Exodus Wallet Password Recovery — .seco Vault Decryption Guide (Hashcat 25400)

Q: Where does Exodus store its .seco vault files?

On Windows at %APPDATA%/Exodus/exodus.wallet/, on macOS at ~/Library/Application Support/exodus.wallet/, on Linux at ~/.config/Exodus/exodus.wallet/. The key files are seed.seco, passphrase.seco, and info.seco.

Q: What hashcat mode targets Exodus .seco files?

Hashcat mode 25400 is the official mode for Exodus Desktop Wallet up to v24.x. It uses PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 with AES-256-GCM. Extract the hash using exodus2john.py from John the Ripper's bleeding-jumbo branch.

Q: Can I recover my Exodus password if I have the 12-word phrase?

If you have the 12-word Exodus secret phrase, you do not need password recovery at all. Reinstall Exodus on any machine, choose 'Restore wallet', enter the phrase, and your funds will appear. The password only protects the local file on disk.

Q: What is the GPU speed for Exodus hashcat mode 25400?

An RTX 4090 achieves approximately 2,000,000 H/s on Exodus mode 25400 with 25,000 iterations. Newer Exodus versions (2023+) use 250,000 iterations, reducing speed to ~200,000 H/s. This is still fast enough to exhaust a targeted dictionary in hours.

Q: Is Exodus password recovery realistic for random passwords?

Only when there is a human pattern to exploit. Exodus uses AES-256-GCM with PBKDF2 — the cryptography is sound. Recovery succeeds when the user provides useful hints: approximate length, base words, number/symbol preferences. Our success rate is ~45% with at least one useful hint.

Exodus is the most popular desktop multi-chain wallet, supporting Bitcoin, Ethereum, and over 260 other assets. It stores all encrypted secrets in files with the .seco extension, protected by a password-derived key. Unlike many mobile-first wallets, Exodus's desktop vault is well-documented and supported by hashcat, making it one of the most attackable wallet formats available.

Before you proceed: If you have your 12-word Exodus secret phrase written down, restore into a fresh install and ignore the local password. The phrase is the master secret for all coins. Password recovery is only meaningful when the phrase is also lost but the encrypted vault remains.

About Exodus Wallet

Exodus was launched in 2015 by JP Richardson and Daniel Castagnoli and has grown into one of the most recognized multi-chain wallets with over 10 million downloads. It uses a custom Secure Container (SECO) file format to store encrypted seed material, transaction metadata, and asset configuration. Exodus does not use BIP39 mnemonics natively — its "secret phrase" is a 12-word mnemonic from Exodus's own word list, not the standard BIP39 list, though it can also import BIP39 wallets.

Exodus encryption details

Parameter	Value
KDF	PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256
Iterations (pre-2023)	~25,000
Iterations (2023+)	~250,000
Cipher	AES-256-GCM
Key length	256 bits
Salt length	32 bytes (random)
Hashcat mode	25400
GPU speed (RTX 4090, 25K iter)	~2,000,000 H/s
GPU speed (RTX 4090, 250K iter)	~200,000 H/s

Locating the .seco vault files

Exodus file locations

Windows: %APPDATA%\Exodus\exodus.wallet\
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/exodus.wallet/
Linux: ~/.config/Exodus/exodus.wallet/

The most important file is seed.seco which contains the encrypted master seed. Copy the entire exodus.wallet folder to a safe location before proceeding.

Extracting the hash for hashcat mode 25400

John the Ripper's bleeding-jumbo branch includes exodus2john.py, which reads a .seco file and outputs a hash in hashcat-compatible format:

# Download exodus2john.py from bleeding-jumbo
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openwall/john/bleeding-jumbo/run/exodus2john.py

# Extract the hash from seed.seco
python3 exodus2john.py ~/exodus_backup/exodus.wallet/seed.seco > exodus.hash

# The output looks like:
# seed.seco:$exodus$1*25000*f3c2a1b4...a8*9b8e7d2c...f1*aa45be...3c

# Verify hashcat recognizes it
hashcat --example-hashes | grep -A2 25400

# Attack with dictionary + rules
hashcat -m 25400 -a 0 exodus.hash rockyou.txt \
    -r OneRuleToRuleThemAll.rule \
    -w 3 --status --status-timer=10

# Mask attack for partial password knowledge
hashcat -m 25400 -a 3 exodus.hash "?u?l?l?l?l?l?d?d!" \
    --increment --increment-min=6 --increment-max=10 \
    -w 3

The .seco file format breakdown

Understanding the binary layout helps when exodus2john.py fails on corrupted files. The SECO container format is:

Offset  Size  Field
------  ----  -----
0x00    4     Magic bytes "SECO"
0x04    1     Version byte
0x05    4     KDF iteration count (uint32 LE)
0x09    32    PBKDF2 salt (random)
0x29    12    AES-GCM initialization vector (nonce)
0x35    N     AES-256-GCM ciphertext + 16-byte GCM auth tag

For newer Exodus versions (v24+, 2024-2026), there may be additional header fields. Theexodus2john.py tool is updated regularly — always use the latest bleeding-jumbo build.

Recovery feasibility

Feasible

• Password under 10 characters with known structure
• Old Exodus (pre-2023, 25K iterations — fast to attack)
• Password derived from personal words + year/digit/symbol
• You remember 60%+ of the characters or the pattern
• You have seed.seco intact on disk

Unlikely

• Password manager generated 15+ character strings
• Modern Exodus (250K iterations) + strong password
• No seed.seco file (Exodus was uninstalled with data deletion)
• Truly random password with no human pattern

Step-by-step recovery guide

Close Exodus so it releases file locks on the wallet folder.
Back up the entire exodus.wallet folder to external media.
Run exodus2john.py against seed.seco to extract the hash.
Build a candidate list from everything you remember: pet names, family names, places, years, favourite numbers, common passwords you used in that era.
Run hashcat with mode 25400, your dictionary, and common rules (OneRuleToRuleThemAll, dive.rule).
If no match, try mask attacks for partial patterns: known prefix, known length, known character types.
If still stuck, submit your seed.seco file to a professional recovery service. We crack Exodus vaults daily.

Need Exodus recovery help?

Submit your Exodus .seco file and we will run hashcat mode 25400 against it on our GPU cluster. You pay only if we recover the password.

Submit Exodus vault Free format check

Related guides

Exodus, Atomic & Trust Wallet combined guide — comparison of all three wallets.
Atomic Wallet password recovery — IndexedDB/LevelDB based vault.
btcrecover complete tutorial — for seed-backed attack scenarios.

Frequently asked questions

Where does Exodus store its .seco vault files?

In %APPDATA%/Exodus/exodus.wallet/ on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/exodus.wallet/ on macOS, or ~/.config/Exodus/exodus.wallet/ on Linux.

What hashcat mode targets Exodus .seco files?

Hashcat mode 25400. Extract the hash using exodus2john.py from John the Ripper bleeding-jumbo, then run dictionary/mask attacks normally.

Can I recover my Exodus password if I have the 12-word phrase?

If you have the phrase, you do not need the password. Restore from phrase in a fresh Exodus install — the password only protects the local .seco file.

What is the GPU speed for Exodus hashcat mode 25400?

RTX 4090: ~2,000,000 H/s at 25K iterations (older Exodus) or ~200,000 H/s at 250K iterations (Exodus 2023+).

Is Exodus password recovery realistic for random passwords?

Only with useful hints. Exodus uses strong encryption (AES-256-GCM + PBKDF2). Success relies on exploiting human patterns in password creation.