Learn how to upgrade Kali Linux 2021.3 to 2021.4. Kali Linux 2021.4 has just been released. According to the release page, the summary of the changelog since the 2021.3 release from September 2021 is:
- Improved Apple M1 support
- Wide compatibility for Samba
- Switching package manager mirrors
- Kaboxer theming
- Updates to Xfce, GNOME and KDE
- Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W + USBArmory MkII ARM images
- More tools
Upgrade Kali Linux 2021.3 to 2021.4
Confirm Current Kali Linux Release Version
So, if you are currently running Kali Linux 2021.3, you can easily upgrade it to Kali Linux 2021.4.
Getting the current version;
lsb_release -aNo LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Kali Description: Kali GNU/Linux Rolling Release: 2021.3 Codename: kali-rolling
You can also check on the /etc/os-release file;
cat /etc/os-releasePRETTY_NAME="Kali GNU/Linux Rolling" NAME="Kali GNU/Linux" ID=kali VERSION="2021.3" VERSION_ID="2021.3" VERSION_CODENAME="kali-rolling" ID_LIKE=debian ANSI_COLOR="1;31" HOME_URL="https://www.kali.org/" SUPPORT_URL="https://forums.kali.org/" BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.kali.org/"
Ensure the Kali Linux Repositories are in Place
In order to upgrade to Kali Linux 2021.4, ensure that you have the Kali repositories in place;
grep -vE "^#|^$" /etc/apt/sources.listSample output;
deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-freeIf the repos are not set, then run the command below to update;
echo 'deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free' > /etc/apt/sources.listRun system Update
Resynchronize system package cache to the latest versions by executing the command;
sudo apt updateUpgrade Kali Linux 2021.3 to 2021.4
Next, run system upgrade.
sudo apt full-upgrade --auto-removeReading package lists... Done Building dependency tree... Done Reading state information... Done Calculating upgrade... Done The following packages will be REMOVED: gnome-desktop3-data libcbor0 libdap27 libdapclient6v5 libdav1d4 libepsilon1 libgdal28 libgdk-pixbuf-xlib-2.0-0 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 libgeos-3.9.1 libgnome-desktop-3-19 libgsoap-2.8.117 libgupnp-1.2-0 libidn11 liblzf1 libnetcdf18 libntfs-3g883 libomp-11-dev libomp5-11 libproj19 libqt5opengl5 libsdl1.2debian libsemanage1 liburcu6 liburing1 libvncserver1 libwireshark14 libwiretap11 libwsutil12 libx265-192 libxkbregistry0 libyara4 python3-editor python3-exif python3-ipython-genutils python3-orjson python3-pylnk python3-stem virtualbox virtualbox-dkms virtualbox-qt The following NEW packages will be installed: cpp-11 cryptsetup-initramfs dbus-bin dbus-daemon dbus-session-bus-common dbus-system-bus-common g++-11 gcc-11 gcc-11-base icu-devtools kali-linux-firmware libaom3 libcbor0.8 libcommon-sense-perl libdav1d5 libdecor-0-0 libdecor-0-plugin-1-cairo libffi8 libfftw3-single3 libgcc-11-dev libgdal29 libgeos3.10.1 libgupnp-1.2-1 libicu-dev libjemalloc2 libjson-perl libjson-xs-perl libllvm12 libnetcdf19 libntfs-3g89 libproj22 libraqm0 libsemanage2 libsepol2 libstdc++-11-dev libtypes-serialiser-perl liburcu8 liburing2 libvpx7 libwireshark15 libwiretap12 libwsutil13 libx265-199 libxml2-dev libyara8 libzimg2 linux-headers-5.14.0-kali4-amd64 linux-headers-5.14.0-kali4-common linux-image-5.14.0-kali4-amd64 linux-kbuild-5.14 llvm-11-linker-tools onboard onboard-common onboard-data postgresql-14 postgresql-client-14 proj-bin python-babel-localedata python3-babel python3-backoff python3-censys python3-cheroot python3-cherrypy-cors python3-commonmark python3-dataclasses-json python3-donut python3-gexf python3-httpagentparser python3-ipaddr python3-jaraco.classes python3-jaraco.collections python3-jaraco.functools python3-jaraco.text python3-jq python3-limiter