Using newline character as part of mask attack

[undeath]

how did you create the hash?

[ajaxdecbe]

how did you create the hash?

with the md5 command on linux.

Is my hashcat syntax correct?

[undeath]

The syntax looks correct. I suspect you made a mistake when creating the hash. Can you post the whole command?

[ajaxdecbe]

Guys,

Thanks for the quick responses. I was having a typo. The below syntax worked.

hashcat64 -a 3 -m 20 -O --hex-salt hash.txt ?a?a?a

-m 20 with mask was 5x faster than -m 0 with mask.

That being said, are there any other method to further optimize or improve performance here?

[undeath]

you can squeeze out a little more performance (while rendering your PC hardly usable) by using -w3 or even -w4

Other than that the most time you can save by running clever attacks.

[ajaxdecbe]

you can squeeze out a little more performance (while rendering your PC hardly usable) by using -w3 or even -w4

Other than that the most time you can save by running clever attacks.

What clever attacks are you referring to?

[undeath]

targeted wordlists, targeted rules, more narrow masks, …