Tiger-192 Hash

What is Tiger-192?

Tiger-192 is a cryptographic hash function introduced in 1995 by Ross Anderson and Eli Biham as part of the Tiger family, designed to address perceived weaknesses in MD4 and MD5. Structurally, it operates as a 192-bit output hash function, derived from a triple-rounded Feistel network with three distinct stages (T0, T1, T2) that process the input message in 128-bit blocks. The algorithm employs a non-linear mixing function incorporating bitwise operations (AND, XOR, OR), modular addition, and a customizable key schedule, though Tiger-192’s original variant lacks explicit salting. Its primary use-case was as a lightweight alternative to SHA-1 for integrity checks, digital signatures, and password storage, though it never achieved widespread adoption due to its cryptographic flaws. The design prioritized speed over collision resistance, leveraging parallelizable rounds and a compact state representation (three 64-bit registers) to achieve high throughput on hardware of the era.

Tiger-192 is vulnerable to cracking primarily due to its susceptibility to collision attacks and inefficient resistance to brute-force methods. The 192-bit output space, while larger than MD5’s 128 bits, remains vulnerable to preimage and second-preimage attacks when optimized hardware accelerators are employed, as demonstrated by practical attacks in the 2000s. The lack of a salt in the original specification exacerbates rainbow table attacks for password hashing, as identical passwords produce identical hashes. Additionally, the algorithm’s design—particularly its Feistel structure and linear components—allows for GPU/ASIC optimizations that enable massive parallel cracking, as seen in tools like *TigerCrack*. Theoretical weaknesses, such as the birthday paradox’s applicability to 192-bit hashes (requiring ~2²⁰⁴ operations for collision attacks), were rendered impractical only with exponential computational resources, rendering Tiger-192 obsolete for security-critical applications.

Identifying Tiger-192 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 Tiger-192, security researchers analyze the hash against a strict regular expression (regex) signature (shown above) to find structural matches.

How to Crack Tiger-192

If you need to recover the plaintext password for a Tiger-192 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.