hashcat

Run a dictionary attack on MD5 hashes

$ hashcat -m 0 -a 0 [hashes.txt] [wordlist.txt]

$ hashcat -m 1400 -a 0 -o [cracked.txt] [hashes.txt] [wordlist.txt]

$ hashcat -m 0 -a 3 [hashes.txt] '?l?l?l?l?l?l?l?l'

$ hashcat -b

$ hashcat -m 0 --show [hashes.txt]

$ hashcat -m 3200 -a 0 -D 2 [hashes.txt] [wordlist.txt]

$ hashcat --restore

$ hashcat -m 1000 -a 0 -r [rules/best64.rule] [hashes.txt] [wordlist.txt]

hashcat [options] hashfile [dictionary|mask]
hashcat -m hashtype -a attackmode [options] hashfile wordlist

hashcat is a high-performance password recovery tool that uses CPU, GPU, and other hardware accelerators to crack hashed passwords. It supports over 300 hash types including MD5, SHA-family, bcrypt, WPA, and many application-specific formats.
The tool offers multiple attack modes: dictionary attacks use wordlists, brute-force uses masks to generate candidates, combinator joins words from multiple dictionaries, and hybrid modes combine approaches. Rules can transform dictionary words to match common password patterns.
Hashcat maintains a potfile storing cracked hashes to avoid redundant work. Sessions can be paused and restored. The tool automatically optimizes for available hardware and supports distributed cracking across multiple machines.

-m, --hash-type NUM

Hash type (0=MD5, 1000=NTLM, 1400=SHA256, 1800=SHA512crypt, 3200=bcrypt)

Attack mode (0=dictionary, 1=combinator, 3=brute-force, 6=hybrid, 7=hybrid)

Output file for recovered passwords

Rule file for word mangling

Device types (1=CPU, 2=GPU, 3=FPGA)

Workload profile (1=low, 2=default, 3=high, 4=nightmare)

Run benchmark on all hash types

Show cracked passwords from potfile

Remove hashes from file once cracked

Restore previous session

Name session for restore capability

Enable automatic status updates

Abort after specified seconds

Define custom character sets for masks

Enable mask increment mode

Start mask length for increment

Stop mask length for increment

Show help message

Show version

?l

Lowercase letters (a-z)

Uppercase letters (A-Z)

Digits (0-9)

Special characters

All printable characters (?l?u?d?s)

Binary (0x00-0xff)

Password cracking is CPU/GPU intensive and generates significant heat. Only use on systems you own or have explicit authorization to test. Large wordlists and complex attacks may run for days or weeks. GPU drivers must be properly installed for hardware acceleration. Some hash types (bcrypt, scrypt) are intentionally slow to crack.

Hashcat was created by Jens Steube (atom) with the first version released in 2009. Originally closed-source, it became open-source in December 2015. The project evolved from CPU-only (hashcat-legacy) to GPU-accelerated (oclHashcat) and eventually unified as hashcat supporting multiple platforms. It became the world's fastest password recovery tool, pioneering techniques like rule-based attacks and optimized GPU kernels.

john(1), hydra(1), ophcrack(1), aircrack-ng(1)