Cain and Abel (often abbreviated to Cain) was a password recovery tool for
Microsoft Windows. It could recover many kinds of passwords using methods such as network packet sniffing, cracking various password hashes by using methods such as dictionary attacks, brute force and cryptanalysis attacks.
Cryptanalysis attacks were done via
rainbow table
A rainbow table is an efficient way to store data that has been computed in advance to facilitate cracking passwords. To protect stored passwords from compromise in case of a data breach, organizations avoid storing them directly, instead transfo ...
s which could be generated with the winrtgen.exe program provided with Cain and Abel.
Cain and Abel was maintained by Massimiliano Montoro and Sean Babcock.
Features
*
WEP cracking
* Speeding up packet capture speed by
wireless packet injection
* Ability to record
VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Interne ...
conversations
* Decoding scrambled passwords
* Calculating
hashes
*
Traceroute
In computing, traceroute and tracert are computer network diagnostic commands for displaying possible routes (paths) and measuring transit delays of packets across an Internet Protocol (IP) network. The history of the route is recorded as the ...
* Revealing password boxes
* Uncovering cached passwords
* Dumping protected storage passwords
*
ARP spoofing
In computer networking, ARP spoofing, ARP cache poisoning, or ARP poison routing, is a technique by which an attacker sends ( spoofed) Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) messages onto a local area network. Generally, the aim is to associate the ...
*
IP to
MAC Address
A media access control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier assigned to a network interface controller (NIC) for use as a network address in communications within a network segment. This use is common in most IEEE 802 networking tec ...
resolver
* Network
Password
A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...
Sniffer
*
LSA secret dumper
* Ability to crack:
**
LM &
NTLM
In a Windows network, NT (New Technology) LAN Manager (NTLM) is a suite of Microsoft security protocols intended to provide authentication, integrity, and confidentiality to users. NTLM is the successor to the authentication protocol in Microsoft ...
hashes
**
NTLMv2
In a Windows network, NT (New Technology) LAN Manager (NTLM) is a suite of Microsoft security protocols intended to provide authentication, integrity, and confidentiality to users. NTLM is the successor to the authentication protocol in Microsoft ...
hashes
** Microsoft Cache hashes
**
Microsoft Windows PWL
Pete Waterman Entertainment (PWE) is the production company one-time pop and dance record label owned by British pop mogul Pete Waterman. The label, originally PWL (Pete Waterman Limited), is most famous for being the home of hit record prod ...
files
**
Cisco IOS
The Internetworking Operating System (IOS) is a family of proprietary network operating systems used on several router and network switch models manufactured by Cisco Systems. The system is a package of routing, switching, internetworking, an ...
– MD5 hashes
**
Cisco PIX
Cisco PIX (Private Internet eXchange) was a popular IP firewall and network address translation (NAT) appliance. It was one of the first products in this market segment.
In 2005, Cisco introduced the neweCisco Adaptive Security Appliance( Cisco ...
– MD5 hashes
**
APOP – MD5 hashes
**
CRAM-MD5 In cryptography, CRAM-MD5 is a challenge–response authentication mechanism (CRAM) based on the HMAC-MD5 algorithm. As one of the mechanisms supported by the Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL), it is often used in email software as p ...
MD5 hashes
**
OSPF
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a routing protocol for Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It uses a link state routing (LSR) algorithm and falls into the group of interior gateway protocols (IGPs), operating within a single autonomous syste ...
– MD5 hashes
**
RIPv2
The Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is one of the oldest distance-vector routing protocols which employs the hop count as a routing metric. RIP prevents routing loops by implementing a limit on the number of hops allowed in a path from source ...
MD5 hashes
**
VRRP –
HMAC
In cryptography, an HMAC (sometimes expanded as either keyed-hash message authentication code or hash-based message authentication code) is a specific type of message authentication code (MAC) involving a cryptographic hash function and a secre ...
hashes
**
Virtual Network Computing
Virtual Network Computing (VNC) is a graphical desktop-sharing system that uses the Remote Frame Buffer protocol (RFB) to remotely control another computer. It transmits the keyboard and mouse input from one computer to another, relaying the ...
(VNC)
Triple DES
In cryptography, Triple DES (3DES or TDES), officially the Triple Data Encryption Algorithm (TDEA or Triple DEA), is a symmetric-key block cipher, which applies the DES cipher algorithm three times to each data block. The Data Encryption Stand ...
**
MD2 hashes
**
MD4
The MD4 Message-Digest Algorithm is a cryptographic hash function developed by Ronald Rivest in 1990. The digest length is 128 bits. The algorithm has influenced later designs, such as the MD5, SHA-1 and RIPEMD algorithms. The initialism "MD" ...
hashes
**
MD5 hashes
**
SHA-1
In cryptography, SHA-1 (Secure Hash Algorithm 1) is a cryptographically broken but still widely used hash function which takes an input and produces a 160-bit (20- byte) hash value known as a message digest – typically rendered as 40 hexadec ...
hashes
**
SHA-2
SHA-2 (Secure Hash Algorithm 2) is a set of cryptographic hash functions designed by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) and first published in 2001. They are built using the Merkle–Damgård construction, from a one-way compressi ...
hashes
**
RIPEMD-160 hashes
**
Kerberos 5 hashes
**
RADIUS
In classical geometry, a radius ( : radii) of a circle or sphere is any of the line segments from its center to its perimeter, and in more modern usage, it is also their length. The name comes from the latin ''radius'', meaning ray but also the ...
shared key hashes
**
IKE
Ike or IKE may refer to:
People
* Ike (given name), a list of people with the name or nickname
* Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II and President of the United States Surname
...
