Bandit Level 10 → Level 11

ssh bandit10@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

The password for the next level is stored in the file data.txt, which contains base64 encoded data

Alrighty, so we know that the file contains base64 encoded data, so let’s verify that quickly.

bandit10@bandit:~$ cat data.txt 
VGhlIHBhc3N3b3JkIGlzIGR0UjE3M2ZaS2IwUlJzREZTR3NnMlJXbnBOVmozcVJyCg==

The biggest tell that this is base64 encoded data is the trailing equal signs, which base64 encoding uses to get the string to a standard size if it is too short. To decode this, we’ll need to introduce the base64 command.

base64

NAME
       base64 - base64 encode/decode data and print to standard output

SYNOPSIS
       base64 [OPTION]... [FILE]

DESCRIPTION
       Base64 encode or decode FILE, or standard input, to standard output.

       With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

       Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

       -d, --decode
              decode data

Taken from the man page for base64

This is all we’re going to need in order to solve this level. Using base64 with the flag -d for decode, we can figure out what the password is.

bandit10@bandit:~$ base64 -d data.txt 
The password is {removed in accordance with game rules}