OverTheWire: Bandit Level 28 → Level 29

Level Goal

There is a git repository at ssh://bandit28-git@localhost/home/bandit28-git/repo. The password for the user bandit28-git is the same as for the user bandit28.
Clone the repository and find the password for the next level.

Commands you may need to solve this level

git

> whatis git  
Git (3pm)        - Perl interface to the Git version control system  
git (1)          - the stupid content tracker

Helpful Reading Material

Version Control (Git) · the missing semester of your cs education

About Git - GitHub Docs

Solution

From the question, we understand that at this level we are going to be working with Git. Before we clone the repository let’s make a folder in the /tmp directory as from some of the previous levels we know we only have proper permissions to save files in the /tmp folder.

bandit28@bandit:~$ cd /tmp/

bandit28@bandit:/tmp$ mkdir git_level28

bandit28@bandit:/tmp$ cd git_level28

bandit28@bandit:/tmp/git_level28$

Now that we have created our working directory let’s clone the repository.

The password for the repository is the same as bandit28

Password: 0ef186ac70e04ea33b4c1853d2526fa2

Now that we have the repository cloned to our machine. Let us see what files are present in the repository.

We see that there is a file called “README.md” in the folder. Let’s have a look at the contents of this file.

Note: The .git directory found in the repository is created by git that consists of files that are required for the proper functioning of the features that are provided by git.

bandit28@bandit:/tmp/git_level28/repo$ cat README.md   
# Bandit Notes  
Some notes for level29 of bandit.

## credentials

- username: bandit29  
- password: xxxxxxxxxx

Looks like the password for bandit29 has been censored in the README.md file. There is a possibility that in one of the previous commits the password was present in plain text. Let us have a look at the commit log of this repository.

From the output, we understand that initially a README.md file was added. Later some missing data (credentials) was added to the file and in the latest commit the info leak was fixed. So if we go back one commit we should be able to see the credentials.

To go to a previous version of the repository we make use of the git checkout command along with the commit id.

Note: When specifying the commit id it is not necessary to use the entire string. The starting 6 digits should be more than sufficient.

Where we go we have found the password for the next level !!!

Logout of the current session and log in as bandit29 to start the next level

> ssh bandit29@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

This is a OverTheWire game server. More information on http://www.overthewire.org/wargames

bandit29@bandit.labs.overthewire.org's password: bbc96594b4e001778eee9975372716b2