python3-marshmallow-enum python3-matplotlib-inline python3-mypy-extensions python3-portend python3-publicsuffixlist python3-pylnk3 python3-responses python3-rich python3-sgmllib3k python3-spyse python3-tempora python3-token-bucket python3-typing-inspect python3-ujson python3-websockify python3-zc.lockfile rpcsvc-proto tightvncpasswd xbitmaps xterm The following packages will be upgraded: acl adwaita-icon-theme alsa-topology-conf amass amass-common apache2 apache2-bin apache2-data apache2-utils apparmor apt apt-utils aspell at-spi2-core atftpd attr base-files base-passwd bash bash-completion bind9-dnsutils bind9-host bind9-libs binutils binutils-common binutils-x86-64-linux-gnu binwalk blueman bluez bluez-firmware bluez-hcidump bluez-obexd bsdextrautils bsdutils bulk-extractor bundler busybox catfish cherrytree clang-11 commix console-setup console-setup-linux coreutils cpp cpp-10 crackmapexec creddump7 cryptsetup cryptsetup-bin curl cython3 dash dbus dbus-user-session dbus-x11 dconf-gsettings-backend dconf-service dcraw debconf debconf-i18n desktop-base dictionaries-common distro-info-data dkms dos2unix eject ethtool ettercap-common ettercap-graphical exfatprogs exiv2 exploitdb faraday fdisk file firebird3.0-common firebird3.0-common-doc firefox-esr firmware-amd-graphics firmware-atheros firmware-brcm80211 firmware-intel-sound firmware-iwlwifi firmware-libertas firmware-linux firmware-linux-nonfree firmware-misc-nonfree firmware-realtek firmware-sof-signed firmware-ti-connectivity fonts-firacode fonts-noto-color-emoji fuse3 g++ g++-10 gcc gcc-10 gcc-10-base gcr gdal-data gdisk gir1.2-atspi-2.0 gir1.2-freedesktop gir1.2-glib-2.0 gir1.2-gstreamer-1.0 gir1.2-gtk-3.0 gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-4.0 gir1.2-nm-1.0 gir1.2-pango-1.0 gir1.2-soup-2.4 gir1.2-vte-2.91 gir1.2-webkit2-4.0 gir1.2-wnck-3.0 git git-man glib-networking glib-networking-common glib-networking-services gnome-keyring gnome-keyring-pkcs11 gobject-introspection graphviz grep groff-base gsettings-desktop-schemas gstreamer1.0-gl gstreamer1.0-libav gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-plugins-base gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-x gtk-update-icon-cache hunspell-en-us hwloc hydra hydra-gtk i2c-tools ifenslave ike-scan intel-media-va-driver ipp-usb iproute2 ipython3 iw john john-data jp2a kali-defaults kali-defaults-desktop kali-desktop-base kali-desktop-core kali-desktop-xfce kali-linux-core kali-linux-default kali-linux-headless kali-menu kali-themes kali-themes-common kali-tools-top10 kali-tweaks kali-undercover kali-wallpapers-2020.4 kali-wallpapers-2021.4 keyboard-configuration king-phisher laudanum ldap-utils lib32gcc-s1 lib32stdc++6 libaa1 libacl1 libaec0 libaio1 libaom0 libapache2-mod-php7.4 libapparmor1 libapt-pkg6.0 libasan6 libaspell15 libass9 libatk-adaptor libatk-bridge2.0-0 libatk-wrapper-java libatk-wrapper-java-jni libatomic1 libatspi2.0-0 libattr1 libaudit-common libaudit1 libavcodec58 libavfilter7 libavformat58 libavutil56 libayatana-ido3-0.4-0 libayatana-indicator3-7 libbinutils libblas3 libblkid1 libblosc1 libbluetooth3 libbpf0 libbrlapi0.8 libbrotli1 libbson-1.0-0 libc-ares2 libc-bin libc-dev-bin libc-l10n libc6 libc6-dev libc6-i386 libcanberra-gtk-module libcanberra-gtk0 libcanberra-gtk3-0 libcanberra-gtk3-module libcanberra0 libcapstone-dev libcapstone4 libcc1-0 libcdio19 libcdt5 libcgraph6 libcharls2 libclang-common-11-dev libclang-cpp11 libclang1-11 libcli1.10 libcrypt-dev libcrypt1 libcrypto++8 libcryptsetup12 libctf-nobfd0 libctf0 libcups2 libcurl3-gnutls libcurl4 libdate-manip-perl libdatrie1 libdbd-mariadb-perl libdbus-1-3 libdconf1 libdebconfclient0 libdeflate0 libdigest-hmac-perl libdouble-conversion3 libdrm-amdgpu1 libdrm-common libdrm-intel1 libdrm-nouveau2 libdrm-radeon1 