I've been given a puzzler by a work colleague. He has a file with sensitive data, maintained with "vi -x". He wants to get a perl script to be able to read the file, given the password.

I know that the standard crypt function is one way - from perldoc -f crypt:

Note that "crypt" is intended to be a one-way function, much like breaking eggs to make an omelette. There is no (known) corresponding decrypt function. As a result, this function isn't all that useful for cryptography. (For that, see your nearby CPAN mirror.)
For the time being, I have advised him to backtick the shell's crypt command. I know that this is insecure by way of making the password visible to ps, but this will allow him to develop the rest of the script.

So, How can I get the contents of this file? Is there a module that will do the trick amongst the hundred Crypt:: modules?

Any help would be appreciated.

--
I'm Not Just Another Perl Hacker


In reply to How to decrypt a file encrypted with vi -x or shell crypt by rinceWind

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":



  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.