# huntergregal/mimipenguin

A tool to dump the login password from the current linux user

Repository: https://github.com/huntergregal/mimipenguin
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/mimipenguin
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: post-exploitation, password-extraction
Last push: 2025-09-05T16:43:43+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 41/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 40, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3445, "days_push": 362, "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 4157, forks 649 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:37.324859+00:00)

## What it is
MimiPenguin is a post-exploitation tool that dumps the current Linux desktop user's cleartext login password from process memory, inspired by the Windows tool mimikatz. It scans memory for credential patterns, verifying candidates against /etc/shadow hashes and in-memory hashes, and is available as a C port with shell and Python variants.

## Use cases
- extract cleartext passwords from a compromised linux user's memory
- demonstrate gnome keyring cleartext credential exposure
- retrieve login password from gdm or lightdm sessions
- harvest credentials from active ssh, ftp, or http basic auth sessions
- post-exploitation credential dumping on linux during pentests

## When to choose
- you need a lightweight root-level credential dumping tool on linux desktops
- you are demonstrating or testing cleartext password exposure in gnome keyring or display managers
- you want a fast C implementation with shell and python alternatives

## When to avoid
- you lack root privileges on the target system
- you need a stealthy or evasive tool, since it is well-known and likely detected
- you target 64-bit userspace with the 32-bit build, which has known address-space issues
- you need support for non-desktop environments or LDAP credentials, which are not yet implemented

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: maintenance
- function: security, penetration-testing
- domain: security, penetration-testing, operating-systems
- platform: cli
- tags: post-exploitation, password-extraction, credential-dumping, memory-forensics, mimikatz-inspired, linux

## Member repositories
- huntergregal/mimipenguin (main) score 41

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:37.324859+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 2026-08-29T18:22:51.385708+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/huntergregal/mimipenguin (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:37.324859+00:00, sha 221c36d9ab1a)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.