Password Cracking

⚠️ Authorized testing only. Everything here is for use only against systems you own or have explicit written permission to test — home labs, CTFs, and authorized engagements. Unauthorized access is illegal. See Rules of Engagement and Authorization.

Recovering plaintext from captured hashes — useful for cracking dumped credentials in a lab or CTF.

#Identify the hash

hashid '$2y$10$...'        # guess the type
hashcat --help | grep -i bcrypt   # find the mode number

#hashcat

# mode (-m), attack (-a 0 = wordlist)
hashcat -m 0 -a 0 hashes.txt rockyou.txt              # MD5
hashcat -m 1800 -a 0 hashes.txt rockyou.txt -r rules/best64.rule   # sha512crypt + rules
hashcat -m 22000 -a 0 wifi.hc22000 rockyou.txt        # WPA (see Wi-Fi Testing)

#John the Ripper

john --format=NT --wordlist=rockyou.txt hashes.txt
john --show hashes.txt

Tip: wordlist + rules beats brute force. rockyou.txt, SecLists, and custom lists from OSINT (company words) crack most lab hashes. Wi-Fi handshakes: Wi-Fi Security Testing.