libdrm2 libdw1 libedit2 libegl-mesa0 libegl1 libelf1 libepoxy0 libevdev2 libexif12 libexiv2-27 libexpat1 libexpat1-dev libfaad2 libfbclient2 libfcgi-perl libfdisk1 libffi-dev libfido2-1 libfile-basedir-perl libfmt7 libfreetype6 libfuse3-3 libgbm1 libgcc-10-dev libgcc-s1 libgck-1-0 libgcr-base-3-1 libgcr-ui-3-1 libgcrypt20 libgdbm-compat4 libgdbm6 libgeoip1 libgeos-c1v5 libgeotiff5 libgfortran5 libgirepository-1.0-1 libgl1 libgl1-mesa-dri libglapi-mesa libglib2.0-0 libglib2.0-bin libglib2.0-data libglibmm-2.4-1v5 libglvnd0 libglx-mesa0 libglx0 libgmp-dev libgmp10 libgmpxx4ldbl libgnutls30 libgoa-1.0-0b libgoa-1.0-common libgomp1 libgpgme11 libgpm2 libgraphene-1.0-0 libgspell-1-2 libgspell-1-common libgssdp-1.2-0 libgstreamer-gl1.0-0 libgstreamer-plugins-bad1.0-0 libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-0 libgstreamer1.0-0 libgtk-3-0 libgtk-3-bin libgtk-3-common libgts-0.7-5 libgts-bin libgupnp-igd-1.0-4 libgusb2 libgvc6 libgvpr2 libhdf4-0-alt libhdf5-103-1 libhdf5-hl-100 libheif1 libhttp-message-perl libhunspell-1.7-0 libhwloc-plugins libhwloc15 libi2c0 libical3 libidn12 libigdgmm11 libilmbase25 libimlib2 libinput-bin libinput10 libisl23 libitm1 libjack-jackd2-0 libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18 libjs-jquery libjs-jquery-ui libjs-sphinxdoc libjs-underscore libkpathsea6 libksba8 liblab-gamut1 liblapack3 libldap-2.4-2 libldb2 libllvm11 liblouis-data liblouis20 liblsan0 liblttng-ust-ctl4 liblttng-ust0 liblua5.3-0 libmagic-dev libmagic-mgc libmagic1 libmanette-0.2-0 libmd0 libmfx1 libmongoc-1.0-0 libmongocrypt0 libmount1 libmpc3 libmpg123-0 libmtp-common libmtp-runtime libmtp9 libmysofa1 libncurses-dev libncurses5 libncurses6 libncursesw6 libneon27-gnutls libnet-cidr-perl libnet-dns-perl libnet-dns-sec-perl libnet-http-perl libnet-libidn-perl libnet-netmask-perl libnet-ssleay-perl libnewt0.52 libnftables1 libnftnl11 libnm0 libnspr4 libnss-mdns libnss-systemd libnss3 libnuma1 libobjc-10-dev libobjc4 libopenexr25 libopenmpt0 libout123-0 libp11-kit0 libpam-gnome-keyring libpam-modules libpam-modules-bin libpam-runtime libpam-systemd libpam0g libpango-1.0-0 libpangocairo-1.0-0 libpangoft2-1.0-0 libpangoxft-1.0-0 libpathplan4 libpcap0.8 libpci3 libpcre2-16-0 libpcre2-8-0 libpcsclite1 libperl5.32 libpipeline1 libpipewire-0.3-0 libpipewire-0.3-common libpipewire-0.3-modules libplymouth5 libpostproc55 libpq5 libprotobuf23 libproxychains4 libpulse-mainloop-glib0 libpulse0 libpulsedsp libpython2.7-minimal libpython2.7-stdlib libpython3-dev libpython3-stdlib libpython3.9 libpython3.9-dev libpython3.9-minimal libpython3.9-stdlib libqscintilla2-qt5-15 libqscintilla2-qt5-l10n libqt5core5a libqt5dbus5 libqt5designer5 libqt5gui5 libqt5help5 libqt5network5 libqt5positioning5 libqt5printsupport5 libqt5sql5 libqt5sql5-sqlite libqt5test5 libqt5webkit5 libqt5widgets5 libqt5xml5 libquadmath0 librsvg2-2 librsvg2-common librubberband2 libruby2.7 libsamplerate0 libsasl2-2 libsasl2-modules-db libsdl2-2.0-0 libseccomp2 libselinux1 libsemanage-common libsmartcols1 libsmbclient libsnmp-base libsnmp40 libsoundtouch1 libsoup-gnome2.4-1 libsoup2.4-1 libspa-0.2-modules libspatialite7 libspeechd2 libsphinxbase3 libsqlite3-0 libsrtp2-1 libssh-4 libssh-gcrypt-4 libssh2-1 libstdc++-10-dev libstdc++6 libstring-random-perl libstrongswan libsuperlu5 libsvn1 libswresample3 libswscale5 libsyn123-0 libsynctex2 libsystemd0 libsz2 libtag1v5 libtag1v5-vanilla libtagc0 libtasn1-6 libtcl8.6 libthai-data libthai0 libthunarx-3-0 libtiff5 libtinfo-dev libtinfo5 libtinfo6 libtk8.6 libtry-tiny-perl libtsan0 libtsk19 libtss2-esys-3.0.2-0 libtss2-mu0 libtss2-sys1 libtss2-tcti-cmd0 libtss2-tcti-device0 libtss2-tcti-mssim0 libtss2-tcti-swtpm0 libubsan1 libudev1 libudisks2-0 liburi-perl libuuid1 libuv1 libuv1-dev libv4l-0 libv4lconvert0 