Our focus has been on a lot of behind the scenes updates and optimizations since the last release. There have been some messy migrations, with multiple stacks, all interrelating (transition have been like buses, all coming at once!). After the t64 transition finished up, it was straight into multiple other transitions: GCC 14, the glibc 2.40, and Python 3.12.
This last one is the most significant! This new Python release removed some long-deprecated APIs, breaking a fair number of packages. We have been busy fixing it all (weeks of work!), we are almost there, Python 3.12 will be the default in the next version of Kali - 2024.4. With Python 3.12, there will be a major change for users: it won’t be possible to install Python packages with pip anymore.
But that will be for the next Kali release, 2024.4, due by the end of the year. In the meantime, this new release 2024.3 still has Python 3.11 as the default Python interpreter.
An unfortunate consequence of this situation is that, as the whole Python 3.12 stack did not enter Kali-rolling yet, it also blocked other packages (seemingly unrelated to Python) from entering Kali-rolling. In other words, over the last 2 months the pace of updates in Kali-rolling went down, making this release less exciting than usual. This temporary slowdown should end in the coming days and weeks, as Python 3.12 finally hits Kali-rolling. At this point packages will resume flowing as usual, so users of Kali-rolling should be ready for a lot of updates!
To finish: apart from packaging, various projects either got started or continued to make progress, but are not ready for release just yet (such as having a new Kali forum, NetHunter Store updates and refreshing Kali-menu).
New Tools in Kali
This Kali release is about package updates. For end users its mostly about new tools added, for us, its about the updated stacks!
The community once again has set up and added various new tools. Long term contributor @Arszilla has been busy again! Here is a highlight of what new tools have been added (to the network repositories):
- goshs - Think SimpleHTTPServer, but written in Go, and with more features
- graudit - Grep Rough AUDIT: source code auditing tool
- gsocket - Allows two machines on different networks to communicate with each other
- hekatomb - Extract and decrypt all credentials from all domain computers
- mxcheck - Info and security scanner for e-mail servers
- netexec - Network service exploitation tool that helps automate assessing the security of large networks
- netscanner - Network scanner & diagnostic tool with modern TUI
- obsidian - Private and flexible writing app that adapts to the way you think
- sippts - Set of tools to audit SIP based VoIP Systems
- sprayhound - Password spraying tool and Bloodhound integration
- sqlmc - Check all URLls of a domain for SQL injections
It goes without saying, that there has been numerous packages updates and new libraries as well.
Again, we want to shout out Arszilla and his multiple contributions. Always remember, you can contribute as well! We are always open for engagement from you if you want to get involved.