Kali Linux is a Debian-based OS that provides security auditing and penetration testing tools. Although Kali Linux comes with pre-installed tools to perform multiple tasks effortlessly, many users always look for some advanced tools.
If you also look for them, don’t worry because these tools are actively developed to deliver something different. So let’s look at the top 15 Kali Linux tools you can try to enhance your productivity while working with the popular OS.
Best Kali Linux Tools in 2022 [Updated]
1. Nmap
Nmap or Network Mapper is the best tool to collect technical information or scan networks. Written in C, C++, and Python, Nmap was developed by Gordon Lyon to create a platform to discover hosts and services on a network by sending packets and analyzing the responses.
This tool provides various options, including advanced vulnerability detection, service detection, and so on. Nmap also accepts network conditions during the scan, including congestion and latency.
Initially, Nmap was created as a Linux utility but was later launched for different operating systems like Windows, BSD, and macOS.
2. Lynis
Lynis is a powerful security audit tool for Unix derivatives such as Linux, macOS, Solaris, OpenBSD, and FreeBSD. This tool scans your system according to the components which it detects.
It is used for compliance testing, security auditing, and system hardening. Additionally, you can use this tool to detect vulnerabilities and conduct penetration tests.
Lynis performs a complete system health scan to offer compliance testing and system hardening. Micheal Boelen developed this tool to provide something different to auditors, penetration testers, network administrators, and security specialists.
3. WPScan
WPScan is an excellent tool for auditing WordPress security. This is a free but not an open-source project. This tool can scan the WordPress blog even if the blog is vulnerable. It provides information regarding brute-force logins, themes, and active plugins.
It is a CLI tool mainly developed for blog maintainers and security professionals to test the website’s security. There are over 20 thousand security vulnerabilities in the online database. Hence, WPScan scans these databases to find WordPress vulnerabilities. Moreover, it checks the themes and plugin vulnerabilities to get brief information about the database breach.
4. Aircrack-ng
Aircrack-ng consists of a collection of utilities to check the WiFi network security. You can use this tool to modify your network settings and gain insights into your system.
It is a network software suite with an analysis tool for 802.11 wireless LANs, WEP/WPA/WPA2-PSK cracker, and a packet sniffer.
This tool also integrates with your wireless network’s interface controller when drivers support the raw monitoring mode and can easily sniff 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g.
Aircrack-ng has an attack monitoring system that allows you to monitor/target the WiFi network to increase its security.
5. THC Hydra
THC Hydra is one of the excellent tools that comes as a pre-installed utility to crack passwords/login. This tool can crack remote authentication services and is available as a free hacking tool licensed under AGPL v3.0.
Hydra is also available in operating systems such as Parrot, Windows, macOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, and other penetration testing environments. This tool uses more than 50 approaches to perform the brute-force attack for evaluating the correct username and password.
6. Wireshark
It is a free tool that you can use to analyze packets and networks. Many users consider this tool the best Kali Linux tool for network sniffing.
Wireshark is mainly used for education, communication, software protocol development, analysis, and network troubleshooting.
You can use Wireshark to analyze the packet transmitted all over the network. These packets have a ‘.pcap’ extension, and Wireshark reads this extension.
In these packets, a good deal of information is available, such as destination IP and source IP, data, the protocol used, headers, and so on.
7. Skipfish
Skipfish is a web application scanner that provides active web app security. It creates an interactive sitemap for a specific website using the dictionary-based probes and the crawl method. These sitemaps contain brief information about the active security checks of a website.
You can use the final output to make the foundation for professional web app security assessments. Skipfish offers all the security-related checks so that you can easily improve the security of the domain.
8. Metasploit Framework
Metasploit Framework comes in free and pro versions and is mainly used for penetration testing. You can test known exploits, perform total security assessments, and verify vulnerabilities with it.
Its free version does not include all the features, so if you want to use this tool for professional work, please use the pro version.
