# fortra/impacket

Impacket is a collection of Python classes for working with network protocols.

Repository: https://github.com/fortra/impacket
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/impacket
Homepage: https://www.coresecurity.com
Language: Python
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: impacket, smb, python, netbios, msrpc, wmi, dcerpc, dcom, pass-the-hash, kerberos
Last push: 2026-08-24T21:24:31+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 83/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 52, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4158, "days_push": 9, "days_rel": 106, "gap_med": 304.0, "n_releases_24m": 3}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 16038, forks 3954 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:14.715083+00:00)

## What it is
Impacket is a collection of Python classes for low-level programmatic access to network protocols, including full implementations of SMB1-3 and MSRPC. It also ships a set of example tools for tasks like authentication with hashes and tickets, remote execution, and Windows protocol interaction.

## Use cases
- interact with SMB shares from Python
- perform pass-the-hash attacks during pentests
- craft and parse raw network packets
- query WMI and execute commands on remote Windows hosts
- work with Kerberos tickets and NTLM authentication
- implement MSRPC/DCE-RPC client tooling
- dump credentials or enumerate Windows services remotely

## When to choose
- you need low-level Python access to Windows network protocols like SMB, MSRPC, or WMI
- you are doing penetration testing or red team work against Windows/Active Directory environments
- you want to authenticate with hashes, tickets, or keys instead of passwords
- you need to build custom protocol clients from scratch or parse raw packets

## When to avoid
- you need a general-purpose high-level networking library for everyday HTTP or TCP work
- you want a cross-platform file sharing client with a GUI
- your project is not Python-based
- you need a passive network sniffer or IDS rather than protocol client tooling

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: networking, security, parser, auth, http-client, sdk
- domain: security, penetration-testing, networking, developer-tools
- platform: python, windows, cross-platform, cli
- tags: smb, kerberos, ntlm, msrpc, dcerpc, wmi, pass-the-hash, pentesting, windows-protocols, network-protocols, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- fortra/impacket (main) score 83

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:14.715083+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:05:16.360336+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/fortra/impacket (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:14.715083+00:00, sha d1273e7d66d4)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.