Kali Linux has released version 2025.1a, the first version of 2025, with one new tool, desktop changes, and a theme refresh.

Kali Linux is a distribution created for cybersecurity professionals and ethical hackers to red team exercises, penetration testing, security audits, and research against networks.

As is typical for the year’s first version, the Kali Team has released new visual elements, including wallpapers and desktop environments.

Note that the strange version number is because the developers stated they found a last-minute bug in 2025.1, which required a fix and rebuild. This led to the release of 2025.1a as the first release of 2025.

New tool added to Kali Linux 2025.1

As with every release, Kali Linux comes with a new tool toy to play with.

Unfortunately, the team said this release is mostly focused on updates, so only one tool was included this time:

• hoaxshell – Windows reverse shell payload generator and handler that abuses the http(s) protocol to establish a beacon-like reverse shell

In addition to Hoaxshell, Kali says they upgraded the Kernel version to 6.12.

Annual theme refresh

With the year’s first version, the Kali Team introduces a theme update consisting of new wallpapers and changes to the boot and login experience.

“Just like our previous releases, the first one of the year, 20XX.1, has our annual theme refresh, a tradition that keeps our interface as modern as our tools,” reads the Kali 2025.1a announcement.

“This year, we are excited to unveil our latest theme, thoughtfully designed to enhance the user experience from the moment you start up.”

“Expect notable updates to the boot menu, login screen, and a stunning selection of desktop wallpapers for both Kali and Kali Purple editions.”

This Kali version also comes with five new wallpapers and three additional backgrounds in the Community Wallpapers package.

New desktop changes

This release also comes with desktop changes, including Plasma 6.2 and Xfce 4.20.

“On our end, we have updated all themes to align with the new environment, featuring refreshed window and desktop visuals. And our favorite new addition from KDE? Floating panels!,” explains the Kali Team.

The release also includes new keyboard shortcuts to help you navigate the desktop more efficiently.

How to get Kali Linux 2025.1

To start using Kali Linux 2025.1, you can upgrade your existing installation, select a platform, or directly download ISO images for new installs and live distributions.

For those updating from a previous version, you can use the following commands to upgrade to the latest version.

echo "deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free non-free-firmware" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list

sudo apt update && sudo apt -y full-upgrade

cp -vrbi /etc/skel/. ~/

[ -f /var/run/reboot-required ] && sudo reboot -f

If you are running Kali on the Windows Subsystem for Linux, upgrade to WSL2 for a better experience, which includes the ability to use graphical apps.

You can check the WSL version used by Kali with the ‘wsl -l -v’ command in a Windows command prompt.

Once done upgrading, you can check if the upgrade was successful by using the following command:

grep VERSION /etc/os-release

You can view the complete changelog for Kali 2025.1 on Kali’s website.