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    There is no "cost factor for SHA-512". That seems to be some unnamed scheme which uses SHA-512, which is not further specified here. Tools such as hashcat (or even crypt) should not be used for algorithm definitions, mainly because the authors seem to have no idea themselves whatsoever. Commented Feb 1, 2022 at 10:12
  • @MaartenBodewes I slightly clarified my answer to say that it is not hash functions that support a variable work/cost factor (SHA-512 has a fixed loop of 80 iterations), but that it is the calling libraries that may do. My original answer was a bit imprecise, but this is what the man pages conveyed to me back then (now quoted in my answer). I also added a link to the whitepaper and specification by the author and the working group. I don't think that the "authors seem to have no idea themselves whatsoever"; the algorithm has been providing POSIX system user authentication since 15 years. Commented Feb 1, 2022 at 17:43
  • A very similar idea (SHA-256 instead of SHA-512) is discussed in this duplicate question: Is using 100,000 iterations of sha256 good enough for password storage? Commented Feb 1, 2022 at 17:50