overthewire-writeups

Bandit06 -> 07: System-Wide Search

Level Description

The password for the next level is stored somewhere on the server and has all of the following properties:

Owned by user bandit7
Owned by group bandit6
33 bytes in size

The Process

This time, the file wasn’t just in a local folder—it was somewhere in the entire system. Searching the whole server means encountering thousands of files I don’t have permission to read, which usually clutters the screen with “Permission denied” errors.

To find the password, I used the find command starting from the root directory /. I also used a clever trick to hide all the error messages by redirecting them to /dev/null.

Here is the command I used:

$ find / -user bandit7 -group bandit6 -size 33c 2>/dev/null

Here’s why it worked:

/: Starts the search from the very top of the Linux file system.
-user bandit7 & -group bandit6: Filters for the specific owner and group.
2>/dev/null: This sends all error messages (Standard Error) to a “black hole” so I only see the actual file path I’m looking for.

The command gave me one single path. I used cat on it, and the password was mine!

Password For the Next Level

[SPOILER]

What I Learned

Global Searching: I learned how to search across the entire operating system, not just my home folder.
Redirection (2>/dev/null): This is a life-saver for cleaning up terminal output by ignoring errors.
Ownership Filters: I learned that files can be found based on who owns them, which is a key part of Linux security.

Helpful Reading Material

Dealing with errors: Understanding 2>/dev/null
Root directory explained: The Linux Directory Structure