Bandit 13 → 14

OverTheWire Linux Progressive

Goal: use the private key in the home directory to log in as bandit14 and read its stored password.

Approach

There is no password here, only a private key. Use it to authenticate as bandit14, then read that user’s password from the system store.

bandit13@bandit

bandit13@bandit:~$ ls
sshkey.private
bandit13@bandit:~$ ssh -i sshkey.private bandit14@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220
bandit14@bandit:~$ cat /etc/bandit_pass/bandit14
The password you are looking for is: <password>

PasswordMU4VWeTyJk8ROof1qqmcBPaLh7lDCPvSReveal

Why it works

Public-key authentication proves identity by signing a server challenge with the private key, so no secret crosses the wire. The server only needs the matching public key in authorized_keys. Each level’s own password also lives at /etc/bandit_pass/banditN, readable solely by that user, so a shell as bandit14 can read it directly.