Splitting brute force keyspace
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- Dominant language
- C
- Stars
- 13.6k
- Forks
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Description
I have small feature request (unless it's already implemented?). I use both john and hashcat in custom solution for distributing password cracking. I have pretty good results (all nodes finish with similar ETA) by splitting dictionary by number of lines (as a percentage of nodes computational power). However I have an issue while splitting keyspace in brute attack. Itried using simple letters (for example one node a-k and other l-z) but it's pretty hard to implement and often unreliable. I noticed hashcat has some options for splitting the keyspace itself. It would be nice to have something like that in john. Relevant link:
https://hashcat.net/forum/thread-3386.html
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by reviewing the existing John the Ripper distribution options and the linked hashcat forum discussion about keyspace splitting. The issue names no files, tests, or entry points; done would require a defined, reliable way to divide brute-force keyspace across nodes and project-specific validation of that behavior.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- c
- Domain
- distributed-systems, security
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100