bandit → Bandit Level 12
bandit_12/README.md
OverTheWire xxd hexdump gzip bzip2 tar 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!)

Bandit Level 12

  • data.txt is a hexdump = a text representation of binary data.
    • Underneath it is a file that has been compressed multiple times with different tools, layered one on top of another.
  • First step is reversing the hexdump back to binary with xxd -r data.txt > /tmp/data.
    • xxd -r reverses a hexdump back into the original binary
    • Then use file on the result to identify what kind of compression is on the outermost layer
  • From there it’s a loop: identify the compression type with file, rename the file to the correct extension (e.g. .gz, .bz2, .tar), and decompress with the right tool (gzip -d, bzip2 -d, tar xf).
    • Repeat until file reports the result is ASCII text

Password

5Te8Y4drgCRfCx8ugdwuEX8KFC6k2EUu

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