If you’ve ever looked at a Cisco router configuration, you’ve likely seen a line starting with enable secret 5 . This "Type 5" designation indicates that the password is obfuscated using a hashing algorithm, specifically .
If a dictionary attack fails, you can switch to a brute‑force or mask attack. For example, using Hashcat with a mask that tries all 8‑character combinations of lowercase letters and digits: hashcat -m 500 -a 3 target_hash.txt ?l?l?l?l?l?l?l?l . This type of attack is exhaustive and will eventually find the password, but the time required grows exponentially with password length.
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It applies the exact same salt found in your configuration string. It runs the guess through the MD5 algorithm. It compares the output to your target hash. If the outputs match, the tool reveals the guessed word. 3. Vulnerability Status of Type 5 Hashes cisco secret 5 password decrypt
def __init__(self): # Demo cache (real tool would use large DB) self.demo_cache = "$1$cisco$SJ5x7k9LxPq9xM3lq9xM/.": "cisco123", "$1$admin$3XJ5k9LxPq9xM3lq9xM/.": "admin123", "$1$secret$VJ5x7k9LxPq9xM3lq9xM/.": "secretpass",
Cisco introduced Type 5 passwords to replace the highly insecure Type 7 obfuscation method. While Type 7 uses a basic Vigenère cipher that can be instantly reversed, Type 5 relies on a modified version of the .
cracker = CiscoType5Cracker(args.hash, args.wordlist) print(f"[+] Salt: cracker.hash_info['salt']") print(f"[+] Hash: cracker.hash_info['hash']") If you’ve ever looked at a Cisco router
R1(config)# enable algorithm-type scrypt secret MyP@ssw0rd2024 R1(config)# username admin algorithm-type scrypt secret MyP@ssw0rd2024
: The resulting Base64-encoded string after running the salted password through the MD5 algorithm 1,000 times. Understand Cisco IOS Password Encryption
$1$m salt$hash_value
A tool takes a guess (like "p@ssword123"), runs it through the same MD5 hashing algorithm, and compares the result to the hash in your config.
To force your Cisco device to use modern hashing instead of Type 5, apply the following configuration commands globally:
Limit who can run show running-config and ensure your TFTP/SCP backup servers are hardened. For example, using Hashcat with a mask that
Decrypting a "Type 5" Cisco password is a common point of confusion for network administrators. Unlike passwords, which are weakly encrypted and easily reversed, Type 5 passwords are not encrypted at all—they are hashed.