I forgot 6 words from my seed, any brute force tool ?

[bitcoinfuck]

I remember the first & last 5 of my 12 words seed.


Wallet : Trust wallet
 uses https://iancoleman.io/bip39/

any help/tools ?

[Crypto_lion]

I remember the first & last 5

any help/tools ?

I think you need to be more specific about the wallet which you are trying to recover. I would say brute forcing your way to a wallet is pretty much impossible at the moment. If that was possible then nobody would be using that wallet to store their cryptocurrencies.

What you could try is some wallets publish their list of  all possible seed words and if you have a small idea what they could be (like remember the first letter etc.,) ,you could go through the list and try several combinations.

[xhomerx10]

I remember the first & last 5 of my 12 words seed.


Wallet : Trust wallet
 uses https://iancoleman.io/bip39/

any help/tools ?

 There are 7.19683166E+19 possible phrases based on the information you've provided.  There are brute force tools to run through the possibilities but it is likely not feasible for a search of that size with conventional computing.  Someone has cracked a phrase with 4 (of 12) missing words using a rented GPU array (at a cost of $350) but with two more missing words, that figure would be millions of times higher.  Maybe you can undergo hypnosis and hope that more of the words can be drawn from your subconscious mind?  It could be a relatively cheap option.

 

[pooya87]

Someone has cracked a phrase with 4 (of 12) missing words using a rented GPU array (at a cost of $350) but with two more missing words, that figure would be millions of times higher.

keep in mind that all the numbers reported there are specific to that special case with that mnemonic and derivation path. the process of going from a mnemonic to an address can be very different and consequently the speed can be very different too. for example an Electrum mnemonic could give you a lot more collision due to its different checksum method that creates a lot more collisions compared to BIP-39 so you'll have to check a lot more seeds than BIP-39. additionally different derivation paths, hardened keys, depth,... affect the speed by a lot. a hardened derivation path could be at least 50 times faster to brute force.

[davis196]

Like the other forum members said,brute force attacking is pointless.You will have to try to remember the missing 6 words from your seed.Did you write down the seed words on a paper somewhere?If the answer is NO,then you are pretty much screwed,unless you have a good memory.
Perhaps you should try to study mnemonics(if I remember the term correctly),which is a science about how to improve your memory and how to remember lots of information.

[dothebeats]

Maybe you can undergo hypnosis and hope that more of the words can be drawn from your subconscious mind?  It could be a relatively cheap option.

This sounds funny but actually I think that this is more feasible compared to brute-forcing the remaining words for your 12-word seed. Assuming that you have the tech needed to start basic brute-forcing. You still have to remember the specifics of the generation of your seed, just like pooya87 mentioned. I might as well go the route of psychic intervention but even that in itself wouldn't guarantee the return of the 12-word seed.

This is why you need to make backups of your private keys/seed whenever you're generating a new one to prevent something like this from happening.

[tranthidung]

This is why you need to make backups of your private keys/seed whenever you're generating a new one to prevent something like this from happening.

Backup seed (or private key) is a MUST.

Another step that is forgotten / skipped by many people is: Don't test validity of backups, by that I meant they make backup of seed (or private key) but do not test its validity (correctness in other words). Do not make a recovery trial from such backup. If the bad case when they write down some words (with seed) or some characters (with private key) inaccurately, they will get big troubles later when they must recover their wallets.

Create wallet (offline) > Backup (seed/ private key) -- do it offline > Copy the backup to multiple devices > Store backups safely (water-/ fire-proof) > Always test backup's validity.

[Bttzed03]

First time to read about hypnosis suggestion for remembering forgotten seed phrase. I searched over the net and there's actually one for memory recovery I don't know it it's going to work but you might as well try. There's nothing to lose imo - Memory Recovery - Hypnosis

[Lucius]

I don't think you have anything to lose if you try to get your seed in any way (at least as far as those free tools are concerned), or that you might go through a paid GPU if any great value is at stake. Maybe this tool can help you : btcrecover, but consider that brute force 6 words will certainly be time-consuming. What helps is that you know the order of the missing words - and it will certainly help if you know your public addresses.

You can also visit this thread, so although it is not an identical case - there is a link to the forked btcrecover tool, and maybe some other advice will be helpful for you.

[Swordsoffreedom]

I've doubt that brute force tools is really works. If the seeds are saved on the hard drive and are deleted by mistake, it is possible to recover deleted files with Active File Recovery. Otherwise I don't think it is possible to find 6 words in any way by brute or something like that. If you have a good memory, if you think calmly in a peaceful mind, maybe you can remember. People often forget their names due to excessive excitement.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Maybe this tool can help you : btcrecover, but consider that brute force 6 words will certainly be time-consuming.

Time consuming is an understatement. Using that tool, a high end computer can descramble a 12 word BIP39 seed in around 2-3 hours. To do this, it would check on average half of the 4.8*10⁸ possible combinations. For comparison, brute forcing six BIP39 words has around 7.4*10¹⁹ possible combinations. At the same speed, checking half of the possibilities would take almost 44 million years.

Even if OP spends tens of thousands of dollars renting out multiple cloud computing services to try to crack this, it is still going to take too long to be feasible. Brute forcing is not an option.

If OP does not have his seed backed up on paper, then his only option is to try to remember his phrase or to write the coins off as permanently lost.

