Archivum Solver is currently in early development. Many features described in this document are not yet implemented. This README should be considered a roadmap and design specification describing the planned architecture and capabilities of the project.
The goal of this document is to outline the direction of development and the intended functionality of Archivum Solver.
Archivum Solver (from Latin Archivum — archive, repository — and Solver — one who solves) is a command-line tool designed to automatically analyze and solve password-protected compressed archives.
The project is intended primarily for:
- Capture The Flag (CTF) competitions
- security research and experimentation
- automated archive analysis
- password auditing in controlled environments
Archivum Solver aims to automate the process of discovering passwords, extracting archives, scanning their contents, and recursively processing newly discovered archives.
The long-term vision is to create a fully automated archive-solving engine capable of navigating complex nested archive structures commonly found in CTF challenges.
Archivum Solver is designed with the following goals:
- automate password discovery for protected archives
- support multiple archive formats
- recursively process nested archives
- safely extract archives while preventing resource exhaustion
- collect detailed statistics about cracking attempts
- provide a modular architecture for future expansion
Planned support for common archive formats:
- ZIP
- 7Z
- RAR
Additional formats may be added in the future.
Archivum Solver aims to support multiple password discovery strategies:
-
Dictionary attacks Using password lists.
-
Brute-force attacks
Automatic generation of passwords based on configurable parameters:
- character sets
- minimum and maximum length
- pattern-based generation
Archivum Solver will be able to automatically detect archives contained inside other archives.
Example structure:
challenge.zip
└── archive.7z
└── hidden.rar
└── flag.txt
The solver will:
- crack the outer archive
- extract its contents
- scan for additional archives
- repeat the process
This allows the tool to automatically navigate complex archive chains.
Future versions aim to support:
- multi-threaded password testing
- parallel archive analysis
- efficient task scheduling
This will allow Archivum Solver to process large wordlists or multiple archives more efficiently.
Archivum Solver will include a statistics system capable of tracking:
- total password attempts
- cracking speed (attempts per second)
- number of archives analyzed
- number of archives successfully cracked
- total files extracted
- total data extracted
- execution time
- maximum archive nesting depth
Statistics may be displayed in real time or exported to structured formats such as JSON.
A configuration file will allow users to define default parameters.
Planned location:
~/.config/Archivum Solver/config.toml
Example configuration:
threads = 8
recursive = true
max_depth = 20
max_extract_size = "5GB"
[wordlists]
default = "/usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt"
[bruteforce]
enabled = true
min_length = 1
max_length = 6
charset = "a-zA-Z0-9"Command line arguments will override configuration file settings.
Archivum Solver aims to implement safeguards against malicious or malformed archives.
These protections include:
- maximum extraction size limits
- archive nesting depth limits
- file count limits
- protection against zip bombs
Such protections are necessary when processing untrusted archive inputs.
Example usage:
Archivum Solver -w passwords.txt challenge.zip
Recursive extraction:
Archivum Solver -r -w rockyou.txt challenge.zip
Brute-force mode:
Archivum Solver -b -l 1-6 archive.zip
The planned architecture is modular.
CLI
│
├── Config Loader
│
├── Solver Engine
│ ├── Password Cracker
│ ├── Archive Extractor
│ └── Archive Scanner
│
└── Statistics Collector
Each module will be responsible for a specific task:
-
Password Cracker tests candidate passwords
-
Archive Extractor extracts archives once passwords are found
-
Archive Scanner detects additional archives in extracted content
-
Statistics Collector tracks execution metrics
This modular architecture should allow easy expansion and integration of new archive formats or cracking strategies.
The project is not yet feature-complete.
Some components may exist only as prototypes or design ideas.
Future development will gradually implement the planned functionality described in this roadmap.
Archivum Solver is intended only for legal and authorized security research, including:
- Capture The Flag competitions
- academic security experimentation
- controlled environments
Users are responsible for complying with all applicable laws and regulations.