Bandit: Level 12 => Level 13

The password for the next level is stored in the file data.txt, which is a hexdump of a file that has been repeatedly compressed. For this level it may be useful to create a directory under /tmp in which you can work. Use mkdir with a hard to guess directory name. Or better, use the command “mktemp -d”. Then copy the datafile using cp, and rename it using mv (read the manpages!)

Here are the details which we have from the previous level:

• Host: bandit.labs.overthewire.org
• Port: 2220
• Username: bandit12
• Password: 7x16WNeHIi5YkIhWsfFIqoognUTyj9Q4

So, The SSH syntax will be:

sshpass -p 7x16WNeHIi5YkIhWsfFIqoognUTyj9Q4 ssh [email protected] -p 2220

As we know from the hint, the password for the next level is stored in the file data.txt, which is encoded and compressed multiple times. So, Let begin:

From data.txt file content, it seems like it contains the hex value of some type of file. So, first of all, we need to reverse the file from hex to its original form. But, I got a permission denied error, likely because we don’t have write privileges in our home directory. So, we’ll create a temporary directory in /tmp to accomplish our task.

1. Create a temporary directory in /tmp and change to that directory:

   mkdir /tmp/data
   cd /tmp/data
   

2. Reverse the hex back to the original file format:

   xxd -r ~/data.txt data1
   

   Output of ls -a:

   ls -a
   .  ..  data1
   

3. Check the file type:

   file data1
   # Output: data1: gzip compressed data, was "data2.bin", last modified: Sun Jun 16 02:47:25 2024, max compression, from Unix, original size modulo 2^32 578
   

4. Since the file is gzip compressed data, rename it with .gz extension and unzip it:

   mv -v data1 data1.gz
   gunzip -d data1.gz
   

   Output of ls -a:

   ls -a
   .  ..  data1
   

5. Check the file type again:

   mv -v data1 data2
   file data2
   # Output: data2: bzip2 compressed data, block size = 900k
   

6. Since the file is bzip2 compressed data, rename it with .bz2 extension and unzip it:

   mv -v data2 data2.bz2
   bunzip2 data2.bz2
   

   Output of ls -a:

   ls -a
   .  ..  data2
   

7. Check the file type again:

   mv -v data2 data3
   file data3
   # Output: data3: gzip compressed data, was "data4.bin", last modified: Sun Jun 16 02:47:25 2024, max compression, from Unix, original size modulo 2^32 20480
   

8. Since the file is gzip compressed data again, rename it with .gz extension and unzip it:

   mv -v data3 data3.gz
   gunzip -d data3.gz
   

   Output of ls -a:

   ls -a
   .  ..  data3
   

9. Check the file type again:

   mv -v data3 data4
   file data4
   # Output: data4: POSIX tar archive (GNU)
   

10. Since the file is a tar archive, rename it with .tar extension and extract it:

    mv -v data4 data4.tar
    tar -xvf data4.tar
    

    Output of ls -a:

    ls -a
    .  ..  data4.tar  data5.bin
    

11. Check the file type of the extracted file:

    file data5.bin
    # Output: data5.bin: POSIX tar archive (GNU)
    

12. Since the file is a tar archive again, rename it with .tar extension and extract it:

    mv -v data5.bin data5.tar
    tar -xvf data5.tar
    

    Output of ls -a:

    ls -a
    .  ..  data4.tar  data5.tar  data6.bin
    

13. Remove the tar file and check the file type of the next extracted file:

    rm -v data5.tar
    file data6.bin
    # Output: data6.bin: bzip2 compressed data, block size = 900k
    

14. Since the file is bzip2 compressed data again, rename it with .bz2 extension and unzip it:

    mv -v data6.bin data6.bz2
    bunzip2 data6.bz2
    

    Output of ls -a:

    ls -a
    .  ..  data4.tar  data6
    

15. Check the file type again:

    mv -v data6 data7
    file data7
    # Output: data7: POSIX tar archive (GNU)
    

16. Since the file is a tar archive again, rename it with .tar extension and extract it:

    mv -v data7 data7.tar
    tar -xvf data7.tar
    

    Output of ls -a:

    ls -a
    .  ..  data4.tar  data7.tar  data8.bin
    

17. Check the file type of the next extracted file:

    file data8.bin
    # Output: data8.bin: gzip compressed data, was "data9.bin", last modified: Sun Jun 16 02:47:25 2024, max compression, from Unix, original size modulo 2^32 49
    

18. Since the file is gzip compressed data again, rename it with .gz extension and unzip it:

    mv -v data8.bin data8.gz
    gunzip -d data8.gz
    

    Output of ls -a:

    ls -a
    .  ..  data4.tar  data7.tar  data8
    

19. Check the file type again:

    file data8
    # Output: data8: ASCII text
    

20. Finally, read the contents of the ASCII text file to get the password:

    cat data8
    # Output: The password is FO5dwFsc0cbaIiH0h8J2eUks2vdTDwAn
    

21. Optional: Rename the file for clarity:

    mv -v data8 password.txt
    cat password.txt
    # Output: The password is FO5dwFsc0cbaIiH0h8J2eUks2vdTDwAn