Can two different strings generate the same MD5 hash code?

Question

For each of our binary assets we generate a MD5 hash. This is used to check whether a certain binary asset is already in our application. But is it possible that two differe

Answer 1

Yes, it is possible that two different strings can generate the same MD5 hash code.

Here is a simple test using very similar binary message in hex string:

$ echo '4dc968ff0ee35c209572d4777b721587d36fa7b21bdc56b74a3dc0783e7b9518afbfa200a8284bf36e8e4b55b35f427593d849676da0d1555d8360fb5f07fea2' | xxd -r -p | tee >/dev/null >(md5) >(sha1sum)
c6b384c4968b28812b676b49d40c09f8af4ed4cc  -
008ee33a9d58b51cfeb425b0959121c9

$ echo '4dc968ff0ee35c209572d4777b721587d36fa7b21bdc56b74a3dc0783e7b9518afbfa202a8284bf36e8e4b55b35f427593d849676da0d1d55d8360fb5f07fea2' | xxd -r -p | tee >/dev/null >(md5) >(sha1sum)
c728d8d93091e9c7b87b43d9e33829379231d7ca  -
008ee33a9d58b51cfeb425b0959121c9

They generate different SHA-1 sum, but the same MD5 hash value. Secondly the strings are very similar, so it's difficult to find the difference between them.

The difference can be found by the following command:

$ diff -u <(echo 4dc968ff0ee35c209572d4777b721587d36fa7b21bdc56b74a3dc0783e7b9518afbfa200a8284bf36e8e4b55b35f427593d849676da0d1555d8360fb5f07fea2 | fold -w2) <(echo 4dc968ff0ee35c209572d4777b721587d36fa7b21bdc56b74a3dc0783e7b9518afbfa202a8284bf36e8e4b55b35f427593d849676da0d1d55d8360fb5f07fea2 | fold -w2)
--- /dev/fd/63  2016-02-05 12:55:04.000000000 +0000
+++ /dev/fd/62  2016-02-05 12:55:04.000000000 +0000
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
 af
 bf
 a2
-00
+02
 a8
 28
 4b
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@
 6d
 a0
 d1
-55
+d5
 5d
 83
 60

Above collision example is taken from Marc Stevens: Single-block collision for MD5, 2012; he explains his method, with source code (alternate link to the paper).

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Another test:

$ echo '0e306561559aa787d00bc6f70bbdfe3404cf03659e704f8534c00ffb659c4c8740cc942feb2da115a3f4155cbb8607497386656d7d1f34a42059d78f5a8dd1ef' | xxd -r -p | tee >/dev/null >(md5) >(sha1sum)
756f3044edf52611a51a8fa7ec8f95e273f21f82  -
cee9a457e790cf20d4bdaa6d69f01e41

$ echo '0e306561559aa787d00bc6f70bbdfe3404cf03659e744f8534c00ffb659c4c8740cc942feb2da115a3f415dcbb8607497386656d7d1f34a42059d78f5a8dd1ef' | xxd -r -p | tee >/dev/null >(md5) >(sha1sum)
6d5294e385f50c12745a4d901285ddbffd3842cb  -
cee9a457e790cf20d4bdaa6d69f01e41

Different SHA-1 sum, the same MD5 hash.

Difference is in one byte:

$ diff -u <(echo 0e306561559aa787d00bc6f70bbdfe3404cf03659e704f8534c00ffb659c4c8740cc942feb2da115a3f4155cbb8607497386656d7d1f34a42059d78f5a8dd1ef | fold -w2) <(echo 0e306561559aa787d00bc6f70bbdfe3404cf03659e744f8534c00ffb659c4c8740cc942feb2da115a3f415dcbb8607497386656d7d1f34a42059d78f5a8dd1ef | fold -w2)
--- /dev/fd/63  2016-02-05 12:56:43.000000000 +0000
+++ /dev/fd/62  2016-02-05 12:56:43.000000000 +0000
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 03
 65
 9e
-70
+74
 4f
 85
 34
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
 a3
 f4
 15
-5c
+dc
 bb
 86
 07

Above example is adapted from Tao Xie and Dengguo Feng: Construct MD5 Collisions Using Just A Single Block Of Message, 2010.

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Related:

• Are there two known strings which have the same MD5 hash value? at Crypto.SE