What is contained in the hashcat.potfile, as described in the notes?

• A. Uncracked hashes
• B. Cleartext passwords that have already been cracked
• C. Salts
• D. Usernames

Answer: (B)

Hashcat’s potfile is a local cache of successful crack results. Each line records the original hash and the corresponding plaintext password in cleartext, so those passwords are known for future runs. That means the potfile contains cleartext passwords that have already been cracked. It isn’t a store of salts or usernames, and it doesn’t hold uncracked hashes. The presence of a cracked hash in the potfile lets Hashcat skip re-cracking it in subsequent sessions, speeding up work while highlighting the sensitive nature of the stored passwords.