What is John the Ripper?

John the Ripper is a popular password cracking tool used in the field of penetration testing and cybersecurity. In this blog, we will guide you through the process of installing and using John the Ripper on Kali Linux.

Step 1: Update the system Before we begin, make sure that your Kali Linux system is up-to-date. To update, run the following command in the terminal:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Step 2: Install John the Ripper To install John the Ripper, run the following command in the terminal:

sudo apt install john

Step 3: Crack password hash John the Ripper works by taking a password hash and comparing it to a list of known passwords. To crack a password hash, you need to provide John the Ripper with the hash and a wordlist.

Step 4: Generate password hash To generate a password hash, you can use the tool “mkpasswd”. For example, to generate a hash for the password “password”, run the following command in the terminal:

mkpasswd –m SHA-512 password

Step 5: Save the hash Save the generated hash to a file, for example “hash.txt”.

Step 6: Use John the Ripper To use John the Ripper, run the following command in the terminal:

john –wordlist=/usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt hash.txt

Replace “/usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt” with the path to your wordlist.

Step 7: Check the results To check the results, run the following command in the terminal:

john –show hash.txt

John the Ripper should show you the cracked password.

In conclusion, John the Ripper is a powerful password cracking tool that can be easily installed and used on Kali Linux. By following the steps outlined in this blog, you should be able to use John the Ripper to crack passwords with ease.