Natas Solutions

This page contains my solutions for the Natas wargame challenges 6 - 10 from OverTheWire.

Overview

Natas teaches the basics of serverside web-security. Each level contains its own website that requires you to find a vulnerability to gain access to the next level.

Solutions

Level 6 –> Level 7

URL: http://natas6.natas.labs.overthewire.org
Username: natas6
Password: [REDACTED]]

Solution

1. Visit the URL and log in with the provided credentials.
2. You will be presented with a form that requires a secret to access the password for the next level.
3. The secret is initially unknown. To ensure the form is functional, I tested it with a random value, confirming that it processes input.
4. To understand how the secret is verified, click the button to view the source code handling the key.
5. The source code reveals the following PHP script:

   <?
   include "includes/secret.inc";
   
   if(array_key_exists("submit", $_POST)) {
       if($secret == $_POST['secret']) {
           print "Access granted. The password for natas7 is <censored>";
       } else {
           print "Wrong secret";
       }
   }
   ?>
   

6. The script compares the submitted secret with a value stored in includes/secret.inc.
7. Access the includes/secret.inc file to retrieve the $secret value.
8. Enter the retrieved secret into the form to gain access and reveal the password for natas7.

Password for Level 7: [REDACTED]

Level 7 –> Level 8

URL: http://natas7.natas.labs.overthewire.org
Username: natas7
Password: [REDACTED]

Solution

1. Visit the URL and log in with the provided credentials.
2. The page displays two links: “Home” and “About.”
3. Inspect the HTML source code to find a comment indicating that the password for natas8 is located at etc/natas_webpass/natas8. This suggests a path traversal vulnerability.
4. Path traversal attacks exploit vulnerabilities by manipulating file paths to access files and directories outside the intended directory. This is often done using sequences like ../ to navigate up the directory hierarchy.
5. Clicking on the “Home” or “About” links changes the URL, indicating that the page content is dynamically loaded based on the URL.
6. To exploit the path traversal vulnerability, modify the URL to access etc/natas_webpass/natas8. This successfully retrieves the password for the next level.

Password for Level 8: [REDACTED]

Level 8 –> Level 9

URL: http://natas8.natas.labs.overthewire.org
Username: natas8
Password: [REDACTED]

Solution

1. Visit the URL and log in with the provided credentials.
2. The page again presents an input field where a secret must be entered.
3. Inspect the source code with the Link to the bottom right of it to find the PHP script responsible for handling the secret:

   <?
   $encodedSecret = "3d3d516343746d4d6d6c315669563362";
   
   function encodeSecret($secret) {
       return bin2hex(strrev(base64_encode($secret)));
   }
   
   if(array_key_exists("submit", $_POST)) {
       if(encodeSecret($_POST['secret']) == $encodedSecret) {
           print "Access granted. The password for natas9 is <censored>";
       } else {
           print "Wrong secret";
       }
   }
   ?>
   

4. The script encodes the secret using a combination of base64_encode, strrev, and bin2hex functions. The encoded secret is then compared to a predefined value.
5. To find the correct secret, reverse the encoding process. Use a tool like CyberChef to decode the encodedSecret value.
6. Enter the decoded secret into the input field to gain access and reveal the password for natas9.

Password for Level 9: [REDACTED]

Level 9 –> Level 10

URL: http://natas9.natas.labs.overthewire.org
Username: natas9
Password: [REDACTED]

Solution

1. Visit the URL and log in with the provided credentials. You will see an input field with a search button.
2. Inspect the source code to understand how the input is processed:

   <?
   $key = "";
   
   if(array_key_exists("needle", $_REQUEST)) {
       $key = $_REQUEST["needle"];
   }
   
   if($key != "") {
       passthru("grep -i $key dictionary.txt");
   }
   ?>
   

3. The code uses the passthru function to execute a grep command on dictionary.txt with the user-provided needle parameter. However, the input is not sanitized, leading to a command injection vulnerability.
4. Test the input field by entering a simple parameter to observe the behavior.
5. Exploit the vulnerability by crafting a malicious input. Use a semicolon ; to terminate the current command and inject a new command: needle=test;cat%20/etc/natas_webpass/natas10. This retrieves the password for the next level.

Password for Level 10: [REDACTED]

Level 10 –> Level 11

URL: http://natas10.natas.labs.overthewire.org
Username: natas10
Password: [REDACTED]

Solution

1. Visit the URL and log in with the provided credentials. You will see a search field similar to the previous level.
2. Inspect the source code to understand the input processing:

   <?
   $key = "";
   
   if(array_key_exists("needle", $_REQUEST)) {
       $key = $_REQUEST["needle"];
   }
   
   if($key != "") {
       if(preg_match('/[;|&]/', $key)) {
           print "Input contains an illegal character!";
       } else {
           passthru("grep -i $key dictionary.txt");
       }
   }
   ?>
   

3. The code uses the passthru function to execute a grep command on dictionary.txt with the user-provided needle parameter. However, characters such as ;, |, and & are forbidden to prevent command injection.
4. Exploit the vulnerability by using a regex pattern. The payload needle=.%20/etc/natas_webpass/natas11&submit=Search is crafted to bypass the restrictions.
5. The . in regex matches any character, allowing grep -i . to output all lines containing at least one character, effectively printing the entire content of /etc/natas_webpass/natas11.

Password for Level 11: [REDACTED]