COMP 8005 A3-A4 Java Password Cracking Tool

This Java project is designed to test common password cracking techniques on a shadow password file. The tool implements dictionary and brute-force attacks to find the password for a given username, using various utilities to process password hashes and compare them.

Features

• Dictionary Attack: Attempts to find the password by comparing hashed values from a list of common passwords.
• Brute-Force Attack: Attempts all possible combinations of characters to break the password.
• Password Hash Comparison: Compares the provided hash with the hash generated from guessed passwords.
• Shadow File Parsing: Reads the shadow file to retrieve password hash and salt for the given username.

Dependencies

The project requires the following libraries:

• commons-codec-1.17.1.jar - For handling various encoding mechanisms, including password hashing.
• logback-classic-1.5.11.jar - Logging framework for logging messages.
• logback-core-1.5.11.jar - Core library for Logback.
• password4j-1.8.2.jar - For performing cryptographic hashing and password comparison.
• slf4j-api-2.0.16.jar - Simple Logging Facade for Java, used by Logback.

You can find these dependencies in the lib/libs folder.

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/AgamMS10/COMP8005_A3-A4.git

2. Compile the project using a Java build tool or manually:

   javac -cp "lib/libs/*:src" -d bin src/**/*.java

3. Run the project:

   java -cp "bin:lib/libs/*" App

Usage

1. Run the application, and provide the following inputs:

   • Username (to search in the shadow file)
   • Path to the shadow file (default: src/shadow)
   • Path to the password list file (default: lib/common_passwords.txt)

2. The tool will attempt to crack the password using dictionary and brute-force methods.

Directory Structure

|-- src
|   |-- utils
|   |   |-- PasswordListLoader.java
|   |   |-- ShadowParser.java
|   |   |-- DictionaryAttack.java
|   |   |-- HashComparer.java
|   |   `-- BruteForce.java
|   |-- App.java
|   `-- shadow
`-- lib
    |-- common_passwords.txt
    `-- libs
        |-- commons-codec-1.17.1.jar
        |-- logback-classic-1.5.11.jar
        |-- logback-core-1.5.11.jar
        |-- password4j-1.8.2.jar
        `-- slf4j-api-2.0.16.jar

License

License ?