Howto Crack pdf File Password
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pdfcrack Features
Supports the standard security handler (revision 2 and 3) on all known PDF-versions
Supports cracking both owner and userpasswords
Both wordlists and bruteforcing the password is supported
Simple permutations (currently only trying first character as Upper Case)
Save/Load a running job
Simple benchmarking
Optimised search for owner-password when user-password is known
Install pdfcrack in Ubuntu
sudo aptitude install pdfcrack
This will complete the installation.
pdfcrack Syntax
pdfcrack -f filename [options]
pdfcrack Options
-b, -- -bench -- Perform benchmark and exit.
-c, -- -charset=STRING -- Use the characters in STRING as charset.
-m, -- -maxpw=INTEGER -- Stop when reaching INTEGER as password length.
-n, -- -minpw=INTEGER -- Skip trying passwords shorter than INTEGER.
-l, -- -loadState=FILE -- Continue from the state saved in FILENAME.
-o, -- -owner -- Work with the ownerpassword.
-p, --password=STRING -- Uses STRING as userpassword to speed up breaking ownerpassword (implies -o).
-q, -- -quiet -- Run quietly.
-s, -- -permutate -- Try permutating the passwords (currently only supports switching
first character to uppercase).
-u, -- -user -- Work with the userpassword (default).
-v, -- -version -- Print version and exit.
-w, -- -wordlist=FILE -- Use FILE as source of passwords to try.
pdfcrack Examples
pdfcrack test.pdf
pdfcrack options and examples
Hiya,
I get an error message “First trailer not found.”
what to do?
Erik
I’n no Guro but i would like to help. What command are you typing in?
Hi.
I was once told that one may omit the PDF password functionality by simply using ImageMagick (‘convert pdf_with_password.pdf pdf_without_password.pdf’). This won’t find the password for you, but will help you read the PDF.
luv u 4 this!
using a dictionary from The Argon Word Lists will tend to get much faster results.
any options for adobe digital additions downloads? pdfcrack and imagemagick convert produce error: unknown security handler.
Anyone know how to convert those into regular pdf’s? even after purchaceing them they can only be read on an authorised machine with digital additions. Try to open them like a regular pdf and they are password protected
@ Asbjørn
Many thanks for your Tip. It did, indeed, work for me. Imagemagick solved the problem astonishingly simple.
Best.
ps: Just for the record. I assume the success does depend on the encryption method, though. Since I could ‘see’ the content of my pdf’s but was not allowed to manipulate them (extract particular pages, copy text, etc.) it worked like a charm.
I guess that’s what all that processor power in a home pc is for…
Hi,
Can any body help me seeing a password protected file using ImageMagick. I tried; it didnt work. Can somebody give me a link from where to install.
Many thanks,
Can any body help me seeing a password protected file using ImageMagick. I tried; it didnt work. Can somebody give me a link from where to install.
I got the same error msg: “Error: First trailer not found”
Following snippet of code might give some insight into this:
http://pdfcrack.sourcearchive.com/documentation/0.9/main_8c-source.html
…
00251 ret = getEncryptedInfo(file, e);
00252 if(ret) {
00253 if(ret == EENCNF)
00254 fprintf(stderr, “Error: Could not extract encryption information\n”);
00255 else if(ret == ETRANF)
00256 fprintf(stderr, “Error: First trailer not found\n”);
…
btw, I used pdfcrack under WinXP, and tried it on an alternatively encrypted pdf file.
A certificate file (.pfx) was installed before I could open it in Acrobat Reader 7.0.
So the conclusion is, pdfcrack may not be able to handle such encryption for now.
I am thinking bypassing password routine in pdf reader program, so we don’t need guessing program. In my experience, guessing program always take very very very long time. It was work for weak password, but still, i just need time to install program compared with waiting days to arrive at single word.
Everything worked for me(printing the passwords). I got a lot of passwords and none of them were working. I don’t know where it went wrong.
You can use kpdf (linux) and in settings uncheck “obey DRM limitations”. I’ve used to print password protected pdf.
I get:
Encrypted Metadata: True ... found user-password: ''Does this mean that pdfcrack can’t handle the encryption or … that … somehow it’s encrypted with a blank password? :-/
What should i do if i have the first 4 chars of the password but i can’t remaind the last 3 or 4 chars???
super, worked for me. found a 4 digit password in less than a second.
i got
found user-password: ‘5525’
I get this error
The specific version is not supported (EBX_HANDLER – 0)
Output: The specific version is not supported (Adobe.APS – 65537)
I got the same message. Were you able to figure it out?
does it check special characters??? I don’t think it does….
Hi,
I belive PDFCrack does not crack all PDF passwords. I produce two sample PDFs with a 1 character password.
The file with the passord 9 was immedatliy cracked.
The file with the password $ was never cracked. I tryed the parameter -c 123456789$- I was not cracked too.
I believe taht passwords containing §$# are not cracked.
Any hit wat to do or how to report this as an bug?
Regards Rainer
ImageMagick will NOT remove the password protection from a PDF file. It produces a new PDF file that replaces all text with a rendered representation of the text and graphics from the original, but the output file contains NO searchable or copyable text. You might as well be working from a paper hardcopy of the PDF document.
If you don’t need to actually recover the password and just want an unprotected version to copy and paste or print, install qpdf and run qpdf –decrypt PROTECTED.pdf UNPROTECTED.pdf
I tested with qpdf. i got an error”
(encryption dictionary, offset 10504): unsupported encryption filter”