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run-kali.sh is the single entry point for launching the Kali Portable container. It accepts one argument — normal or wpa2 — which determines the privilege level, hardware access, and intended workload of the resulting Docker container. Both modes share a common base of network capabilities, volume mounts, and optional GPU acceleration; the difference is that wpa2 appends --privileged so tools like hcxdumptool can reach raw USB WiFi hardware.

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Normal Mode

Normal mode is the default. If you run ./run-kali.sh with no argument it resolves to normal. This mode gives you everything needed for web exploitation, network scanning, Active Directory attacks, and GUI tools like Burp Suite and Wireshark — without the security risks of a fully privileged container. 
./run-kali.sh normal
Normal mode is the recommended default for any engagement that does not require live WiFi packet injection. It still has full network host access and raw packet capabilities via --cap-add.

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Docker flags used

FlagPurpose
--network hostContainer shares the host network stack — no NAT, real interface names
--cap-add NET_RAWAllows raw socket operations (nmap, tcpdump, Wireshark)
--cap-add NET_ADMINAllows network configuration changes inside the container
--gpus allGPU passthrough for Hashcat (added only if NVIDIA is detected)
--rmContainer is removed automatically on exit
-itInteractive terminal

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Volume mounts

Host pathContainer pathMode
./data/root/pentestread-write
./scripts/root/pentest/scriptsread-only
/usr/share/wordlists/host-wordlistsread-only
/tmp/.X11-unix/tmp/.X11-unixread-write (X11)
The ./data directory is created automatically with the following subdirectory structure if it does not already exist: 
data/
├── scripts/
├── wordlists/
├── loot/
├── reports/
├── tools/
├── handshakes/
└── pcaps/

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WPA2 Mode

WPA2 mode adds --privileged to the Docker command. This flag removes all container isolation from the Linux kernel and is required by hcxdumptool, which needs direct access to the USB WiFi adapter’s kernel driver in order to perform active packet injection and handshake capture. 
./run-kali.sh wpa2
--privileged grants the container nearly the same access as root on the host. Only use WPA2 mode when you have a USB WiFi adapter physically connected and you are performing an authorized audit. Never run this mode on a shared or untrusted machine.

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What changes in WPA2 mode

The script appends --privileged to the base command before the image name: 
# Effective docker command in wpa2 mode (GPU example)
docker run --rm -it \
  --network host \
  --cap-add NET_RAW \
  --cap-add NET_ADMIN \
  --gpus all \
  -e DISPLAY=${DISPLAY} \
  -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
  -v ./data:/root/pentest \
  -v ./scripts:/root/pentest/scripts:ro \
  -v /usr/share/wordlists:/host-wordlists:ro \
  --privileged \
  kali-pentest-full
All volume mounts and environment variables are identical to normal mode — only --privileged is added.

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GPU Auto-Detection

Before building the Docker command, run-kali.sh probes for an NVIDIA GPU using two checks in sequence:
1

Check for nvidia-smi on the host

The script calls command -v nvidia-smi. If the binary is not found in PATH, GPU support is skipped.
2

Run a test container with --gpus all

If nvidia-smi exists, the script runs a lightweight test:
docker run --rm --gpus all nvidia/cuda:12.3.1-base-ubuntu22.04 nvidia-smi
This confirms that the NVIDIA Container Toolkit is correctly configured and Docker can actually pass the GPU through.
3

Set the GPU flag

  • GPU found: GPU_FLAG="--gpus all" → Hashcat runs in GPU mode (-D 2)
  • GPU not found: GPU_FLAG="" → Hashcat falls back to CPU mode (-D 1)
If you have an NVIDIA GPU but the detection fails, make sure the NVIDIA Container Toolkit is installed and Docker has been restarted:
sudo nvidia-ctk runtime configure --runtime=docker
sudo systemctl restart docker

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X11 Forwarding

Before launching the container, the script enables X11 forwarding so GUI applications (Burp Suite, Wireshark) can open windows on the host display: 
xhost +local:docker 2>/dev/null || xhost +local: >/dev/null 2>&1
The container receives the host DISPLAY variable and the X11 socket volume mount: 
-e DISPLAY=${DISPLAY}
-v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix
On exit, the script revokes the permission: 
xhost -local:docker 2>/dev/null || true

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Environment Variables Inside the Container

The following environment variables are set by the scripts running inside the container:
VariablePath
LOOT_DIR/root/pentest/loot
RULES_DIR/root/pentest/rules
WORDLISTS_DIR/root/pentest/wordlists
These paths map to subdirectories of the ./data volume mount, so everything written there persists on your host machine between container runs.

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Full Command Reference

# Launch in normal mode (default)
./run-kali.sh normal

# Launch in WPA2 mode (requires USB WiFi adapter)
./run-kali.sh wpa2

# Equivalent — normal mode is the default when no argument is given
./run-kali.sh

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