cryptcat(1)

💖 cryptcat(1) — the twofish-ified glow-up of nc(1) 💖

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, because we're talking about cryptcat, the twofish encryption enabled version of nc(1). yes it's a real manual page, yes it lives in section 1, and yes it's about to be your new obsession. 🦋

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

cryptcat -k secret [-options] hostname port[s] [ports]
cryptcat -k secret -l -p port [-options] [hostname] [port]

like. that's the whole vibe. -k secret, then whatever else you want. 💅

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so this manual page is the short-and-sweet little doc for the cryptcat command. it was written specifically for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution because the original program literally does not have a manual page — tragic, i know, but we move. 😭

important: this page only documents the features that are specific to cryptcat. it does not document the features that are described at length in the manpage for nc(1). so like, if you do not know nc, then ngl the chances are you won't have much use for this manpage. it's giving "prerequisite: know your nc". 🫶

cryptcat can act as a tcp or udp client or server — connecting to or listening on a socket, while otherwise working as the standard Unix command cat(1). yes, cat but with a whole secret-agent subplot. iconic.

here's the tea tho: cryptcat takes a password as a salt to encrypt the data being sent over the connection. 🧂✨

🚨 not me telling you this: without a specified password, cryptcat will default to the hardcoded password `metallica`. Needless to say, failure to specify a different password makes the connection as good as unencrypted. like bestie that's a locked door with the key taped to it 😭 please change it.

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👑 OPTIONS 👑

okay so first thing, this program does not follow the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with two dashes (`-`). so don't come in here expecting --vibes. a summary of the options specific to cryptcat is included below, and that's the whole list, fr fr. 💜

• -h — show summary of options. your little help menu moment. ✨
• -k secret password — change the shared secret password to be used to establish a connection. this is the one, the main character option. don't skip it. 👑

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💀 BUGS 💀

This version of cryptcat does not support the -e command line option available in some versions of nc. so if you came here looking for -e, she's not home. 🙈

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🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

• nc(1)
• cat(1)
• /usr/share/doc/cryptcat/README.gz
• /usr/share/doc/cryptcat/README.cryptcat
• /usr/share/doc/cryptcat/README.Debian

iykyk, go read them. 📚💖

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🌈 AUTHOR 🌈

The original netcat was written by hobbit@avian.org. absolute legend behavior.

cryptcat is the work of farm9 <info@farm9.org> with the help of Dan F, Jeff Nathan, Matt W, Frank Knobbe, Dragos, Bill Weiss, Jimmy. squad goals fr fr. 🫶

This manual page was written by Lars Bahner <bahner@debian.org> for Debian. 💅

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🦋 this little gem comes to you from Debian GNU/Linux, dated August 9, 2001, and it's still serving looks. now go set an actual -k secret and stop using `metallica`. periodt. ✨🎀💖