Please reboot your system. Does that fix the issue?

This is happening with me too. When I run any program that requires root, the password prompt fails, and it closes.

This is an expected side-effect of the latest update of the package polkitd. You need to reboot the system after this upgrade.

It's written among the logs of apt full-upgrade (assuming you ran this command manually in a terminal), but the line is buried among other apt logs, so I guess most people won't see it...

┌──(kali㉿kali)-[~]
└─$ sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
[...]
Setting up libpolkit-gobject-1-0:amd64 (127+really127-0kali1)…
Setting up libpolkit-agent-1-0:amd64 (127+really127-0kali1)…
Setting up polkitd (127+really127-0kali1)…
Upgrading to this polkitd version requires a reboot, please reboot the system when convenient.
Created symlink '/etc/systemd/system/sockets.target.wants/polkit-agent-helper.socket' → '/usr/lib/systemd/system/polkit-agent-helper.socket'.
[...]

Please reboot your system. Does that fix the issue?

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
not working

sudo

Please reboot your system. Does that fix the issue?

nothing work
┌──(root㉿kali)-[~]
└─# apt install --reinstall policykit-1 polkitd
Reinstallation of policykit-1 is not possible, it cannot be downloaded.
Summary:
Upgrading: 0, Installing: 0, Reinstalling: 1, Removing: 0, Not Upgrading: 0
Download size: 123 kB
Space needed: 0 B / 12.4 GB available

Continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling/main amd64 polkitd amd64 127+really127-0kali1 [123 kB]
Fetched 123 kB in 1s (113 kB/s)
(Reading database ... 1052277 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../polkitd_127+really127-0kali1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking polkitd (127+really127-0kali1) over (127+really127-0kali1) ...
Setting up polkitd (127+really127-0kali1) ...
polkit-agent-helper.socket is a disabled or a static unit not running, not starting it.
Processing triggers for man-db (2.13.1-1) ...
Processing triggers for dbus (1.16.2-4) ...
Processing triggers for sgml-base (1.31+nmu1) ...
Processing triggers for kali-menu (2026.2.2) ...
Scanning processes...
Scanning linux images...

Running kernel seems to be up-to-date.

reboot but still same problem

What terminal do you use?

@krishnendu Can you provide the output of the following commands:

systemctl status polkit-agent-helper.socket

dpkg-query -W | grep -E 'base-files|kali-defaults|polkit|init-system'

update-alternatives --display x-terminal-emulator

──(private㉿kali)-[~]
└─$ systemctl status polkit-agent-helper.socket
○ polkit-agent-helper.socket - Authorization Manager Agent Helper
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/polkit-agent-helper.socket; disabled; preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
Docs: man:polkit(8)
Listen: /run/polkit/agent-helper.socket (Stream)
Accepted: 0; Connected: 0;

┌──(private㉿kali)-[~]
└─$ dpkg-query -W | grep -E 'base-files|kali-defaults|polkit|init-system'
base-files 1:2026.1.1
gir1.2-polkit-1.0:amd64 127+really127-0kali1
init-system-helpers 1.69+kali1
kali-defaults 2026.1.2
kali-defaults-desktop 2026.1.2
libpolkit-agent-1-0:amd64 127+really127-0kali1
libpolkit-gobject-1-0:amd64 127+really127-0kali1
libpolkit-qt5-1-1:amd64 0.200.0-4+b2
libpolkit-qt6-1-1:amd64 0.200.0-4+b2
polkit-kde-agent-1 4:6.5.4-1
polkitd 127+really127-0kali1

┌──(private㉿kali)-[~]
└─$ update-alternatives --display x-terminal-emulator
x-terminal-emulator - auto mode
link best version is /usr/bin/gnome-terminal.wrapper
link currently points to /usr/bin/gnome-terminal.wrapper
link x-terminal-emulator is /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator
slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz is /usr/share/man/man1/x-terminal-emulator.1.gz
/usr/bin/gnome-terminal.wrapper - priority 40
slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/gnome-terminal.wrapper.1.gz
/usr/bin/koi8rxterm - priority 20
slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/koi8rxterm.1.gz
/usr/bin/konsole - priority 40
/usr/bin/lxterm - priority 30
slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/lxterm.1.gz
/usr/bin/tilix.wrapper - priority 30
slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/tilix.1.gz
/usr/bin/uxterm - priority 20
slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/uxterm.1.gz
/usr/bin/xterm - priority 20
slave x-terminal-emulator.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/xterm.1.gz

I'm having the same problem as the person you asked to use the commands.