libva-drm2 libva-x11-2 libva2 libvhdi1 libvte-2.91-0 libvte-2.91-common libvulkan1 libwacom-bin libwacom-common libwacom2 libwayland-client0 libwayland-cursor0 libwayland-egl1 libwayland-server0 libwbclient0 libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37 libwireshark-data libwnck-3-0 libwnck-3-common libwpe-1.0-1 libwpebackend-fdo-1.0-1 libwww-mechanize-perl libwww-perl libx11-6 libx11-data libx11-xcb1 libxatracker2 libxext6 libxfce4ui-2-0 libxfce4ui-common libxfce4ui-utils libxfont2 libxi6 libxkbcommon-x11-0 libxkbcommon0 libxml-parser-perl libxml2 libxml2-utils libxnvctrl0 libxrandr2 libz3-4 libz3-dev libzbar0 libzstd1 linux-compiler-gcc-10-x86 linux-headers-amd64 linux-image-amd64 linux-libc-dev llvm-11 llvm-11-dev llvm-11-runtime llvm-11-tools locales login maskprocessor mesa-va-drivers mesa-vdpau-drivers mesa-vulkan-drivers metasploit-framework mobile-broadband-provider-info mount mpg123 nano ncurses-base ncurses-bin ncurses-term netdiscover netsniff-ng network-manager network-manager-l2tp network-manager-l2tp-gnome network-manager-openvpn network-manager-openvpn-gnome nftables ngrep nmap nmap-common node-normalize.css ntfs-3g ocl-icd-libopencl1 openfortivpn openjdk-11-jre openjdk-11-jre-headless openssh-client openssh-server openssh-sftp-server orca p11-kit p11-kit-modules passwd pavucontrol pciutils perl perl-base perl-modules-5.32 pgcli php7.4-cli php7.4-common php7.4-json php7.4-mysql php7.4-opcache php7.4-readline pipewire pipewire-bin pipewire-media-session plocate plymouth plymouth-label poppler-data postgresql postgresql-13 postgresql-client-13 postgresql-client-common postgresql-common powershell-empire powersploit proj-data proxychains4 publicsuffix pulseaudio pulseaudio-module-bluetooth pulseaudio-utils pyqt5-dev-tools python-apt-common python-cffi-backend python-matplotlib-data python-mpltoolkits.basemap-data python-tables-data python2.7 python2.7-minimal python3 python3-aiodns python3-aiohttp python3-aioredis python3-alembic python3-altgraph python3-aniso8601 python3-anyio python3-apscheduler python3-apt python3-asciitree python3-asgiref python3-bcrypt python3-bidict python3-binwalk python3-bleach python3-blinker python3-bottleneck python3-brlapi python3-brotli python3-bs4 python3-cairo python3-cairo-dev python3-cairocffi python3-cbor python3-cffi python3-cffi-backend python3-cherrypy3 python3-cli-helpers python3-click python3-configobj python3-cryptography python3-cycler python3-dbus python3-debian python3-defusedxml python3-deprecation python3-dev python3-distro python3-distutils python3-django python3-docopt python3-ecdsa python3-faraday-agent-parameters-types python3-faraday-plugins python3-fastapi python3-feedparser python3-flask-principal python3-flask-restful python3-gdal python3-gi python3-gi-cairo python3-git python3-gitdb python3-gpg python3-h11 python3-hiredis python3-humanize python3-hupper python3-hyperlink python3-impacket python3-ipython python3-jinja2 python3-kiwisolver python3-ldb python3-lib2to3 python3-llvmlite python3-louis python3-lxml python3-lz4 python3-macholib python3-magic python3-markdown python3-markupsafe python3-marshmallow-sqlalchemy python3-matplotlib python3-maxminddb python3-minimal python3-more-itertools python3-mpltoolkits.basemap python3-msgpack python3-multidict python3-mysqldb python3-nacl python3-netaddr python3-netifaces python3-newt python3-numba python3-numexpr python3-openssl python3-packaging python3-paramiko python3-pefile python3-pendulum python3-pickleshare python3-pil python3-pkg-resources python3-ply python3-promise python3-prompt-toolkit python3-protobuf python3-psycopg2 python3-pycares python3-pycparser python3-pycryptodome python3-pycurl python3-pydantic python3-pygraphviz python3-pymssql python3-pyproj python3-pyqt5 python3-pyqt5.sip