The second problem was fixed:

1) apt remove linux-image-6.3.0-kali1-amd64
2) apt remove mdadm
3) apt install --fix-missing linux-image-6.3.0-kali1-amd64

Then boot normally

But still the first problem not fixed!!!!

Unfortunately this happened one time!

Hi, I can confirm this issue and I was able to work around it by booting kernel 6.1.

I haven't been able to debug it however as journalctl --dmesg -b -1 does not yield logs of the boot attempts with kernel 6.3. GRUB also seems to be fine (the bootup sequence hangs after loader/i386/loader.c:1154), it just seems like something's up with the initramfs.
Also this "workaround" of removing the image and mdadm packages did not work for me (I of course reinstalled the kernel with APT but nothing of interest showed up in the logs either). I do not have mdadm installed in the first place.

I'm here if you need any more information.
Thanks!

Pierre

This issue is updated

Hi, i can confirm this problem. i got an intel 12gen cpu and nvidia gpu on my notebook.

its something realted to Intel's IBT (Indirect branch tracking). Just turn it off in the GRUB Boot Parameters.

After this, everything works perfectly fine.

Steps:

1. Reboot
2. In the GRUB Boot Menu press e to edit params
3. in the linux line add at the end "ibt=off"
4. press CTRL+X to save and boot

if you want to make this change permanently just edit /etc/default/grub
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/kernel_parameters#GRUB

Hey RandonDude,

Thanks for the workaround! Indeed it also seems to work on my end (i5-1345U with no discrete GPU).
Hopefully an actual fix is found :)

Pierre

Seems like there are two bugs in this report. Question for HarmfulBreeze and RandonDude: are you running Kali with Hyper-V? Or baremetal? Or what?

For xefeyis114: it's possible that you hit a bug with a particular version of a kernel. Or, when you installed Kali in Hyper-V, did you choose to encrypt the drive? I think that this setup doesn't work... Other than that, we tried with latest Kali (2023.3, to be released very soon), the Hyper-V premade image works, and we could successfully upgrade it to a newer kernel, and reboot. No problem, it went smoothly.

Hi arnaudr,
I'm running Kali with Hyper-V: Gen2/UEFI. If you need any logs or anything, please tell me.

Thanks!
Pierre

Some people seem to face a very similar issue with VMware Player, also fixed with ibt=off: https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Player/kernel-6-3-4-may-break-vmware-player/td-p/2971432

Hi arnaudr,

I've tried both 2023.3 iso and the Hyper-V premade image released today and this issue still persists. I had also verified that with RandonDude's workaround, both iso and premade image works.

I believed this is an issue introduced since the adoption of kernel 6.3: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2221531

A patch was merged into the kernel: https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/d5ace2a776442d80674eff9ed42e737f7dd95056

Yup, I've tried rebuilding the kernel with said patch it works:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/hyperv/linux.git/patch/?id=d5ace2a776442d80674eff9ed42e737f7dd95056

Do you happen to know if this patch is in the 6.4 kernel? We have kernel version 6.4.11-1kali1 in kali-experimental, feel free to give it a try.

Here's a quick doc to enable the Kali experimental repository: https://www.kali.org/docs/general-use/kali-linux-sources-list-repositories/#enabling-kali-additional-branches

Then you can install the kernel with a command such as: sudo apt update && sudo apt install -t kali-experimental linux-image-amd64

Tested kernel 6.4.11-1kali1 and it works.
Also verified that the kernel 6.4 source had the patch applied.

Screenshot 2023-08-25 165803.png (146,071 bytes)   

Screenshot 2023-08-25 165803.png (146,071 bytes)   

Hello all, first thanks for the reports, and the time you spent following up and testing. This is much appreciated.

We just rebuilt and published a new Hyper-V pre-made image. It contains the kernel 6.4. This image is available at the usual location: https://www.kali.org/get-kali/#kali-virtual-machines. When you download it, you will notice that the image has the version 2023.3a. That's it, that's the one, that's the image with the fix!

So, for everyone affected by the issue with the pre-made Hyper-V image: just download it again.

Now, second case: for those who can't use the pre-made image, and instead need to install Kali within Hyper-V (hence using a installer image from https://www.kali.org/get-kali/#kali-installer-images). We did NOT rebuild those images, so you might still be affected by the bug. You have the following options:

1. Don't use a installer image, use a premade Hyper-V image instead
2. Otherwise, use the latest weekly installer image (it comes with kernel 6.4)
3. As a last resort, you can always disable IBT by adding ibt=off to the kernel cmdline

Just to clarify: not everyone is affected by this issue, from what I could gather: « IBT is supported, for kernel code only, in Intel processors starting with the Tiger Lake generation, which hit the market in late 2020 » So the issue doesn't affect those who have Intel CPUs older than that.

Thanks to everyone involved!