unarc-cli

A command-line tool for listing and extracting files from various archive formats, with a focus on legacy/retro formats from the BBS era. No other command line clients required. Everything in an all in one package. List/Extract/Retrieve lost passwords - everything possible with unarc.

Installation

cargo install unarc-cli

Or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/mkrueger/unarc-rs
cd unarc-rs
cargo build --release -p unarc-cli

The binary will be available at target/release/unarc.

Usage

List Archive Contents

unarc list archive.arj
unarc l archive.zip      # short alias

Example output:

Archive: test.arj (ARJ)

Name                                     Compressed     Original    Ratio Method       Encryption
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
readme.txt                                      1234         5678   21.7% Method 4     
secret.doc                                       890         2345   37.9% Method 1     ARJ Garble
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 file(s), 1 encrypted                          2124         8023   26.5%

Extract Files

unarc extract archive.arj                    # Extract to current directory
unarc x archive.zip -o ./output              # Extract to specific directory
unarc extract -f archive.rar                 # Overwrite existing files
unarc extract -p secret encrypted.arj        # Decrypt with password

# Multi-volume archives (auto-detects all volumes)
unarc extract archive.zip.001 -o ./output    # Split ZIP (.001, .002, ...)
unarc extract archive.7z.001 -o ./output     # Split 7z (.7z.001, .7z.002, ...)
unarc extract archive.z01 -o ./output        # WinZip style (.z01, .z02, .zip)

Show Supported Formats

unarc formats

Try Passwords (Password Cracking)

Test passwords from a file, directory, or stdin against an encrypted archive:

# Try passwords from a file
unarc try-passwords archive.arj -f passwords.txt

# Try passwords from all .txt files in a directory (recursive)
unarc tp encrypted.7z -d ~/wordlists/

# Try passwords from stdin (pipe from another tool)
crunch 4 6 abc123 | unarc tp archive.zip --stdin

# Select a specific small file for faster testing
unarc tp large_archive.rar -f passwords.txt -e "small_file.txt"

Command Reference

unarc list (alias: l)

List contents of an archive.

Usage: unarc list <ARCHIVE>

Arguments:
  <ARCHIVE>  Archive file to list

unarc extract (alias: x)

Extract files from an archive.

Usage: unarc extract [OPTIONS] <ARCHIVE>

Arguments:
  <ARCHIVE>  Archive file to extract

Options:
  -o, --output <OUTPUT>      Output directory [default: .]
  -f, --force                Overwrite existing files
  -p, --password <PASSWORD>  Password for encrypted archives
  -h, --help                 Print help

unarc formats

Show all supported archive formats with their extensions and magic bytes.

unarc try-passwords (alias: tp)

Test passwords against an encrypted archive using parallel processing.

Usage: unarc try-passwords [OPTIONS] <ARCHIVE>

Arguments:
  <ARCHIVE>  Archive file to test

Options:
  -f, --password-file <PASSWORD_FILE>  File containing passwords (one per line)
  -d, --password-dir <PASSWORD_DIR>    Directory with password files (*.txt, recursive)
      --stdin                          Read passwords from stdin
  -v, --verbose-interval <N>           Show progress every N passwords [default: 1000]
  -e, --entry <ENTRY>                  Specific entry to test against (for faster testing)
  -h, --help                           Print help

Features:

• Parallel processing using all CPU cores (via rayon)
• Multiple input sources: single file, directory of wordlists, or stdin
• Entry selection: Use -e to pick a small file for faster password testing
• Progress reporting: See passwords/sec and current progress
• Smart verification: Uses CRC32 + size validation to avoid false positives

Supported formats for password testing: ARC, ARJ, ACE, ZIP, RAR, 7z

Tutorial: Using SecLists for Password Testing

SecLists is a collection of common wordlists for security testing, including password lists.

# 1. Clone SecLists (or download specific files)
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/danielmiessler/SecLists.git ~/SecLists

# 2. Use a single password list
unarc tp encrypted.zip -f ~/SecLists/Passwords/Common-Credentials/10k-most-common.txt

# 3. Or use an entire directory of password lists
unarc tp encrypted.arj -d ~/SecLists/Passwords/

# 4. For faster testing, pick a small file in the archive
unarc tp large_archive.7z -d ~/SecLists/Passwords/ -e "readme.txt"

Performance varies by format due to encryption complexity:

• ARC: ~3.5 million passwords/sec (simple XOR)
• ARJ: ~2,000 passwords/sec (Garble)
• ZIP: ~50,000 passwords/sec (ZipCrypto)
• 7z: ~16 passwords/sec (AES-256, by design slow)

Supported Formats

Examples

Extract an encrypted ARJ archive:

unarc extract -p mypassword encrypted.arj -o ./extracted/

List a 7z archive:

unarc list backup.7z

Extract all files from a ZOO archive, overwriting existing:

unarc x -f old_archive.zoo

Crack a password-protected archive:

# First, see which encrypted files are available
unarc tp archive.arj --stdin -e "?"  # Shows list of encrypted entries
# Error: Entry '?' not found. Encrypted entries:
#   - LICENSE (11357 bytes)
#   - bigfile.dat (50000000 bytes)

# Pick the smallest file for faster testing
unarc tp archive.arj -f rockyou.txt -e "LICENSE"

Related

• unarc-rs - The library this CLI is built on

License

MIT OR Apache-2.0