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The MD5 message-digest algorithm is a widely used hash function producing a 128-bit hash value. MD5 was designed by Ronald Rivest in 1991 to replace an earlier hash function MD4, [3] and was specified in 1992 as RFC 1321. MD5 can be used as a checksum to verify data integrity against unintentional corruption.
md5sum is a computer program that calculates and verifies 128-bit MD5 hashes, as described in RFC 1321. The MD5 hash functions as a compact digital fingerprint of a file. As with all such hashing algorithms, there is theoretically an unlimited number of files that will have any given MD5 hash.
MD5 was designed by Ronald Rivest in 1991 to replace an earlier hash function, MD4, and was specified in 1992 as RFC 1321. Collisions against MD5 can be calculated within seconds, which makes the algorithm unsuitable for most use cases where a cryptographic hash is required. MD5 produces a digest of 128 bits (16 bytes).
A hash function that allows only certain table sizes or strings only up to a certain length, or cannot accept a seed (i.e. allow double hashing) is less useful than one that does. [citation needed] A hash function is applicable in a variety of situations. Particularly within cryptography, notable applications include: [8]
For instance, MD5-Crypt uses a 1000 iteration loop that repeatedly feeds the salt, password, and current intermediate hash value back into the underlying MD5 hash function. [4] The user's password hash is the concatenation of the salt value (which is not secret) and the final hash.
The MD5 hash of the combined method and digest URI is calculated, e.g. of "GET" and "/dir/index.html". The result is referred to as HA2. The MD5 hash of the combined HA1 result, server nonce (nonce), request counter (nc), client nonce (cnonce), quality of protection code (qop) and HA2 result is calculated.
The particular hash algorithm used is often indicated by the file extension of the checksum file. The ".sha1" file extension indicates a checksum file containing 160-bit SHA-1 hashes in sha1sum format. The ".md5" file extension, or a file named "MD5SUMS", indicates a checksum file containing 128-bit MD5 hashes in md5sum format.
This is especially true of cryptographic hash functions, which may be used to detect many data corruption errors and verify overall data integrity; if the computed checksum for the current data input matches the stored value of a previously computed checksum, there is a very high probability the data has not been accidentally altered or corrupted.