Lotus Notes/Domino 8 Hash

What is Lotus Notes/Domino 8?

The Lotus Notes/Domino 8 hash format, introduced in the mid-2000s as part of IBM’s Domino server suite, represents a proprietary cryptographic scheme designed to secure user passwords within its Notes database environment. Structurally, it employs a multi-stage hashing pipeline combining MD5 (Message-Digest Algorithm 5) with a custom salted iteration mechanism. The format typically encodes passwords as a 32-character hexadecimal string prefixed with a version identifier (e.g., "LN" or "DN") followed by a salted MD5 hash, often with an additional iteration count or domain-specific salt. This design was intended to mitigate plaintext storage while maintaining compatibility with legacy systems, though it lacks formal cryptographic scrutiny. The primary use-case was password hashing for authentication within Lotus Notes/Domino databases, where performance and interoperability outweighed modern security standards.

The Lotus Notes/Domino 8 hash format is vulnerable to cracking due to its reliance on MD5—a cryptographically broken hash function susceptible to collision attacks—and the absence of robust salting or key stretching. MD5’s 128-bit output space enables brute-force and rainbow table attacks, while the fixed-length salt (if present) is often predictable or reused across hashes. Modern hardware optimizations, including GPU-accelerated MD5 cracking tools (e.g., Hashcat), further exacerbate exploitation, as the algorithm’s simplicity allows for high-throughput parallel processing. Additionally, the lack of iterative hashing (e.g., PBKDF2 or bcrypt) renders it resistant only to trivial efforts, making it a prime target for offline dictionary and hybrid attacks. The format’s reliance on legacy infrastructure also precludes post-quantum or post-MD5 upgrades, cementing its status as a high-risk legacy system.

Identifying Lotus Notes/Domino 8 Hashes

Identifying a hash blindly is often difficult because multiple algorithms can output strings of the exact same length. For example, a standard 32-character hexadecimal string could be MD5, NTLM, MD4, or LM. To definitively identify Lotus Notes/Domino 8, security researchers analyze the hash against a strict regular expression (regex) signature (shown above) to find structural matches.

How to Crack Lotus Notes/Domino 8

If you need to recover the plaintext password for a Lotus Notes/Domino 8 hash during a penetration test or forensics investigation, you must supply the correct module ID to your cracking software. Use the exact commands provided at the top of this page to target the hash successfully.