Skip to content
SecArsenal
Educational and ethical use only. Only test systems you own or are explicitly authorized to test. Full disclaimer.

chkrootkit

Rootkit detector

forensicsBlue Team
Official docs ↗Download ↗Source repo ↗

Platforms: Linux · Last verified September 6, 2026

The chkrootkit security scanner searches for signs that the system is infected with a ‘rootkit’. Rootkits are a form of malware that seek to exploit security flaws to grant unauthorised access to a computer or its services, generally for malicious purposes.

Only use this tool against systems you own or are explicitly authorized to test — see the disclaimer.

Getting started

See the official Kali tool page and upstream homepage linked above for installation and usage details.

Commonly preinstalled on

Kali Linux

Debian-based distribution built for penetration testing and security auditing