The additions include a new Python interpreter and improved Raspberry Pi Imager support, while i386 builds and SSH DSA key support are being eliminated.
Kali Linux is a specialized distribution designed for security experts and ethical hackers. This open-source OS is used for penetration testing, ethical hacking, vulnerability research, security audits, and Red Team exercises, among other things.
As many as 14 new tools have been added in v2024.4, further expanding the capabilities of this distribution. Most of the tools were developed by the team behind Kali Linux, including contributions from other developers.
One significant change is the addition of Python v3.12 as the new standard Python interpreter. In addition, installing system-wide Python packages via pip, including third-party packages, is now disabled by default.
As a replacement, the pipx command is now used. The reason is that running pip as root when installing system-wide packages can cause conflicts with Kali Linux’s built-in package manager. The team announced 18 months ago that this functionality would be phased out.
Raspberry Pi Imager support.
Another essential feature in v2024.4 is improved support for Raspberry Pi Imager. This tool allows developers to quickly find supported Raspberry Pi images and write them to a microSD card.
New to Kali Linux is the ability to configure settings automatically applied to the Raspberry Pi image while writing to the microSD card. These include a custom hostname, login credentials, SSH keys, WiFi configuration and local settings.
Other interesting changes include introducing the GNOME 47 desktop environment, with associated new features, and the upgrade of the Linux kernel to version 6.11.
End of i386 builds
In addition to new features, v2024.4 removes some older components, including support for i386 builds. This decision follows Debian’s discontinuation of support for the obsolete 32-bit processor architecture in October of this year, which is also the basis for Kali Linux. Fedora and Ubuntu stopped i386 support much earlier.
However, this does not mean that i386 packages have entirely disappeared from Kali Linux. Users can still run these packages on a 64-bit system via the package manager or i386 Docker images.
No more SSH DSA keys
Another discontinued feature is support for SSH DSA keys, due to the introduction of OpenSSH v9.8p1 in the latest release. Users who wish to continue supporting older keys can still use the SSH1 client, which is “frozen” at version 7.5.
Tools that cannot handle the SSH1 command no longer work properly with legacy systems that require DSA keys. Users can contact the Kali Linux team via Discord to resolve this issue.
Also read: 33-year-old Linux can’t be left out of IT infrastructures