PassGen3: A JavaScript Password Generator

This web app was inspired by the old Java applet version created by Arnold Reinhold, the latest version of which was released in 2003. Because browsers no longer support Java applets, a JavaScript-based web app was created instead. This page is not (yet) mobile-friendly.

To use this generator, just click anywhere in the text area above to ensure it's focused and start typing. At first, dots will be displayed in the text window. After you have typed 64 characters, your password will start to appear. Continue typing to complete the password. Keep typing to generate more passwords. If you wish to save your accumulated entropy across browser sessions, click the blue "Save State" button. An RNG seed will be saved to your browser's local storage. The next time the generator loads, the seed will be loaded and you can immediately start generating passwords. Note: a seed is never saved automatically and must be done so manually.

You can type in anything you like or just close your eyes and type characters at random. For extra credit, type in the serial numbers from a couple of dollar bills or other paper currency. The web app records the time in milliseconds when you press down and release each key and uses these time values, along with the key characters you type, as a source of randomness. There will normally be enough variability in your typing times to ensure that the characters that appear in the text window are highly random.

The PassGen3 web app lets you select a pattern for the random strings it generates. Just pick a template from the selection box at the top of the text area. The following table describes each template and shows its appropriate entropy strength in bits.

Template	Generated Password	Keystrokes	Security	Sample	Suggested Use
Diceware	10 Diceware words (English 8k word list)	65 keys	130 bits	plaza n8 rt tern rainy ghoul dd vx paz masque	High security master passphrase
ASCII	20 graphical ASCII characters (no white space)	70 keys	131 bits	_0=yM2.AC)W[QLGF+R`I	High security password
Pseudowords	8 pronounceable Proquints pseudowords	64 keys	128 bits	zujun safig losab nigoh komug mugor rafon kikoj	High security master passphrase
Alphanumeric	22 alphanumeric characters (0-9, A-Z, a-z)	66 keys	130 bits	Xn0iJQDZYyati6PpfW0qAh	High security password
Alphabetic	28 uppercase ASCII characters (A-Z)	70 keys	131 bits	NZIN NGVG QFUB RDDW ILOM IPIQ SLRE	One time pads
Hexadecimal	32 hexadecimal characters (0-9, A-F)	64 keys	128 bits	9940 0FF2 AFFD 3BF2 4E3C 407B 82A3 3CCD	Symmetric cipher key, Niceware
Decimal	40 decimal digits (0-9)	80 keys	132 bits	52515 86607 84774 55383 51452 60536 55237 70725	Statistical use, one time pads
Senary	50 base-6 digits (1-6)	75 keys	129 bits	55636 41266 42426 24335 15236 33515 46343 53154 36554 66212	Diceware, board games

This web app is not the most secure way to make your password! Traces of the passwords you create can be left behind in your computer's memory, among other risks. Clicking "Save State" will store a 32 byte seed from the RNG state to disk and save your preferred cipher. Using the Keccak sponge and the Spritz stream cipher with key presses is backtracking resistant such that an adversary should not be able to regenerate prior passwords from it. They also should not be able to predict your keystrokes, so future passwords should be improbable to generate also. But a leaked RNG state could present other risks. For maximum security we still recommend using ordinary dice to select a password or passphrase. See the Diceware page for more details.

PassGen3 awards only 2 bits of entropy per character typed. This is based on Shannon entropy of English text and synchronization between keyboard typing and neural oscillations. There may be more entropy per keystroke, but 2 bits is about as liberal as I dare award and it's enough to generate passwords very quickly. As such, you will be required to type 64 characters on page load to seed the state with at least 128 bits of entropy before passwords begin to appear. PassGen3 does track all entropy, accumulated and used, to make your typing as efficient as possible.

The security margins of each password type are as follows:

Diceware: 13 bits per word
ASCII: ~6.55 bits per character
Pseudowords: 16 bits per word
Alphanumeric: ~5.95 bits per character
Alphabetic: ~4.70 bits per character
Hexadecimal: 4 bits per character
Decimal: ~3.32 bits per character
Senary: ~2.58 bits per character

Nonetheless, using this web app to generate a password is far safer than picking your pet's name or your mother's birthday. Because JavaScript web apps download from an untrusted web server, there is risk of mischief. This web app does not make any network connections, so you can run it offline after you download it and inspect the source code. People desiring even greater assurance in security can use the dice-based password generation techniques described at https://www.diceware.com.

You should be aware that someone could substitute a bogus version of the web app that creates apparently random passwords that are, in fact, easy for the adversary to guess. To reduce this risk, the source code of the web app is published as open source. The Keccak sponge and the Spritz stream cipher were also chosen as they are easy to understand and the source code should be easy to read for those moderately familiar with programming.

Random generation methods will very rarely create a password that is an English word or phrase or simple letter pattern. If a password looks like an ordinary word (or, with the "ASCII" template, is all the same case) simply type some more and use the next password.

PassGen3 uses cryptographic sponge constructions in duplex mode for mixing randomness. The first version of PassGen used an entropy distiller with a 64-bit internal state, based on a linear congruential algorithm. PassGen2 used an entropy distiller based on the weak RC4 cipher. PassGen3 provides Keccak-based and Spritz-based sponges for mixing input and generating output. These are experimental entropy-distillation designs; their security has not been established.

The Keccak-based implementation maintains a 1600-bit state consisting of 25 64-bit lanes initialized to zero. It uses Keccak-f[1600] with SHAKE256's rate and capacity in a custom duplex construction. The Spritz implementation initializes a 256-byte permutation state to the null permutation. Keyboard event data, including key values and timestamps are then mixed into each design's state, and output bytes are generated from that state.

The Keccak-f[1600] permutation has been checked against standard known-answer tests. The custom duplex framing and overall construction have no standard test vectors and have not be independently validated. Also, published analysis of Spritz have shown that it can be distinguished from true random white noise. As such, a countermeasure has been added to address the distinguishers found in the key stream. This still not not establish that Spritz output is indistinguishable from true randomness however.

When using an 8-bit value to select a character from an alphabet of length "n", there is a risk of bias if "n" does not evenly divide 256. To eliminate this, candidate cipher output bytes are discarded if they are outside of the range that is the largest multiple of "n" less than or equal to 256.

PassGen3 performs extensive absorbing of initialization data via the way of a browser fingerprint and requiring the user to type at least 64 characters when the page is loaded. The key presses are required to key the cipher state with at least 128 bits of keyboard entropy.

PassGen and PassGen2 are free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

PassGen3 is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 3 as published by the Free Software Foundation, with two additional restrictions:

You may not redistribute versions modified to create "malware," including versions that deliberately produce inaccurate or misleading results or that surreptitiously capture data entered by the user or that produce "random" values that are predictable or guessable.
You may not redistribute this program in ways that violate the export control laws of the United States.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. If the previous link does not work, you can request a copy of the license by writing to the Free Software Foundation, 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110, USA.