In the John the Ripper workflow, where is the cracked password for the root account first revealed?

In the John the Ripper workflow, where is the cracked password for the root account first revealed?

• A. In the memory during cracking
• B. In the john.pot file only after subsequent runs
• C. In the terminal after running john against /etc/shadow
• D. In zip2john output

Answer: (C)

The password is first revealed when John the Ripper is actively cracking and finds a match—the plaintext appears on the terminal as part of the cracking progress. The cracked credentials are also saved to the pot file for later use, but the immediate, first visibility to you happens in the terminal during the run against the target file (such as /etc/shadow). The pot file stores results for persistence across runs, not the initial display. The zip2john output is just a tool output used to prepare hashes, not where the discovered password appears. So the first reveal happens on the terminal as the cracking proceeds.

The password is first revealed when John the Ripper is actively cracking and finds a match—the plaintext appears on the terminal as part of the cracking progress. The cracked credentials are also saved to the pot file for later use, but the immediate, first visibility to you happens in the terminal during the run against the target file (such as /etc/shadow). The pot file stores results for persistence across runs, not the initial display. The zip2john output is just a tool output used to prepare hashes, not where the discovered password appears. So the first reveal happens on the terminal as the cracking proceeds.