Upgrade Kali Linux 2021.3 to 2021.4

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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

Upgrading 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 -a

No 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-release

PRETTY_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.list

Sample output;

deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free

If 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.list

Run system Update

Resynchronize system package cache to the latest versions by executing the command;

sudo apt update

Upgrading Kali Linux 2021.3 to 2021.4

Next, run system upgrade.

sudo apt full-upgrade --auto-remove
Reading 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 reboot

Verify 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 -a

No 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-release

PRETTY_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

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

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koromicha
I am the Co-founder of Kifarunix.com, Linux and the whole FOSS enthusiast, Linux System Admin and a Blue Teamer who loves to share technological tips and hacks with others as a way of sharing knowledge as: "In vain have you acquired knowledge if you have not imparted it to others".

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