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GSEC · Question #343

Use Hashcat to crack a local shadow file. What Is the password for the user account AGainsboro? - The shadow file (shadow) and Hashcat wordlist (gsecwordlist.txt) are located in the directory.home…

The correct answer is D. Noregrets2. Hashcat in straight mode (-a 0) with MD5crypt (-m 500) cracks the shadow file hashes; matching the output to AGainsboro's entry yields Noregrets2.

Linux and Cryptography

Question

Use Hashcat to crack a local shadow file. What Is the password for the user account AGainsboro?

  • The shadow file (shadow) and Hashcat wordlist (gsecwordlist.txt) are located in the

directory.home giac PasswordHashing

  • Run Hashcat in straight mod* (flag -a 0) to crack the MD5 hashes (flag -m 500) in the shadow

file.

  • Use the hash values from the Hashcat output file and the shadow file to match the cracked

password with the user name.

  • If required, a backup copy of the original files can be found in the shadowbackup directory.

Options

  • AJ3@nGr3y
  • BWwBoj25tT7
  • CMsconfiG35
  • DNoregrets2
  • EHowAreWeToday?19
  • FPrometheus
  • G6dWalking8
  • HIM-O-O-NI
  • Iyoshiro392
  • JMEWRULES

How the community answered

(28 responses)
  • B
    7% (2)
  • D
    79% (22)
  • G
    4% (1)
  • J
    11% (3)

Why each option

Hashcat in straight mode (-a 0) with MD5crypt (-m 500) cracks the shadow file hashes; matching the output to AGainsboro's entry yields Noregrets2.

AJ3@nGr3y

J3@nGr3y is the cracked password for a different user account in this shadow file instance.

BWwBoj25tT7

WwBoj25tT7 corresponds to the hash of a different username entry in the shadow file.

CMsconfiG35

MsconfiG35 is the cracked result for a different account, not AGainsboro.

DNoregrets2Correct

Running 'hashcat -a 0 -m 500 shadow gsecwordlist.txt' iterates the wordlist against each $1$ hash in the shadow file; the hash linked to the AGainsboro account decrypts to Noregrets2. Cross-referencing the Hashcat output file with the original shadow file by hash value confirms Noregrets2 belongs to AGainsboro.

EHowAreWeToday?19

HowAreWeToday?19 is the cracked password belonging to a different user in this shadow file.

FPrometheus

Prometheus corresponds to a different account's MD5crypt hash in the shadow file.

G6dWalking8

6dWalking8 is the cracked password for a different username in the shadow file.

HIM-O-O-NI

IM-O-O-NI is the cracked result for a different account, not AGainsboro.

Iyoshiro392

yoshiro392 is the cracked password for a different user account in the shadow file.

JMEWRULES

MEWRULES corresponds to a different user's hash in the shadow file, not AGainsboro.

Concept tested: Hashcat dictionary attack on MD5crypt shadow hashes

Source: https://hashcat.net/wiki/doku.php?id=hashcat

Topics

#Hashcat#password cracking#MD5#shadow file

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