# gentilkiwi/mimikatz

A little tool to play with Windows security

Repository: https://github.com/gentilkiwi/mimikatz
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/mimikatz
Homepage: http://blog.gentilkiwi.com/mimikatz
Language: C
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-04-17T17:48:27+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 57/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 77, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4532, "days_push": 138, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- 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 21799, forks 4155 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:32.099268+00:00)

## What it is
mimikatz is a well-known Windows security tool written in C that extracts plaintext passwords, hashes, PINs, and Kerberos tickets from memory. It also supports attacks like pass-the-hash, pass-the-ticket, and Golden Ticket generation, plus crypto and vault manipulation.

## Use cases
- extract passwords and hashes from windows lsass memory
- perform pass-the-hash attacks
- dump kerberos tickets and build golden tickets
- export certificates and private keys from windows crypto stores
- dump sam and dcsync domain credentials
- test windows credential protection during pentests

## When to choose
- you are doing authorized penetration testing or red teaming on Windows
- you need to demonstrate credential-theft risks to justify security hardening
- you are researching Windows authentication, Kerberos, or LSASS internals

## When to avoid
- you want a defensive-only tool - this is offensive by design and widely flagged by AV/EDR
- you are on Linux or macOS - it targets Windows
- you lack authorization - using it against systems you don't own is illegal

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: security, penetration-testing, cryptography, cli
- domain: security, penetration-testing, windows
- platform: windows, cli
- tags: credential-extraction, pass-the-hash, kerberos, red-team, post-exploitation, lsass

## Member repositories
- gentilkiwi/mimikatz (main) score 57

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:32.099268+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 2026-08-29T16:57:48.012938+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/gentilkiwi/mimikatz (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:32.099268+00:00, sha 8c185d740088)
  - homepage: http://blog.gentilkiwi.com/mimikatz (fetched 2026-08-29T07:56:12.171609+00:00, sha 30f8b55ce1a5)
  - site_page: https://blog.gentilkiwi.com/about.html (fetched 2026-08-29T07:56:12.180885+00:00, sha 9ffa9bdd99cc)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.