Bruteforcing OpenSSL to decrypt bitcoin backup

Question

I forgot the password to my bitcoin backup and I am trying to brute-force decrypt it. I have been given this information; "The manual backup files are encrypted using your chosen backup password. You can use OpenSSL to decrypt:

openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -a -in <filename>"

But I don’t understand how to do it. Can someone tell me?

Answer 1

You need to add -passin pass:XXX options, where XXX is the password you want to try.

There's more options for -passin, see PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS for openssl(1) command.

You will also need to understand the -k and -K options to openssl enc.

To brute-force decrypt a file using OpenSSL run something like:

# Build your list of candidates

PASSWORDS=...


for PASSWORD in $PASSWORDS; do


  openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -a -in <filename> -passin pass:$PASSWORD

  RET=$?


  if [ $RET -eq 0 ]; then

    echo "Candidate password: $PASSWORD"

  fi


done