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Password Mutations

Password mutations in security refer to systematic alterations of a base password to form related, but new, passwords.

Mutation Example
Password: password
Mutations:
p@ssw0rd
password!
Password123

Hashcat

Hashcat has a built-in password mutation engine that can be used to generate mutations of a base password.

Hashcat
hashcat --stdout <base_password> -r <rulesfile> | tee passwords.txt

You can find the rules using the command below:

Find Hashcat Rules
find / -name '*.rule' 2> /dev/null | grep hashcat

The best64.rule rule is a good starting point.