linux distributions, such as Kali Linux, REMnux etc.
What Is Kali Linux?
Kali Linux is a Debian-based distribution developed, funded and maintained by Offensive Security. Offensive Security is also the provider of the well known exploitation framework, Metasploit, and also maintains the Exploit Database.
Kali has been developed for ethical hackers for the purposes of Penetration Testing, Security Research & Assessment, and Computer Computer Forensics & Reverse Engineering. The first version of Kali was released on the 13th of March 2013. The initial version was a rebuild of BackTrack Linux, that is not maintained anymore.
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What Is New In Kali 2020.4 Release?
The changes in this version include:
ZSH Shell By Default
As disclosed in the previous release, ZSH replaces the Bash as the default shell in the new Kali Linux for desktop and cloud. As an exception, if you use adduser command, the shell will default back to Bash for the time being. However, this will be corrected in the future releases.
If you are not happy with this change, you can still revert back to the Bash by running the command:
$ chsh -s /bin/bashBash Sell Makeover
Bash shell also has been tweaked in the new Kali Linux, to make it look similar to ZSH shell, but act exactly the same way it was. To note, colors had been changed in the previous release from red to blue, for non-root users.
New Tools
In the new release, Linux kernel has been upgraded to 5.9. Also, GNONE and KDE have been updated to versions 3.38 and 5.19, respectively. Kali, also includes the following new tools in this release:
- Metasploit Framework V5
- Apple Bleee
- CertGraph
- dnscat2
- FinalRecon
- goDoH
- hostapd-mana
- Whatmask
For a complete list of all the available tools in Kali, you can check the Kali Linux Tools Site that provides a quick reference for each.
How To Download or Upgrade Your Kali?
You can download Kali Linux 2020.4 images for several platforms (including VMware and VirtualBox images) from Kali’s official downloads page.
Or, if you’re already using an older version of Kali Linux, you can upgrade it by running the command:
$ sudo apt update && sudo apt -y full-upgradeTo read more about the features of the 2020.4 release of Kali Linux, you can visit the official Kali Linux webpage.
To learn more on Linux, you could also read our article Basic Linux Commands for Beginners or visit Linux Resources Page.