I'm running KDE Plasma Desktop. My terminal is Konsole.

You should try that:

systemctl enable --now polkit-agent-helper.socket

Then reboot. Now the unit should be active:

# systemctl status polkit-agent-helper.socket
● polkit-agent-helper.socket - Authorization Manager Agent Helper
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/polkit-agent-helper.socket; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (listening) since Wed 2026-04-08 00:48:13 EDT; 6min ago
 Invocation: cb41812efd434b569f93350f58dff278
       Docs: man:polkit(8)
     Listen: /run/polkit/agent-helper.socket (Stream)
   Accepted: 1; Connected: 0;

Apr 08 00:48:13 kali systemd[1]: Listening on polkit-agent-helper.socket - Authorization Manager Agent Helper.

And you should be able to start a root terminal via the menu icon. Does that work?

(private㉿kali)-[~]
└─$ systemctl enable --now polkit-agent-helper.socket
Failed to enable unit: Access denied

I tried it, and rebooted, but still the same.

I'm not sure if this helps but I'm running Kali as a virtual machine in VMware Workstation with Win11 as the host.

I had a similar issue that happened earlier in the year which was resolved, but not sure if it's related.

It's in thread 0009497

I forgot to mention it above: you need to run the command as root:

sudo systemctl enable --now polkit-agent-helper.socket

I had a similar issue that happened earlier in the year which was resolved, but not sure if it's related.

It's related, but now it should be fixed, in the sense that polkit-agent-helper.socket should be enabled automatically. I don't know why it's not enabled for you, but if you enable it manually (command above) and reboot, it should work.

It's working now for me. Thank you.

apt update
apt install --reinstall policykit-1 polkitd

chown root:root /usr/lib/policykit-1/polkit-agent-helper-1
chmod 4755 /usr/lib/policykit-1/polkit-agent-helper-1

chown root:root /usr/bin/pkexec
chmod 4755 /usr/bin/pkexec

fixed my issue thanks

This is not a good piece of advice.

Re-installing package is Ok, no problem with that.

However changing file permissions and ownership of the files installed by the packages is not a good idea. In particular, version 127 of polkit REMOVED the SUID bit on polkit-agent-helper-1, to increase security overall (SUID programs are a security risk). When you run chmod 4755 /usr/lib/policykit-1/polkit-agent-helper-1 you set the SUID bit again, for no reason.

many many thanks arnaudr

reset permission again reinstall

──(root㉿kali)-[~]
└─# sudo apt install --reinstall polkitd policykit-1
Reinstallation of policykit-1 is not possible, it cannot be downloaded.
Summary:
Upgrading: 0, Installing: 0, Reinstalling: 1, Removing: 0, Not Upgrading: 0
Download size: 123 kB
Space needed: 0 B / 12.4 GB available

Continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling/main amd64 polkitd amd64 127+really127-0kali1 [123 kB]
Fetched 123 kB in 1s (107 kB/s)
(Reading database ... 1052624 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../polkitd_127+really127-0kali1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking polkitd (127+really127-0kali1) over (127+really127-0kali1) ...
Setting up polkitd (127+really127-0kali1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.13.1-1) ...
Processing triggers for dbus (1.16.2-4) ...
Processing triggers for sgml-base (1.31+nmu1) ...
Processing triggers for kali-menu (2026.2.2) ...
Scanning processes...
Scanning candidates...
Scanning linux images...

Running kernel seems to be up-to-date.

No services need to be restarted.

No containers need to be restarted.

User sessions running outdated binaries:
master @ session #3: localsearch-3[2979]
master @ user service: wireplumber.service[2167]

No VM guests are running outdated hypervisor (qemu) binaries on this host.

systemctl enable --now polkit-agent-helper.socket
┌──(root㉿kali)-[~]
└─# systemctl status polkit-agent-helper.socket
● polkit-agent-helper.socket - Authorization Manager Agent Helper
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/polkit-agent-helper.socket; enable>
Active: active (listening) since Fri 2026-04-10 05:01:23 EDT; 5min ago
Invocation: 204130cf9a0d44bf8277754e2c14bd52
Docs: man:polkit(8)
Listen: /run/polkit/agent-helper.socket (Stream)
Accepted: 4; Connected: 0;

Apr 10 05:01:23 kali systemd[1]: Closed polkit-agent-helper.socket - Authorizat>
Apr 10 05:01:23 kali systemd[1]: Stopping polkit-agent-helper.socket - Authoriz>
Apr 10 05:01:23 kali systemd[1]: Listening on polkit-agent-helper.socket - Auth>
lines 1-11/11 (END)

again use this command its work now fine