rar2john
Extract password hashes from RAR archives
TLDR
Extract hash from RAR file
SYNOPSIS
rar2john file...
DESCRIPTION
rar2john extracts password hashes from encrypted RAR archives into a format suitable for offline password recovery with John the Ripper or Hashcat. It reads the archive's encryption metadata and outputs a hash string containing the cryptographic parameters needed to verify password guesses without repeatedly accessing the original archive file.
The tool supports both RAR3 and RAR5 encryption formats, which use different key derivation algorithms. Multiple archives can be processed in a single invocation, with each hash line prefixed by the source filename. It is part of the John the Ripper jumbo suite and is typically used in authorized security auditing and password recovery scenarios.
EXAMPLES
rar2john encrypted.rar > rar.hash
# Crack with wordlist
john --wordlist=/usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt rar.hash
# Show cracked password
john --show rar.hash
# Use hashcat instead
rar2john archive.rar | cut -d: -f2 > hash.txt
hashcat -m 13000 hash.txt wordlist.txt
HASH FORMAT
RAR VERSIONS
RAR5 - Modern format, stronger encryption
CAVEATS
Part of John the Ripper jumbo. Strong passwords may take very long. Use legally and ethically.
HISTORY
rar2john is part of John the Ripper by Solar Designer and the Openwall community, providing RAR hash extraction.