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1 WAPG(1) User Manual WAPG(1)
2
3
4
5 NAME
6 WAPG - generates several random passwords
7
8
9 SYNOPSIS
10 WAPG [-a algorithm] [-M mode] [-E char_string] [-n num_of_pass] [-m
11 min_pass_len] [-x max_pass_len] [-r dictfile] [-b filter_file] [-p
12 min_substr_len] [-c cl_seed] [-d] [-l] [-t] [-q] [-h] [-v]
13
14
15 DESCRIPTION
16 WAPG generates several random passwords. It uses several password gener-
17 ation algorithms (currently two) and a built-in pseudo random number
18 generator.
19
20 Default algorithm is pronounceable password generation algorithm
21 designed by Morrie Gasser and described in A Random Word Generator For
22 Pronounceable Passwords National Technical Information Service (NTIS)
23 AD-A-017676. The original paper is very old and had never been put
24 online, so I have to use NIST implementation described in FIPS-181.
25
26 Another algorithm is simple random character generation algorithm, but
27 it uses four user-defined symbol sets to produce random password. It
28 means that user can choose type of symbols that should appear in pass-
29 word. Symbol sets are: numeric symbol set (0,...,9) , capital letters
30 symbol set (A,...,Z) , small letters symbol set (a,...,z) and special
31 symbols symbol set (#,@,!,...).
32
33 Built-in pseudo random number generator is an implementation of algo-
34 rithm described in Appendix C of ANSI X9.17 or RFC1750 with exception
35 that it uses CAST or SHA-1 instead of Triple DES. It uses local time
36 with precision of microseconds (see gettimeofday(2)) and /dev/random
37 (if available) to produce initial random seed.
38
39 WAPG also have the ability to check generated password quality using
40 dictionary. You can use this ability if you specify command-line
41 options -r dictfile or -b filtername where dictfile is the dictionary
42 file name and filtername is the name of Bloom filter file. In that dic-
43 tionary you may place words (one per line) that should not appear as
44 generated passwords. For example: user names, common words, etc. You
45 even can use one of the dictionaries that come with dictionary password
46 crackers. Bloom filter file should be created with WAPGbfm(1) utility
47 included in WAPG distribution. These checks are case sensitive. For
48 example, if you want to reject word 'root', you should insert in dict-
49 file words: root, Root, RoOt, ... , ROOT. It is not the easiest way to
50 check password quality, but it is the most powerful way. In future
51 releases I plan to implement some other techniques to check passwords
52 (like pattern check) just to make life easier.
53
54
55 OPTIONS
56 -M mode
57 Use symbolsets specified with mode for password generation.
58 mode is a text string consisting of characters S, s, N, n, C, c,
59 L, l. Where:
60
61 S generator must use special symbol set for every generated
62 password.
63
64 s generator should use special symbol set for password gen-
65 eration.
66
67 N generator must use numeral symbol set for every generated
68 password.
69
70 n generator should use numeral symbol set for password gen-
71 eration.
72
73 C generator must use capital symbol set for every generated
74 password.
75
76 c generator should use capital symbol set for password gen-
77 eration.
78
79 L generator must use small letters symbol set for every
80 generated password (always present if pronounceable pass-
81 word generation algorithm is used).
82
83 l generator should use small letters symbol set for pass-
84 word generation.
85
86 R,r not supported any more. Use -E char_string option
87 instead.
88 mode can not be more than 4 characters in length.
89
90 Note:
91 Usage of L, M, N, C will slow down password generation process.
92
93 Examples:
94 -M sncl or -M SNCL or -M Cn
95
96 -a algorithm
97 use algorithm for password generation.
98 0 - (default) pronounceable password generation
99 1 - random character password generation
100
101 -E char_string
102 exclude characters in char_string from password generation pro-
103 cess (in pronounceable password generation mode you can not
104 exclude small letters). To include special symbols that can be
105 recognized by shell (apostrophe, quotes, dollar sign, etc.) in
106 char_string use the backslashed versions.
107
108 Examples:
109
110 Command WAPG -a 1 -M n -n 3 -m 8 -e 23456789 will generate a set
111 of passwords that will look like this
112 10100110
113 01111000
114 11011101
115
116 Command WAPG -a 1 -M nc -n 3 -m 26 -e GHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ will
117 generate a set of passwords that will look like this
118 16A1653CD4DE5E7BD9584A3476
119 C8F78E06944AFD57FB9CB882BC
120 8C8DF37CD792D36D056BBD5002
121
122 -r dictfile
123 check generated passwords for their appearance in dictfile
124
125 -b filter_file
126 check generated passwords for their appearance in filter_file.
127 filter_file should be created with WAPGBFM utility.
128
129 -p min_substr_len
130 this option tells WAPG to check every substring of the gener-
131 ated password for appearance in filter_file. If any of such sub-
132 strings would be found in the filter_file then generated
133 password would be rejected and WAPG will generate another one.
134 min_substr_len specifies minimum substring length to check.
135 This option is active only if -b option is defined.
136
137 -c cl_seed
138 use cl_seed as a random seed for password generation. I use it
139 when i have to generate passwords in a shell script.
140
141 -d do NOT use any delimiters between generated passwords. I use it
142 when i have to generate passwords in a shell script.
143
144 -n num_of_pass
145 generate num_of_pass number of passwords. Default is 6.
146
147 -m min_pass_len
148 generate password with minimum length min_pass_len. If
149 min_pass_len > max_pass_len then max_pass_len = min_pass_len.
150 Default minimum password length is 8.
151
152 -x max_pass_len
153 generate password with maximum length max_pass_len. If
154 min_pass_len > max_pass_len then max_pass_len = min_pass_len.
155 Default maximum password length is 10.
156
157 -q quiet mode (do not print warnings)
158
159 -l spell genetated passwords. Useful when you want to read gener-
160 ated password by telephone.
161 WARNING: Think twice before read your password by phone.
162
163 -t print pronunciation for generated pronounceable password
164
165 -h print help information and exit
166
167 -v print version information and exit
168
169 DEFAULT OPTIONS
170 WAPG -a 0 -M sncl -n 6 -x 10 -m 8 (new style)
171
172 EXIT CODE
173 On successful completion of its task, WAPG will complete with exit code
174 0. An exit code of -1 indicates an error occurred. Textual errors are
175 written to the standard error stream.
176
177 FILES
178 None.
179
180 BUGS
181 None. If you've found one, please send bug description to the author.
182
183 SEE ALSO
184 WAPGBFM.TXT
185
186 AUTHOR
187 Adel I. Mirzazhanov, <a-del@iname.com>
188 Project home page: http://www.adel.nursat.kz/WAPG/
189
190
191
192 Automated Password Generator 2003 Jun 19 WAPG(1)