THC-Hydra

v9.5The Hacker's Choice

Tests authentication strength against live services — SSH, RDP, SMB, HTTP forms, FTP, LDAP and more — with wordlists and thread control. In a defensive lab it is how you generate the failed-logon storm your detection is supposed to catch. The range runs it against authored services with authored credentials.

Category: Credential attack & password auditing
Package: hydra
Runs on: Linux · Windows
Commands: hydra, hydra-wizard, pw-inspector

Attempts are evaluated against authored service credentials and generate authentication telemetry on the target host.

Install it

The scripts below install the real The Hacker's Choice package on your own machine — read them first, and run them somewhere you are allowed to change. Inside the range, one press puts the simulated package on your next machine.

Linux installer (shell script)

install-hydra.sh

Windows installer (PowerShell)

Install-hydra.ps1

On a range machine

Add it to your kit and every machine you launch comes with it.

On Linux

Debian, Ubuntu, Kali (apt)

Refresh the package lists
```
sudo apt update
```
Install THC-Hydra
```
sudo apt install -y hydra
```

RHEL, Fedora (dnf)

Install THC-Hydra
```
sudo dnf install -y hydra
```
Package names drift between distributions; search first if this one misses.

Arch (pacman)

Install THC-Hydra
```
sudo pacman -S --noconfirm hydra
```

Alpine (apk)

Install THC-Hydra
```
sudo apk add hydra
```
Package names drift between distributions; search first if this one misses.

Check it worked

Confirm it landed on PATH
```
which hydra
```
Check the version
```
hydra --version
```
The range reports 9.5.

Remove it

Take it off again
```
sudo apt remove --purge hydra
```

On Windows

Windows Package Manager (winget)

Search the catalog
```
winget search hydra
```
Install THC-Hydra
```
winget install --id hydra -e
```
Package names drift between distributions; search first if this one misses.

Chocolatey (choco)

Install THC-Hydra
```
choco install hydra -y
```
Run the shell as administrator.

Check it worked

Confirm it resolves
```
where hydra
```
Check the version
```
hydra --version
```
The range reports 9.5.

Remove it

Take it off again
```
winget uninstall --id hydra
```

Inside the range

Tick it on the launch screen
Under THC-Hydra's category on the advanced tool shelf. A lab that depends on it locks the toggle on and says why.
Or install it from a range terminal
```
sudo apt install -y hydra
```
The simulated package manager seeds the same binaries, config and receipt the shelf toggle does.
Everything here is simulated
No software is downloaded and nothing executes — the range answers from authored fixtures.

Labs that use THC-Hydra

Reps: Range Targets — swing at the piñataA per-run virtual estate of intentionally-weak boxes. Use nmap, curl, sqlmap, nikto and hydra against the range's own hosts; the target names, credentials, tables and flags change every run, so the walkthrough has to be earned, not memorised.
Reps: Range Targets — swing at the piñata (Windows)The Range Targets estate, worked from a Windows analyst box. Same per-run virtual targets, driven with PowerShell, nmap, sqlmap, nikto and hydra from a Windows console — the names, credentials, tables and flags still change every run.
Pentest: External Recon to FootholdEnumerate a customer's public perimeter from an approved scan window, chain a stale service to a foothold, and file the first finding with CVSS and remediation before you touch anything else.