Lab Guide

Installation Instructions

Choose the installation method for your operating system:

macOS

# Using Homebrew
brew install hashcat

# Verify installation
hashcat --version

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

# Using apt
sudo apt update
sudo apt install hashcat

# Verify installation
hashcat --version

Linux (Arch)

# Using pacman
sudo pacman -S hashcat

# Verify installation
hashcat --version

Windows

1. Download the latest release from https://hashcat.net/hashcat/
2. Extract the archive to a folder (e.g., C:\hashcat)
3. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell
4. Navigate to the folder: cd C:\hashcat
5. Run: hashcat.exe --version

✓ Check: Running hashcat --version prints a version number (e.g., v6.2.6).

Step 2.1 — Check Available Devices

The -I flag displays information about compute devices detected by Hashcat (CPUs, GPUs, etc.):

hashcat -I

You should see output listing your available devices. Example:

hashcat (v6.2.6) starting in backend information mode

OpenCL Info:
============

OpenCL Platform ID #1
  Vendor..: Apple
  Name....: Apple
  Version.: OpenCL 1.2

  Backend Device ID #1
    Type...........: GPU
    Vendor.ID......: 32
    Vendor.........: Apple
    Name...........: Apple M1
    ...

✓ Check: At least one compute device is listed. If no GPU is detected, Hashcat will fall back to CPU mode.

Step 2.2 — View Help

The --help flag displays the full list of options, attack modes, and hash types:

hashcat --help

This produces extensive output. Take note of these key sections:

• Attack Modes — the different -a options (0 = dictionary, 3 = mask, etc.)
• Hash Types — the full list of -m values and their corresponding hash algorithms
• Output Options — flags for controlling where and how results are saved

✓ Check: You can identify the -m value for MD5 (it is 0).

Goal

Perform a dictionary attack on a known MD5 hash to verify that your Hashcat installation works correctly.

Step 3.1 — Create the Hash File

Create a file called hashes.txt containing the MD5 hash of the word "password":

echo "5f4dcc3b5aa765d61d8327deb882cf99" > hashes.txt

Step 3.2 — Create a Simple Wordlist

Create a small dictionary file called example.dict with a few common passwords:

cat <<EOF > example.dict
123456
password
12345678
qwerty
abc123
monkey
master
dragon
letmein
football
EOF

Step 3.3 — Run the Dictionary Attack

Execute the following command to crack the hash:

hashcat -m 0 -a 0 -o cracked.txt hashes.txt example.dict

Let's break down each part of this command:

Part	Meaning
hashcat	The Hashcat executable
-m 0	Hash type: MD5 (mode 0)
-a 0	Attack mode: Dictionary (mode 0)
-o cracked.txt	Write recovered passwords to this file
hashes.txt	Input file containing target hashes
example.dict	Wordlist file to use for the attack

Step 3.4 — Verify the Results

Check the output file to see the cracked password:

cat cracked.txt

Expected output:

5f4dcc3b5aa765d61d8327deb882cf99:password

The format is hash:plaintext, showing that the hash 5f4dcc3b... corresponds to the password "password".

✓ Check: The file cracked.txt contains 5f4dcc3b5aa765d61d8327deb882cf99:password.