cisco-hashgen 1.2.5

Generate and verify Cisco-compatible PBKDF2 password hashes (ASA & IOS/IOS-XE)

cisco-hashgen

Generate and verify Cisco-compatible PBKDF2 password hashes for ASA & IOS/IOS-XE.

Generate and verify Cisco-compatible PBKDF2 password hashes from the command line.

Supported formats

• ASA: PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA512 — $sha512$<iter>$<Base64(salt)>$<Base64(dk16)>
• IOS / IOS-XE Type 8: PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 — $8$<Cisco64(salt10)>$<Cisco64(dk32)>

🚀 Quick Install

Recommended: Use pipx to install in an isolated environment. This avoids dependency conflicts and works the same on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Ubuntu / Debian

sudo apt update
sudo apt install pipx
pipx ensurepath
pipx install cisco-hashgen

macOS (Homebrew)

brew install pipx
pipx ensurepath
pipx install cisco-hashgen

Windows (PowerShell)

python -m pip install --user pipx
python -m pipx ensurepath
pipx install cisco-hashgen

Verify installation

cisco-hashgen --help

💡 If you cannot use pipx, you can still install with:

# Linux/macOS
python3 -m pip install --user cisco-hashgen
# Windows
python -m pip install --user cisco-hashgen
# On Debian/Ubuntu you may need:
python3 -m pip install --user cisco-hashgen --break-system-packages

Why this exists

1. Bootstrap without plaintext
   Pre-generate hashes offline and embed them in config templates—without storing or echoing the clear text password.

2. Verify existing hashes offline
   Check if a password matches a Cisco hash without touching the device.

💡 Hashes are only as strong as the password and parameters. Prefer long, random passphrases; keep iteration counts at Cisco defaults (or higher where supported); and protect generated hashes like any credential artifact.

Quick start

Generate ASA (PBKDF2-SHA512)

# interactive (masked)
cisco-hashgen
cisco-hashgen -asa

💡 Note: cisco-hashgen defaults to -asa output, but you can specify -asa for clarity.

Generate IOS/IOS-XE Type 8 (PBKDF2-SHA256)

# interactive (masked)
cisco-hashgen -ios8

Verify a hash (offline)

# ASA
cisco-hashgen -v '$sha512$5000$...$...'

# IOS/IOS-XE Type 8
cisco-hashgen -v '$8$SALT$HASH'

One-liner verify (stdin + -v) - Not Recommended

💡 When executed this way, a password is displayed on screen and likely saved in the systems command history or process list. It however illustrates the tool's flexibility.

echo 'My S3cr3t!' | cisco-hashgen -ios8 -quiet -v '$8$HxHoQOhOgadA7E==$HjROgK8oWfeM45/EHbOwxCC328xBBYz2IF2BevFOSok='

Supplying passwords securely

A) Interactive (masked, safest)

cisco-hashgen -asa

B) Shell read (no secret in history)

read -rs PW && printf '%s' "$PW" | cisco-hashgen -asa -quiet && unset PW
# or use env var:
read -rs PW && CISCO_HASHGEN_PWD="$PW" cisco-hashgen -ios8 -env CISCO_HASHGEN_PWD -quiet && unset PW

C) macOS Keychain (GUI → CLI)

1. Open Keychain Access → add a new password item (e.g., Service: HASHGEN_PW).
2. Use it without revealing plaintext:

   security find-generic-password -w -s HASHGEN_PW | cisco-hashgen -asa -quiet
   

3. Remove later with: security delete-generic-password -s HASHGEN_PW

D) pass (Password Store)

brew install pass gnupg
gpg --quick-generate-key "Your Name <[e-mail]>" default default never
gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format LONG
pass init <YOUR_LONG_KEY_ID>

pass insert -m network/asa/admin <<'EOF'
Str0ngP@ss!
EOF

pass show network/asa/admin | head -n1 | cisco-hashgen -ios8 -quiet

E) CI secret environment variable (GitHub Actions)

- name: Generate ASA hash
  env:
    CISCO_HASHGEN_PWD: ${{ secrets.CISCO_HASHGEN_PWD }}
  run: |
    cisco-hashgen -asa -env CISCO_HASHGEN_PWD -quiet > hash.txt

Quoting cheatsheet (very important)

• Always single-quote $sha512... / $8$... hashes to avoid $ expansion:

  cisco-hashgen -v '$sha512$5000$...$...'
  

• For passwords with spaces or shell characters, prefer interactive input, read -rs, Keychain, or pass.
• If you must put a password on the command line (not recommended), single-quote it; if it contains a single quote, use:

  'pa'"'"'ss'
  

CLI

usage: cisco-hashgen [-asa | -ios8] [-v HASH] [-iter N] [-salt-bytes N]
                     [-minlen N] [-maxlen N] [-pwd STRING] [-env VAR]
                     [-quiet] [-no-color] [-no-prompt] [--version]

• -asa — Generate ASA PBKDF2 (SHA-512). Default mode.
• -ios8 — Generate IOS/IOS-XE Type 8 PBKDF2-SHA256.
• -v, -verify HASH — Verify a candidate password against an existing hash.
• -iter N — Override iterations (ASA default 5000; IOS8 fixed 20000).
• -salt-bytes N — Override salt length (ASA default 16; IOS8 default 10).
• -minlen N, -maxlen N — Validation bounds (defaults 8 and 1024).
• -pwd STRING — Password literal (quote it if it has spaces/shell chars).
• -env VAR — Read password from environment variable VAR.
• -quiet — Suppress banners and extra output.
• -no-color — Disable ANSI coloring in help/banners.
• -no-prompt — Fail if no non-interactive password is provided (stdin/-pwd/-env). Useful for CI.
• --version — Print version and exit.

Exit codes

• 0 — Success / verified match
• 1 — Verify mismatch
• 2 — Unsupported/invalid hash format
• 3 — Password validation error
• 4 — No password provided and -no-prompt set
• 130 — User interrupted (Ctrl-C)

Technical notes

• ASA: PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA512; iterations stored; salt Base64; first 16 bytes of DK stored.
• IOS/IOS-XE Type 8: PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256; 20000 iterations (fixed); salt 10 bytes; Cisco Base64 alphabet (./0..9A..Za..z).

Compatibility

• Python 3.8+ (tested on 3.8–3.13)
• macOS / Linux / WSL

License

MIT © Gilbert Mendoza

Changelog

See the docs/releases folder for complete version history, or visit the GitHub Releases page.