🛠️ Hashcat

Installation

sudo apt update
sudo apt install hashcat

Usage

Used for cracking hashes, passwords using dictionary attacks

Common Flags

Flag	Name	Description
-m	Hash type	What kind of hash we’re attacking
-a	Attack mode	The type of attack mode to use. More at Hashcat
-o	Output	Save the output to a file
--status	Status	Automatically update the screen with progress
-r	Rules	Applies a rule file (e.g. best64.rule) to mutate the wordlist
--show	Show	Displays the cracked password
--i	Increment	Used in Mask attack (-a 3) to try shorter passwords before longer ones

Attack modes

Straight Attack (-a 0) Read the a line from the provided wordlist and hashes it.

hashcat -a 0 -m 0 hash.txt /usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt

Combination Attack (-a 1) Hashcat takes two wordlists and combines every word from the first with every word from the second.

hashcat -a 1 -m 1000 hashes.txt seasons.txt cities.txt

Mask Attack (-a 3) Instead of a wordlist, you define a pattern (a “mask”). This is much faster than traditional brute force because you can skip combinations that don’t make sense.

• Placeholders:

  • ?u = Uppercase, ?l = Lowercase, ?d = Digit, ?s = Special

• Example Mask: ?u?l?l?l?d?d (e.g., Pass12)

• Best for: When you know the password policy (e.g., “Must be 8 characters, start with a capital”).

hashcat -a 3 -m 1000 hashes.txt ?u?l?l?l?d?d

Hybrid Attack (-a 6 and -a 7) This combines a wordlist with a mask. It’s incredibly effective for catching users who just add a year or a symbol to the end of a normal word.

• -a 6 (Wordlist + Mask): rockyou.txt + ?d?d?d (e.g., password123)

• -a 7 (Mask + Wordlist): ?s + rockyou.txt (e.g., !password)

• Best for: Cracking “complex” passwords that follow predictable human behavior. Maybe something like a flag, or token handcrafted.

hashcat -a 6 -m 1000 hashes.txt rockyou.txt ?d?d?d

Tips & Tricks

Used when not sure what is the type of the hash

hashcat hash.txt

Related Usage

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FROM "05 - Content" 
WHERE contains(tools, this.file.link) AND contains(tags, "🚩") 
SORT file.name ASC