python3-pyqtgraph python3-pyrsistent python3-pytzdata python3-qrcode python3-rq python3-ruamel.yaml python3-ruamel.yaml.clib python3-samba python3-scipy python3-secure python3-setproctitle python3-setuptools python3-simplejson python3-snappy python3-sniffio python3-soupsieve python3-speechd python3-tables python3-tables-lib python3-tk python3-tld python3-tornado python3-traitlets python3-twisted-bin python3-typing-extensions python3-tz python3-ubjson python3-unidecode python3-urwid python3-uvloop python3-webencodings python3-websocket python3-websockets python3-werkzeug python3-wsaccel python3-wsproto python3-xcffib python3-xlsxwriter python3-yaml python3-yara python3-yarl python3-zope.interface python3.9 python3.9-dev python3.9-minimal qt5-gtk-platformtheme qt5ct qtbase5-dev-tools recon-ng responder rfkill ristretto rsync rsyslog ruby-activesupport ruby-addressable ruby-atomic ruby-bundler ruby-cms-scanner ruby-ffi ruby-i18n ruby-nokogiri ruby-opt-parse-validator ruby-pkg-config ruby-progressbar ruby-public-suffix ruby-rubygems ruby-typhoeus ruby-xmlrpc ruby-yajl ruby2.7 ruby2.7-dev samba samba-common samba-common-bin samba-dsdb-modules samba-libs samba-vfs-modules screen scrot sed sensible-utils skipfish sleuthkit smbclient snmp snmpd speech-dispatcher speech-dispatcher-audio-plugins sphinx-rtd-theme-common spiderfoot sqlite3 sqlmap squashfs-tools ssh ssl-cert sslyze starkiller statsprocessor strongswan strongswan-charon strongswan-libcharon strongswan-starter subversion systemd systemd-sysv sysvinit-utils tcl8.6 tcpdump telnet testdisk thc-pptp-bruter theharvester thunar thunar-data tightvncserver tmux tshark tzdata udev udisks2 udptunnel ufw unicorn-magic unrar upx-ucl util-linux va-driver-all vim vim-common vim-runtime vim-tiny virtualbox-guest-additions-iso virtualbox-guest-utils virtualbox-guest-x11 webshells wget whiptail winexe wireless-regdb wireshark wireshark-common wireshark-qt wpasupplicant wpscan x11-xserver-utils xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-gtk xfce4-cpugraph-plugin xfce4-sensors-plugin xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin xl2tpd xserver-xorg-input-libinput xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu xtightvncviewer xxd zaproxy zenity zenity-common zsh zsh-common 930 upgraded, 95 newly installed, 41 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 1,805 MB of archives. After this operation, 1,107 MB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
The apt full-upgrade command performs the function of upgrade but will remove currently installed packages if this is needed to upgrade the system as a whole.
Reboot the System
Once the upgrade is done, reboot your system.
sudo systemctl -i rebootVerify Kali Linux 2021.3 Upgrade to Kali Linux 2021.4
Once the system reboots, verify that you are running the latest version of Kali Linux;
lsb_release -aNo LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Kali Description: Kali GNU/Linux Rolling Release: 2021.4 Codename: kali-rolling
You can also check on the /etc/os-release file;
cat /etc/os-releasePRETTY_NAME="Kali GNU/Linux Rolling" NAME="Kali GNU/Linux" ID=kali VERSION="2021.4" VERSION_ID="2021.4" VERSION_CODENAME="kali-rolling" ID_LIKE=debian ANSI_COLOR="1;31" HOME_URL="https://www.kali.org/" SUPPORT_URL="https://forums.kali.org/" BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.kali.org/"
And that is how you can easily upgrade Kali Linux 2021.3 to 2021.4.
If you want to run a fresh version of Kali Linux 2021.4, you can install it. The installation process is same as installing Kali Linux 2021.3. Check the link below;
Easily Install Kali Linux 2021.3 on VirtualBox
Other Tutorials
Install NoMachine on Kali Linux 2021
Install VirtualBox Guest Additions on Kali Linux 2021.3
