💡 For anyone still trying to figure out the correct SSH username:
Just adding to the conversation because this wasn’t smooth sailing for me either — but also, I’m a beginner.
When I first launched the AMI in us-east-1, I tried logging in with the username kali and it didn’t work. So I tried the other usual suspects: root, ec2-user, admin — nothing worked.
Eventually, after some trial and error (terminating the instance and starting fresh using the same key pair), I used root again and saw the message from the Kali devs saying that kali is the correct username. I tried it again — and this time it worked.
The first time I used root I didn’t get that message at all. The second time I did. No idea why kali didn’t work initially, or why I didn’t get the dev message the first time. Maybe the instance wasn’t fully initialized yet, maybe I made a typo, maybe it’s just AWS being AWS.
If you’re hitting the same wall, don’t assume you’re doing something wrong — it might just take a few tries. It may have absolutely nothing to do with whether you “read the instructions.” I read them too. Still had issues.
✅ Try terminating the instance and launching a fresh one. That’s what finally worked for me.
Just keep troubleshooting. You’ll get in. 💻🔥
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Doesn't come with standard PenTest tools
The people that are complaining about not being able to SSH in to the server really shouldn't be using a penTest tool. Follow the instructions people!
My issue is that the OS did not come with Nikto or Metasploit. I had to change the repo list and install it myself. The whole point of Kali is that it comes with hundreds of these tools pre-installed...
does what its supposed to
people complaining about ssh are just silly. I am able to ssh no problem to this and i have rolled out many
Works well
I suspect the people marking this 1 star did not read the instructions and see the user required is `kali` not root or ec2-user.
Broken
Does not work. I cannot connect to this instance via SSH. It must be set up incorrectly. Please don't use this Kali instance as it's broken and will not work.
Unleashing Power: A Review of Kali Linux
Kali Linux stands out as a robust penetration testing and security auditing platform. Its comprehensive toolkit and user-friendly interface make it invaluable for professionals in cybersecurity.
USER 'KALI' TO LOGIN VIA SSH
A number of previous ratings indicated that ssh login is a problem. Make sure you use the "kali" user for your ssh login.
I have had to uninstall and reinstall this 2 times now.
Kali has given the most issues since I have used it. I tried to install this 2 times and both times it has been very slow on usage so I terminated the instance 2 times now and trying to install a third time.
Unable to connect via SSH
I am unable to connect to the image (Kali Linux 2023.4) via SSH (I tried several users like root, ec2-user and kali). Firewall inbound rules are enabled to all protocols and hosts and the .pem file permission is restricted to 0600. I nevertheless cannot log in to SSH, neither through openssh nor through the web administration in AWS. I tried logging in via IP and DNS, yet nothing helped, not even assigning an Elastic IP. I kept getting an error when connecting via SSH:
Permission denied (publickey)
Moving on from AWS Kali Linux...
I have been using the Kali Linux AMI for my casual HTB/OSCP/other pentesting endeavors for the last 2 years. The ease of use has been (until now) extremely reliable.
Since upgrading my instance to 2023.4 though, I have experienced several catastrophic issues. My two year old instance after rebooting from the 2023.4 release would no longer pass the Instance Status Check and I was unable to connect to the Instance. I followed all AWS troubleshooting instructions for this topic, but none seemed to resolve the issue. I eventually cut my losses (losing two years of notes mind you) and terminated the instance and spun up a new one. I have now experienced the same Instance status check failure on two separate occasions and am now starting to doubt the reliability of this platform for what I use it with.
Yes - I already confirmed the security groups were configured correctly. This appears to be an issue since upgrading to 2023.4 Kali-rolling.