PSK hashes
**
MSSQL
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system developed by Microsoft. As a database server, it is a software product with the primary function of storing and retrieving data as requested by other software applications—which m ...
hashes
**
MySQL
MySQL () is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). Its name is a combination of "My", the name of co-founder Michael Widenius's daughter My, and "SQL", the acronym for Structured Query Language. A relational database ...
hashes
**
Oracle
An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination.
Description
The wor ...
and
SIP hashes
Status with virus scanners
Some virus scanners (and browsers, e.g.
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macO ...
20.0.1132.47) detect Cain and Abel as
malware
Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, de ...
.
Avast! detects it as "Win32:Cain-B
ool and classifies it as "Other potentially dangerous program", while
Microsoft Security Essentials
Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is an antivirus software (AV) product that provides protection against different types of malicious software, such as computer viruses, spyware, rootkits, and Trojan horses. Prior to version 4.5, MSE ran on , ...
detects it as "Win32/Cain!4_9_14" and classifies it as "Tool: This program has potentially unwanted behavior."
Even if Cain's install directory, as well as the word "Cain", are added to Avast's exclude list, the real-time scanner has been known to stop Cain from functioning. However, the latest version of Avast no longer blocks Cain.
Symantec (the developer of the
Norton Norton may refer to:
Places
Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada
* Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan
* Norton Parish, New Brunswick
** Norton, New Brunswick, ...
family of computer security software) identified a
buffer overflow
In information security and programming, a buffer overflow, or buffer overrun, is an anomaly whereby a program, while writing data to a buffer, overruns the buffer's boundary and overwrites adjacent memory locations.
Buffers are areas of memor ...
vulnerability
Vulnerability refers to "the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally."
A window of vulnerability (WOV) is a time frame within which defensive measures are diminished, com ...
in version 4.9.24 that allowed for
remote code execution
In computer security, arbitrary code execution (ACE) is an attacker's ability to run any commands or code of the attacker's choice on a target machine or in a target process. An arbitrary code execution vulnerability is a security flaw in softwar ...
in the event the application was used to open a large
RDP
RDP may refer to:
Computing
* Ramer–Douglas–Peucker algorithm, an algorithm for polygonal simplification
* Recombination detection program, for analysing genetic recombination
* Recursive descent parser, a type of top-down parser
* Remote Des ...
file, as might occur when using the program to analyze network traffic. The vulnerability had been present in the previous version (4.9.23) as well
and was patched in a subsequent release.
See also
*
Black-hat hacker
*
White-hat hacker
A white hat (or a white-hat hacker, a whitehat) is an ethical security hacker. Ethical hacking is a term meant to imply a broader category than just penetration testing. Under the owner's consent, white-hat hackers aim to identify any vulnerabili ...
*
Hacker (computer security)
A security hacker is someone who explores methods for breaching defenses and exploiting weaknesses in a computer system or network. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, such as profit, protest, information gathering, challen ...
*
Password cracking
In cryptanalysis and computer security, password cracking is the process of recovering passwords from data that has been stored in or transmitted by a computer system in scrambled form. A common approach ( brute-force attack) is to repeatedly t ...
*
Aircrack-ng
Aircrack-ng is a network software suite consisting of a detector, packet sniffer, WEP and WPA/ WPA2-PSK cracker and analysis tool for 802.11 wireless LANs. It works with any wireless network interface controller whose driver supports raw mon ...
*
Crack
*
DaveGrohl
DaveGrohl is a brute-force password cracker for macOS. It was originally created in 2010 as a password hash extractor but has since evolved into a standalone or distributed password cracker. DaveGrohl supports all of the standard Mac OS X user ...
*
Hashcat
Hashcat is a password recovery tool. It had a proprietary code base until 2015, but was then released as open source software. Versions are available for Linux, OS X, and Windows. Examples of hashcat-supported hashing algorithms are LM hashes, MD ...
*
John the Ripper
John the Ripper is a free password cracking software tool. Originally developed for the Unix operating system, it can run on fifteen different platforms (eleven of which are architecture-specific versions of Unix, DOS, Win32, BeOS, and OpenVM ...
*
L0phtCrack
L0phtCrack is a password auditing and recovery application originally produced by Mudge from L0pht Heavy Industries. It is used to test password strength and sometimes to recover lost Microsoft Windows passwords, by using dictionary, brute- ...
*
Ophcrack
Ophcrack is a free open-source ( GPL licensed) program that cracks Windows log-in passwords by using LM hashes through rainbow tables. The program includes the ability to import the hashes from a variety of formats, including dumping directly fr ...
*
RainbowCrack
RainbowCrack is a computer program which generates rainbow tables to be used in password cracking. RainbowCrack differs from "conventional" brute force crackers in that it uses large pre-computed tables called rainbow tables to reduce the lengt ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Password Cracking Software
Windows-only freeware
Password cracking software
Windows security software
Network analyzers
Windows network-related software