[Yey09]

 There are 7.19683166E+19 possible phrases based on the information you've provided.  There are brute force tools to run through the possibilities but it is likely not feasible for a search of that size with conventional computing.  Someone has cracked a phrase with 4 (of 12) missing words using a rented GPU array (at a cost of $350) but with two more missing words, that figure would be millions of times higher.  Maybe you can undergo hypnosis and hope that more of the words can be drawn from your subconscious mind?  It could be a relatively cheap option.

Wow, $350 for one day is a lot. Looks like he really wants this money back

[Flagship11]

Maybe this tool can help you : btcrecover, but consider that brute force 6 words will certainly be time-consuming.

Time consuming is an understatement. Using that tool, a high end computer can descramble a 12 word BIP39 seed in around 2-3 hours. To do this, it would check on average half of the 4.8*10⁸ possible combinations. For comparison, brute forcing six BIP39 words has around 7.4*10¹⁹ possible combinations. At the same speed, checking half of the possibilities would take almost 44 million years.

Even if OP spends tens of thousands of dollars renting out multiple cloud computing services to try to crack this, it is still going to take too long to be feasible. Brute forcing is not an option.

If OP does not have his seed backed up on paper, then his only option is to try to remember his phrase or to write the coins off as permanently lost.

You are very good at explain things Im all out of Merit at the moment but you are very deserving.

[Yamifoud]

With what @o_e_l_e_o said...

At the same speed, checking half of the possibilities would take almost 44 million years.

I'd better not to sacrifice myself recovering these seeds. TBH, even that a single word will even harder to know how much more for 6 words. If it has 20BTC insides, maybe it was a worthy but if not, I'd rather have to leave it there.

It is very important to back-up our password, keys, or anything we do especially when we are talking about accounts. This is not the only case that it happens, there's a lot.

[o_e_l_e_o]

even that a single word will even harder to know how much more for 6 words.

Actually, a single word is very easy. There are only 2048 possibilities to try, and the majority of them won't be valid due to the fact that BIP39 seeds have a built in checksum. The recovery tool linked above could crack this in under a second.

The issue is that with each additional word, the problem becomes exponentially harder. If we use the benchmarks I described above, of 44 million years to crack 6 words, then it looks something like this:

1 word - 1 second
2 words - 90 seconds
3 words - 2 days
4 words - 10 years
5 words - 21 thousand years
6 words - 44 million years

Given that, 3 words is probably the limit of what you can reasonably crack on your own machine, and 4 words the limit of what you can crack with a some powerful cloud computing.

[Lucius]

Time consuming is an understatement.

Thanks for the clarification, I was on the completely wrong track when I read that someone managed to successfully discover 4 words in 30 hours, but it seems that the case is different because according to what you calculated it would actually take 10 years for 4 words. There are probably some other things that have made it possible to check 1 trillion mnemonics in such a short time, but it is fascinating that only 2 more words raise the whole problem to an unsolvable level.

Edit : I see 4 words/10 years is calculated based on user PC, and that user is rent very powerful devices.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Edit : I see 4 words/10 years is calculated based on user PC, and that user is rent very powerful devices.

Yeah. The user you are referring to there calculated it would take him 25 years to brute force 4 words using his own computer. The reason he was able to brute force 4 words in 30 hours was because he rented dozens of GPUs and designed a server to efficiently divide up the work.

Incidentally, for 5 words the same system would take 7 years. So for the moment at least, until we get far more powerful GPUs (or perhaps someone designs an ASIC specifically to brute force seeds), it seems 3 words is the limit for individual computers and 4 words for rented cloud computing.

[ShowOff]

What happened with the OP is an important reason why we need to back up our bitcoin wallet seed safely. I don't think we should leave it without a backup on USB, paper or something. Finally we also have to realize that it is not your key, it is not your bitcoin, losing the key then we also lose the bitcoin.

There's nothing to lose imo - Memory Recovery - Hypnosis

There's no harm in trying, but I'm not sure this step will work. If the OP has a large amount of bitcoin in the wallet, then he or she is entitled to make any effort to get those bitcoin back. But if the amount is still acceptable as defeat, then it is best to forget about it and get another one. But sorry, I didn't mean to stop you from getting your bitcoin back.

[PawGo]

The issue is that with each additional word, the problem becomes exponentially harder. If we use the benchmarks I described above, of 44 million years to crack 6 words, then it looks something like this:

1 word - 1 second
2 words - 90 seconds
3 words - 2 days
4 words - 10 years
5 words - 21 thousand years
6 words - 44 million years

Yes.... and no. What you wrote, is the time needed to check all the possible combinations of words, pessimistic approach. But in the real life it does not work like this. Retrieving the correct combination is not a 'reward' after the time spent on work. What I want to say - with these big numbers everything depends on luck, because it is possible that you will find the answer after 1 second - if you just hit the correct combination.

[o_e_l_e_o]

What you wrote, is the time needed to check all the possible combinations of words, pessimistic approach.

If you take a look at my previous reply here, it is actually the time taken to check half of the possibilities, which is the average number of possibilities you will have to check - if you are searching for one solution, then there is a 50% chance you will find it in the first 50%, and a 50% chance you will find it in the last 50%, so on average, you will have to exhaust 50% of the possibilities.

Sure, you could find the right combination on your first try, but it is also exactly equally likely that you exhaust every other possibility and only find the right combination on the last possible attempt. The average of these two possibilities is checking 50%.

Therefore, if you want to be able to meaningfully compare how long it is likely going to take to crack some combination of missing seed words, then using the average as I have done is the best solution.