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IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0009750Kali LinuxKali Package Bugpublic2026-06-21 13:41
Reportervanguard Assigned To 
PrioritynormalSeverityminorReproducibilityhave not tried
Status newResolutionopen 
Summary0009750: gdm3 - latest kali-live does not accept login
Description

Dear maintainers,

withe the latest liviebuild I ran into an issue. it looks like the latest build of kali might got a problem. It looks like you switched from lightdm to gdm3.
This inhibits tje login of user kali despite of correct credentials.

Additional it let me not switch to another consiole (ALT + F1-F6), because after 10 seconds it switches back to X (F7).

However, I could login via network, then switched from gdm3 to lightdm (dpkg-reconfigure lightdm) and everything worked fine.

At the moment I am building a new version og kali-live to make sure, that nothing happened at the first build.

Maybe you might want to recheck this issue in the meantime?

I will report as soon my new build has finished.

Thank you for your help.

Best regards

Hans

Activities

vanguard

vanguard

2026-06-19 07:36

reporter   ~0021777

So, rechecked. It is definetly a bug! Please increase the buglevel.

Built a new kali-live and the bug still exists. This confirms, that the prior build itself was correctly built.

However, pöease note, that I am using XFCE as windowmanager and NOT gnome. I suppose, that is the reason, why this issue was not noticed before.

It would be nice if this ssue could be fixed.

Question beside: Is there a workaround I can use, until gdm3 is working corrctly so that the build is using lightdm again? I did not find the setting for the loginmanager in any config. What did I miss?

Thank you for your help.

Best

Hans.

vanguard

vanguard

2026-06-20 17:42

reporter   ~0021781

When examining today, I discovered, that it works, if I do not add any packages using a mylist.list.chroot.
For testing purposes I removed that list and it worked again. However, I suppose, this is because package gdm3 is not installed then.

I attach mylist.list.chroot to this message. If you will take a look of it, there is an entry "kali-linux-everything" in this list (among others), so that maybe the other entries are no more needed.

Please note: This list worked before very well, so I am sure, this list is not the cause for the issue, but (as above already mentioned), the package "gdm3" will be installed when mylist is active.

Working on this issue, I ran into the idea of the possibility, to inhibit packages to be installed (maybe usefull in future, to avoid broken packages) - but I found no option for this, and, well, it was
just an idea coming in my mind.

I hope, this helps a little bit, fo rnow I am lost.

Thank you for reading.

Best regards

Hans

mylist.list.chroot (3,498 bytes)   
### packages we want to install
### kali packages to improve the system
# kali-linux-all
kali-linux-everything
kali-linux-large
kali-nethunter-full
kali-undercover
default-jre
task-laptop
task-german
task-german-desktop
console-data
isc-dhcp-client

# Special tools not in KALI-full
linux-exploit-suggester
forensics-full
kali-tools-802-11
kali-tools-bluetooth
kali-tools-crypto-stego
kali-tools-database
kali-tools-detect
kali-tools-exploitation
kali-tools-forensics
kali-tools-fuzzing
kali-tools-gpu
kali-tools-hardware
kali-tools-identify
kali-tools-information-gathering
kali-tools-passwords
kali-tools-post-exploitation
kali-tools-protect
kali-tools-recover
kali-tools-reporting
kali-tools-respond
kali-tools-reverse-engineering
kali-tools-rfid
kali-tools-sdr
kali-tools-sniffing-spoofing
kali-tools-social-engineering
kali-tools-voip
kali-tools-vulnerability
kali-tools-web
kali-tools-windows-resources
kali-tools-wireless
gvm
gvm-tools
parsero
shellnoob
teamsploit
veil
websploit
device-pharmer
libreoffice
arduino
eaphammer
fluxion
wifiphisher
wifipumpkin3
kde-config-gtk-style

