OverTheWire: Bandit Level 17 → Level 18
The Bandit wargames are aimed at absolute beginners. It will teach the basics needed to be able to play other wargames.
Level Goal
There are 2 files in the homedirectory: passwords.old and passwords.new. The password for the next level is in passwords.new and is the only line that has been changed between passwords.old and passwords.new
NOTE: if you have solved this level and see ‘Byebye!’ when trying to log into bandit18, this is related to the next level, bandit19
Commands you may need to solve this level
cat, grep, ls, diff
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> whatis cat
cat (1) - concatenate files and print on the standard output
> whatis grep
grep (1) - print lines that match patterns
> whatis ls
ls (1) - list directory contents
> whatis diff
diff (1) - list different between files
Note: Not all commands need to be used to complete level
Helpful Reading Material
Diff Command in Linux | Linuxize
Solution
View the files that are present in the home directory
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bandit17@bandit:~$ ls
passwords.new passwords.old
We know that both the files differ in only one line and that line consists of the password that we require. We can view the changes that have been made in files using the diff
command
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bandit17@bandit:~$ diff passwords.old passwords.new
42c42
< w0Yfolrc5bwjS4qw5mq1nnQi6mF03bii
---
> kfBf3eYk5BPBRzwjqutbbfE887SVc5Yd
Note: The <
sign represents the lines that have been removed and the >
sign represents the lines that have been added in its place
The line after the >
sign is the password for the next level
Logout of the current session and login into the next level using the password for bandit18
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> ssh bandit18@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220
This is a OverTheWire game server. More information on http://www.overthewire.org/wargames
bandit18@bandit.labs.overthewire.org's password: kfBf3eYk5BPBRzwjqutbbfE887SVc5Yd
.
.
.
Byebye !
Connection to bandit.labs.overthewire.org closed.
Note: When we try to log in we are going to get kicked out saying “Bye-bye!”. This is normal, this is part of the challenge for the next level