Hashcat Explained

Hashcat
Developer:Jens 'atom' Steube, Gabriele 'matrix' Gristina
Latest Release Version:6.2.6
Operating System:Cross-platform
Genre:Password cracking
License:MIT License

Hashcat is a password recovery tool. It had a proprietary code base until 2015, but was then released as open source software. Versions are available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Examples of hashcat-supported hashing algorithms are LM hashes, MD4, MD5, SHA-family and Unix Crypt formats as well as algorithms used in MySQL and Cisco PIX.

Hashcat has received publicity because it is partly based on flaws in other software discovered by the creator of hashcat. An example was a flaw in 1Password's password manager hashing scheme.[1] It has also been compared to similar software in a Usenix publication[2] and been described on Ars technica.[3]

Variants

Previously, two variants of hashcat existed:

With the release of hashcat v3.00, the GPU and CPU tools were merged into a single tool called hashcat. The CPU-only version became hashcat-legacy.[4] Both CPU and GPU now require OpenCL.

Many of the algorithms supported by hashcat-legacy (such as MD5, SHA1, and others) can be cracked in a shorter time with the GPU-based hashcat.[5] However, not all algorithms can be accelerated by GPUs. Bcrypt is an example of this. Due to factors such as data-dependent branching, serialization, and memory (and more), oclHashcat/cudaHashcat weren't catchall replacements for hashcat-legacy.

hashcat-legacy is available for Linux, OSX and Windows.hashcat is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux with GPU, CPU and generic OpenCL support which allows for FPGAs and other accelerator cards.

Sample output

$ hashcat -d 2 -a 0 -m 400 -O -w 4 example400.hash example.dict

hashcat (v5.1.0) starting...

OpenCL Platform #1: Intel(R) Corporation

OpenCL Platform #2: NVIDIA Corporation

Hashes: 1 digests; 1 unique digests, 1 unique saltsBitmaps: 16 bits, 65536 entries, 0x0000ffff mask, 262144 bytes, 5/13 rotatesRules: 1

Applicable optimizers:

Minimum password length supported by kernel: 0Maximum password length supported by kernel: 55

Watchdog: Temperature abort trigger set to 90c

Dictionary cache hit:

The wordlist or mask that you are using is too small.This means that hashcat cannot use the full parallel power of your device(s).Unless you supply more work, your cracking speed will drop.For tips on supplying more work, see: https://hashcat.net/faq/morework

Approaching final keyspace - workload adjusted.

$H$9y5boZ2wsUlgl2tI6b5PrRoADzYfXD1:hash234 Session..........: hashcatStatus...........: CrackedHash.Type........: phpass, WordPress (MD5), phpBB3 (MD5), Joomla (MD5)Hash.Target......: $H$9y5boZ2wsUlgl2tI6b5PrRoADzYfXD1Time.Started.....: Thu Apr 25 05:10:35 2019 (0 secs)Time.Estimated...: Thu Apr 25 05:10:35 2019 (0 secs)Guess.Base.......: File (example.dict)Guess.Queue......: 1/1 (100.00%)Speed.#2.........: 2654.9 kH/s (22.24ms) @ Accel:128 Loops:1024 Thr:1024 Vec:1Recovered........: 1/1 (100.00%) Digests, 1/1 (100.00%) SaltsProgress.........: 128416/128416 (100.00%)Rejected.........: 0/128416 (0.00%)Restore.Point....: 0/128416 (0.00%)Restore.Sub.#2...: Salt:0 Amplifier:0-1 Iteration:1024-2048Candidates.#2....: 0 -> zzzzzzzzzzzHardware.Mon.#2..: Temp: 44c Fan: 40% Util: 50% Core:1265MHz Mem:3004MHz Bus:8

Started: Thu Apr 25 05:10:32 2019Stopped: Thu Apr 25 05:10:37 2019

Attack types

Hashcat offers multiple attack modes for obtaining effective and complex coverage over a hash's keyspace. These modes are:

The traditional bruteforce attack is considered outdated, and the Hashcat core team recommends the Mask-Attack as a full replacement.

Competitions

Team Hashcat[8] (the official team of the Hashcat software composed of core Hashcat members) won first place in the KoreLogic "Crack Me If you Can" Competitions at DefCon in 2010,[9] 2012, 2014,[10] 2015,[11] and 2018, and at DerbyCon in 2017.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: On hashcat and strong Master Passwords as your best protection . Passwords. Agile Bits. 2013-04-16.
  2. Ur. Blase. 2015-08-12. Measuring Real-World Accuracies and Biases in Modeling Password Guessability. Proceedings of the 24th USENIX Security Symposium.
  3. Web site: Goodin. Dan. 2013-08-26. "thereisnofatebutwhatwemake" - Turbo-charged cracking comes to long passwords. 2020-07-21. Ars Technica. en-us.
  4. Web site: hashcat v3.00. Hashcat. Hashcat project. 2016-06-29.
  5. Web site: Recent Developments in Password Cracking . Passwords. Bruce Schneier. 2012-09-19.
  6. Web site: Hashcat [hashcat wiki].
  7. Web site: PRINCE: modern password guessing algorithm . Hashcat site. Hashcat. 2014-12-08.
  8. https://github.com/hashcat/team-hashcat Team Hashcat
  9. Web site: "Crack Me If You Can" - DEFCON 2010. 2020-07-21. contest-2010.korelogic.com.
  10. Web site: Crack Me If You Can 2014 Contest. KoreLogic Security.
  11. Web site: Another trophy in the Pocket! Win @ CMIYC contest 2015. 2020-07-21. hashcat.net.