### here you might want to add stuff for personal needs
adb
network-manager
network-manager-gnome
network-manager-strongswan
network-manager-l2tp-gnome
network-manager-openconnect-gnome
network-manager-openvpn-gnome
network-manager-pptp-gnome
network-manager-ssh
network-manager-ssh-gnome
network-manager-vpnc-gnome
firefox-esr
firefox-esr-l10n-de
claws-mail
claws-mail-plugins
claws-mail-extra-plugins
claws-mail-acpi-notifier
claws-mail-address-keeper
claws-mail-archiver-plugin
claws-mail-attach-remover
claws-mail-attach-warner
claws-mail-clamd-plugin
claws-mail-feeds-reader
claws-mail-fetchinfo-plugin
claws-mail-i18n
claws-mail-libravatar
claws-mail-mailmbox-plugin
claws-mail-multi-notifier
claws-mail-newmail-plugin
claws-mail-pdf-viewer
claws-mail-perl-filter
claws-mail-pgpinline
claws-mail-pgpmime
claws-mail-smime-plugin
claws-mail-spam-report
claws-mail-spamassassin
claws-mail-tnef-parser
claws-mail-vcalendar-plugin
armitage
lynx
mc
privoxy
etherape
alsa-utils
locales
remmina
remmina-common
remmina-plugin-exec
remmina-plugin-kiosk
remmina-plugin-kwallet
remmina-plugin-python
remmina-plugin-rdp
remmina-plugin-secret
remmina-plugin-spice
remmina-plugin-vnc
remmina-plugin-www
remmina-plugin-x2go
routersploit
aptitude
fancontrol
wodim
strace
wavemon
tmux
screen
cupp
kismet
kismet-plugins
gvm
gvm-tools
# spectools
clonezilla
maltego
maltego-teeth
lynis
aide
debsecan
debsums
fail2ban
tripwire
amap
bleachbit
ddrescueview
hardinfo2
synaptic
python3-impacket
e2fsprogs-l10n
filelight
# thunderbird
# thunderbird-l10n-de
# bluewho
# xdiskusage
# nvidia-legacy-340xx-driver
# apt-listbugs
# memtest86+


### packages from airgeddon
airgeddon
dsniff
beef-xss
asleap

# needed packages for airgeddon
xterm
sslstrip
bettercap
ccze
dnsmasq
hcxdumptool
mdk4
lighttpd
hcxtools
hostapd-wpe

### in case you want use airgeddon script
### hamster and ferret are already in the repo
hostapd
ipcalc
isc-dhcp-server


### Virtualisierung 
virtualbox
# virtualbox-ext-pack
virtualbox-guest-utils
virtualbox-guest-additions-iso
virtualbox-guest-x11
virtualbox-dkms
virt-manager
virt-p2v
vmdb2
aqemu
qemu-system

### EEEPC specials only i386
# eeepc-acpi-scripts


### this is for skype only. For version 4.3 and higher uncomment pulseaudio
### for my patched version 4.2.0.11-2 leave pulseaudio commented out.
# pulseaudio
# pavucontrol

### special purposes
apt-cacher-ng
live-build
cdebootstrap
bettercap-ui
mylist.list.chroot (3,498 bytes)   
DanSajeed

DanSajeed

2026-06-20 18:36

reporter   ~0021782

What if you clear broken packages and reinstall them in full?

vanguard

vanguard

2026-06-20 20:35

reporter   ~0021783

Maybe I did not declare things correctly. It is not the problem, to install a native installed kali and remove gdm3 afterwards.
I am speaking of a livebuild, where it is not possible, to avoid the installatiion of gdm3, because it is a dependency of some other package.

What I could do, is to edit the resulted squashfs file, so that lightdm is started. This means, unpack the squashfs file, edit it, then repack it and at last put it back into the iso-image.

Much effort, and I think it is easier, to configure the build in a way, that lightdm is started by default instead of gdm3.

Workaround at the moment: Boot the image, switch to another console (CTL + F2), then stop gdm3, and start lightdm. Anoying, but works.

Best

Hans

kali-bugreport

kali-bugreport

2026-06-21 13:22

reporter   ~0021785

Is the switch/issue from lightdm to gdm3 originating from Kali and thus could be discussed here or inherited from Debian and thus would need to be discussed with Debian instead?

vanguard

vanguard

2026-06-21 13:41

reporter   ~0021786

This I can not say.
At the moment I am trying a new thing: In "config/hooks/live/debloat*" I added a line "apt --purge -y remove gdm3", which shall (I hope) deinstall gdm3. As the build is still running on my system (which is not
so very fast), I will have to wait for the results.

In a few hours I will know more.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
2026-06-18 18:08 vanguard New Issue
2026-06-19 07:36 vanguard Note Added: 0021777
2026-06-20 17:42 vanguard Note Added: 0021781
2026-06-20 17:42 vanguard File Added: mylist.list.chroot
2026-06-20 18:36 DanSajeed Note Added: 0021782
2026-06-20 20:35 vanguard Note Added: 0021783
2026-06-21 13:22 kali-bugreport Note Added: 0021785
2026-06-21 13:41 vanguard Note Added: 0021786