I have only my keystore file

Question

I have a myetherwallet. I have my keystore file but I lost my password? Is there any solution to recover my assets?

Answer 1

The only realistic way to restore your access to your keystone file is to guess your password.

I have had the same issue some years ago and was able to find the correct password. It was quite long, but I knew that just the last 3 characters changed. So, I wrote a small javascript program to try all combinations.

In principle it works as:

1. Create file (./local.txt) with all password candidates

test345678
test234567
test123456
test012345

2. Create file (./package.json)

{
  "name": "decoder",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "license": "MIT",
  "dependencies": {
    "ethereumjs-util": "^7.1.4",
    "express": "^4.17.1",
    "fs": "0.0.1-security",
    "keythereum": "^1.0.4",
    "web3": "^1.7.3"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "start": "node local-decrypt.js"
  }
}

3. Copy your key file (./key-c.json)

{
  "address": "ed8e3df78753f626870f26102b288d113b34b18a",
  "crypto": {
    "cipher": "aes-128-ctr",
    "ciphertext": "6c9ff087c32ba02d744897135553a2b5cf9eace5ef8b9376adc135c0f7e53343",
    "cipherparams": {
      "iv": "5dcc018af32e6f352563dd25bd345bcd"
    },
    "kdf": "scrypt",
    "kdfparams": {
      "dklen": 32,
      "n": 262144,
      "p": 1,
      "r": 8,
      "salt": "0dbab215a3e456c81f582645466dfb8742f05c1f65956fa57e9c584f3efdb4fd"
    },
    "mac": "58ce3874ad4b0210a03ab015db6bcf1480d8a96ece3cbfa33507cf1df80b50c8"
  },
  "id": "dd16d7de-2759-4bab-b481-a2a8d4713024",
  "version": 3
}

4. Create file (./local-decrypt.js)

path = require("path");
const keythereum = require("keythereum");
fs = require("fs");
const readline = require('readline');

const readInterface = readline.createInterface({
    input: fs.createReadStream('./local.txt'),
    console: false
});

const json_c = path.normalize("./key-c.json");
const content_c = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(json_c));

//
let count = 1;
readInterface.on('line', function (line) {

    if (line.length > 2) {
        console.log(count + ":  " + line);
        count++;

        try {
            const privateKey = keythereum.recover(line, content_c);
            console.log("    => SUCCESS key-c.json PK=" + privateKey.toString('hex'));
            process.exit()
        } catch (e) {
        }
    }

});

5. Run:

$ npm install
$ npm run start

6. Expected output

$ npm run start

> [email protected] start
> node local-decrypt.js

1:  test345678
2:  test234567
3:  test123456
    => SUCCESS key-c.json PK=8daeb7273c1361b006af0cabd960628f57f3c2d5160037c356367fba1d7729e1

Good Luck!