yescrypt

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Password-based key derivation function

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yescrypt is a cryptographic key derivation function used for password hashing on Fedora Linux,^[1] Debian,^[2] Ubuntu,^[3] and Arch Linux.^[4] The function is more resistant to offline password-cracking attacks than SHA-512.^[5] It is based on Scrypt.^[5]

Yescrypt is a scalable, password-hashing function and a key-derivation function (KDF) designed by Alexander Peslyak, also known as Solar Designer, to be highly resistant to hardware-accelerated brute-force attacks. As an evolution of the scrypt algorithm, it introduces enhanced memory-hardness and "strongly sequential" processing, which effectively thwarts large-scale cracking attempts using GPUs, FPGAs, and ASICs. By requiring a substantial amount of RAM to compute a single hash, it forces attackers to use traditional, memory-expensive computing methods rather than parallelized hardware. Due to its robust security profile and ability to scale with modern hardware advancements, it has been adopted as the default password-hashing scheme for several major Linux distributions, including Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora, where it is identifiable in the /etc/shadow file by the $y$ prefix.

References

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^ "Changes/yescrypt as default hashing method for shadow". Retrieved 2023-10-10.
^ "Chapter 5. Issues to be aware of for bullseye". Retrieved 2023-10-12.
^ "yescript replaces sha512 for password hashing". Retrieved 2023-10-12.
^ "Arch Linux - Changes to default password hashing algorithm and umask settings". Retrieved 2023-10-10.
^ ^a ^b "yescrypt". Retrieved 2023-10-10.

External links

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Project website

v t e Cryptographic hash functions and message authentication codes
List Comparison Known attacks
Common functions	MD5 (compromised) SHA-1 (compromised) SHA-2 SHA-3 BLAKE2
SHA-3 finalists	BLAKE Grostl JH Skein Keccak (winner)
Other functions	BLAKE3 CubeHash ECOH FSB Fugue GOST HAS-160 HAVAL Kupyna LSH Lane MASH-1 MASH-2 MD2 MD4 MD6 MDC-2 N-hash RIPEMD RadioGatun SIMD SM3 SWIFFT Shabal Snefru Streebog Tiger VSH Whirlpool
Password hashing/ key stretching functions	Argon2 Balloon bcrypt Catena crypt LM hash Lyra2 Makwa PBKDF2 scrypt yescrypt
General purpose key derivation functions	HKDF KDF1/KDF2
MAC functions	CBC-MAC DAA GMAC HMAC NMAC OMAC/CMAC PMAC Poly1305 SipHash UMAC VMAC
Authenticated encryption modes	CCM ChaCha20-Poly1305 CWC EAX GCM IAPM OCB
Attacks	Collision attack Preimage attack Birthday attack Brute-force attack Rainbow table Side-channel attack Length extension attack
Design	Avalanche effect Hash collision Merkle-Damgard construction Sponge function HAIFA construction
Standardization	CAESAR Competition CRYPTREC NESSIE NIST hash function competition Password Hashing Competition NSA Suite B CNSA
Utilization	Hash-based cryptography Merkle tree Message authentication Proof of work Salt Pepper

v t e Cryptography
General	History of cryptography Outline of cryptography Classical cipher Cryptographic protocol Authentication protocol Cryptographic primitive Cryptanalysis Cryptocurrency Cryptosystem Cryptographic nonce Cryptovirology Hash function Cryptographic hash function Key derivation function Secure Hash Algorithms Digital signature Kleptography Key (cryptography) Key exchange Key generator Key schedule Key stretching Keygen Machines Ransomware Random number generation Cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator (CSPRNG) Pseudorandom noise (PRN) Secure channel Insecure channel Subliminal channel Encryption Decryption End-to-end encryption Harvest now, decrypt later Information-theoretic security Plaintext Codetext Ciphertext Shared secret Trapdoor function Trusted timestamping Key-based routing Onion routing Garlic routing Kademlia Mix network
Mathematics	Cryptographic hash function Block cipher Stream cipher Symmetric-key algorithm Authenticated encryption Public-key cryptography Quantum key distribution Quantum cryptography Post-quantum cryptography Message authentication code Random numbers Steganography
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