Problem: Crack

Implement a program that cracks passwords, per the below.

This course’s philosophy on academic honesty is best stated as "be reasonable." The course recognizes that interactions with classmates and others can facilitate mastery of the course’s material. However, there remains a line between enlisting the help of another and submitting the work of another. This policy characterizes both sides of that line.

The essence of all work that you submit to this course must be your own. Collaboration on problems is not permitted (unless explicitly stated otherwise) except to the extent that you may ask classmates and others for help so long as that help does not reduce to another doing your work for you. Generally speaking, when asking for help, you may show your code or writing to others, but you may not view theirs, so long as you and they respect this policy’s other constraints. Collaboration on quizzes and tests is not permitted at all. Collaboration on the final project is permitted to the extent prescribed by its specification.

Below are rules of thumb that (inexhaustively) characterize acts that the course considers reasonable and not reasonable. If in doubt as to whether some act is reasonable, do not commit it until you solicit and receive approval in writing from your instructor. If a violation of this policy is suspected and confirmed, your instructor reserves the right to impose local sanctions on top of any disciplinary outcome that may include an unsatisfactory or failing grade for work submitted or for the course itself.

On most systems running Linux these days is a file called /etc/shadow, which contains usernames and passwords. Fortunately, the passwords therein aren’t stored "in the clear" but are instead encrypted using a "one-way hash function." When a user logs into these systems by typing a username and password, the latter is encrypted with the very same hash function, and the result is compared against the username’s entry in /etc/shadow. If the two hashes match, the user is allowed in. If you’ve ever forgotten some password, you might have been told that tech support can’t look up your password but can change it for you. Odds are that’s because tech support can only see, if anything at all, a hash of your password, not your password itself. But they can create a new hash for you.

Even though passwords in /etc/shadow are hashed, the hash function is not always that strong. Quite often are adversaries, upon obtaining that file somehow, able to guess (and check) users' passwords or crack them using brute force (i.e., trying all possible passwords). Below is what /etc/shadow might look like, albeit simplified, wherein each line is formatted as username:hash.

Design and implement a program, crack, that cracks passwords.

Note: The walkthrough video incorrectly states that passwords are no longer than four (4) characters. Instead, per the specification, make sure to handle passwords that are up to five (5) characters.

Your program should behave per the examples below. Assumed that the underlined text is what some user has typed.

Be sure to read up on crypt, taking particular note of its mention of "salt":

In order to declare function crypt for use in your solution, you’ll want to put

near the top of your file.