Metasploit is a CLI-based tool that works over a local network. However, you can use it for internet hosts using “port forwarding.” Additionally, it has an Armitage GUI package that makes it even easier to use.
9. Fluxion
Fluxion specializes in MITM WPA attacks and works well as a WiFi analyzer. This tool can scan the networks by searching for security flaws in personal or corporate networks. It doesn’t use brute force cracking techniques like other WiFi cracking tools.
Fluxion contains a separate process known as MDK3 to deactivate all users connected to the target network. With this tool, you can connect a fake access point where you can enter the WiFi password after disconnecting the networks.
10. Burp Suite Scanner
Burp Suite Scanner is one of the best-known security analysis tools. It comes in Kali Linux with a free community edition and a paid version. Its paid version is Burp Suite Professional, which includes many advanced features compared to the community edition.
With a graphical user interface and advanced tools, it differs from other web application security scanners. Burp Suite Scanner has the world-leading research of PortSwinger to find the vulnerabilities of the web apps automatically.
11. DHCPig
We award the number 11 spot on our list of the popular Kali Linux tools to DHCPig, which is a DHCP exhaustion application that uses advanced attacks after all active IP addresses. This tool does not require installation, as it is a small script, but please ensure that your system has the scapy library, which supports both IPv6 and IPv4.
DHCPig prevents new users of computers from assigning IPs to their computers. This tool is based on the scapy library and requires administrative privileges to perform the tasks. Moreover, DHCPig has been tested on different Linux distros and DHCP servers, including ISC, Windows, etc.
12. Browser Exploitation Framework (BeEF)
Browser Exploitation Framework, also known as BeEF, is specially designed for penetration testers to maintain the security of web browsers.
It is one of the best tools for Kali Linux to fix client-side problems related to managing web security at its best. Thus, it is regarded as one of the best Kali Linux tools.
BeEF allows a user to find the actual security posture of the specific environment by using a client-side attack vector. It also uses one or more browsers as a beachhead to launch the direct commands against the system.
13. SQLMAP
SQLMAP is considered the best penetration testing tool. This open-source tool is written in Python, which is used to exploit and detect the injection flaws to take over the database servers.
It can locate the database by just providing a URL and checking if the URL provided is secure. You can also check the POST parameters using the requested file. Databases such as Oracle, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and MySQL are supported in SQLMAP.
14. John the Ripper
John the Ripper is an open-source tool for cracking passwords. This tool is most commonly used for breaking programs and password testing. It also detects password hash types by combining multiple password crackers and includes a customizable cracker.
This Kali Linux tool combines many password crackers into a single package and also includes a customizable cracker. Additional modules of this tool extend its ability to crack MD4-based password hashes and passwords saved in LDAP, MySQL, and more.
15. Autopsy Forensic Browser
We would like to sum up our list of the best Kali Linux tools with Autopsy Forensic Browser. It is used by law enforcement officials, corporate examiners, military, and investigators. The Autopsy is a GUI approach to the command line digital infestation tool in the Sleuth Kit.
Initially, it was developed to deliver something out-of-the-box as it is easy to install and comes with simple installation wizards. As an end-to-end platform, Autopsy has some modules you can get from third-parties.
A Quick Wrap Up
Kali Linux comes with hundreds of tools as pre-installed utilities. These are automatically installed while you install Kali Linux on your system.
However, many testers always look for advanced options. That’s why we have written this guide to provide a complete list of the best Kali Linux tools in 2022.
Testing web apps, tools, and other stuff can be challenging, and there can be many situations where you have to automate tasks while doing hacking or penetration testing.
Thus, to increase time efficiency, you can use the above tools on your system. These best Kali Linux tools provide specific results and capture accurate data while saving time.
Aditya is a seasoned JavaScript developer with extensive experience in MEAN stack development. He also has solid knowledge of various programming tools and technologies, including .NET and Java. His hobbies include reading comics, playing games, and camping.