akabulous/so_you_want_to_build_a_nethunter_kernelStep-by-step guide to building custom Kali NetHunter kernels for Android: source retrieval, toolchain selection, cross-compilation, and flashing.
The biggest hurdle for most people who want to set up a Nethunter device is the kernel requirement. Unless your device already has a prebuilt (and maintained) kernel, then you will be told to build one yourself. There is a lot of documentation on this process already, but in my experience it can be difficult to know what applies in your case and what does not.
This problem is confounded by assholes people who write guides with clickbait-y titles like “Build a Nethunter kernel for ANY Android device!” or with false promises like “Learn how to compile a Nethunter kernel in ten minutes!” It is also an unfortunate reality of the internet in 2025 that many idiots people think that ChatGPT or other large language models have authoritative answers to their questions, when all that those models really have is information they scraped from the aforementioned assholes.
I am writing this guide as thoroughly and honestly as I possibly can. It is not intended to be the only document that you will need to read for this process, however – surely you will have questions that this document cannot answer. I would like to encourage you to search for answers to these questions in the relevant software documentation, and NOT on YouTube or from ChatGPT.
Before you begin ANY of this process, you should have ALREADY:
apt update && apt upgrade -y (optional: added metapackages)In order to complete this process, you will need:
cd, rm, ls, mkdir, find, diff, grep, etc)vim for the cool kids, otherwise nano)build-devel on Arch-based distros, build-essential on Debian based) – I would also recommend you install Perl + Python3 as some kernel makefiles require theseIs this going to be possible for my device?
The Linux kernel is licensed under the GNU General Public License 2.0, which is a copyleft license. This means that the source code for the Linux kernel is freely distributed and you may alter the source code as you wish (as each Android manufacturer has done), HOWEVER, your resulting source code must ALSO be distributed freely.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, many of the gigantic corporations who use GPL-licensed code flaunt the terms of this license. They either refuse to distribute their source code or only release part of it (usually broken, outdated, and with inline binary blobs). If there is no source code available for the kernel for your device, then there is no way to create a Nethunter kernel for it.
Your ability to unlock the bootloader and install a custom ROM also depends greatly on the whims of your device manufacturer. Even if they allow unlocking the bootloader and you have been able to root your phone with Magisk, if they do not publish device trees, there are likely no custom ROMs for your device. In this case, it is extremely doubtful that the kernel source code they published (if any) has received any maintenance since its release, or that it will build even without modifications. If you do not see anyone else maintaining anything (kernels, ROMs, recoveries) for your device, then it will be difficult, if not impossible for you to turn that device into a full Nethunter.
A Note On Kernel Versions
Let us imagine that there are regularly updated and maintained custom ROMs/kernels/recoveries for your device, but simply no Nethunter kernel. In this case, you should be able to complete this process, but the process will vary depending on which version of the Linux kernel your device uses.
The information in this guide is based on my experience modifying 4.14.x kernels. There are older guides written that talk about using GCC toolchains (instead of LLVM/clang, as we will be using) that apply to 3.x kernels. If your device uses a 5.x/6.x version of the Linux kernel, then the information in this guide will not be sufficient to complete this process. The Android build method changes all the time, and you should look for a guide that covers GKI kernels and the use of Bazel/Kleaf.
A good way to find repos containing the kernel source for your device is to use its codename. Every Android has one, although some manufacturers (i.e. OnePlus) have a bit more fun with this than others (i.e. Samsung). The codename for my Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC is "surya", whereas the codename for my Samsung A51 is "SM-A515F". Typically, kernel source repos follow the naming convention
android_kernel_MANUFACTURER_CODENAME
where the manufacturer is the parent company, i.e. android_kernel_xiaomi_surya, not android_kernel_poco_surya.
However, there may also be repos based around the SoC (system-on-a-chip) for your device, sometimes “unified” to include source files for other devices with the same SoC. This is the case for the Samsung I mentioned, whose source repo is called android_kernel_samsung_exynos9611. Have a look through github/gitlab and see what you can find.
For the purposes of this guide, I will be using the latest LineageOS 22.2 (built 2025-08-04) on surya, therefore, I will want to clone the kernel source from the LineageOS repo. But before I do that, I want to copy two files from my device to the computer I will be using to build the kernel: /proc/config.gz and /proc/version.
I could copy the first file, /proc/config.gz, to /sdcard, pull it from the device with ADB, gunzip it, and rename it. But that seems like a lot of steps, so what I did instead was this:
Then, on the device itself, I ran (as root)
What’s happening here?