To find the flag (the password), search for the transition from "Failed password" to "Accepted password" for that specific user and IP. grep "Accepted password" log_2022-11-16T013005.log Use code with caution. Copied to clipboard
The log contains thousands of entries from a single IP address——attempting to log in via SSH as the user developer . The timestamps show multiple attempts per second, a clear indicator of an automated brute-force script. 3. Finding the Successful Entry log_2022-11-16T013005.log
: Identify the attacker's source IP, the targeted username, and the successful password. Analysis Steps 1. Initial Inspection To find the flag (the password), search for
Since the log file itself often doesn't contain the password string in the "Accepted" line, the challenge requires you to look at the last "Failed password" attempt immediately preceding the "Accepted" entry, or the challenge description implies the password is the final one in the attacker's wordlist visible in the log sequence. The timestamps show multiple attempts per second, a
# Count failed attempts by IP grep "Failed password" log_2022-11-16T013005.log | awk 'print $(NF-3)' | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr Use code with caution. Copied to clipboard
The log file is a central artifact in the "Forensic" challenge from the 2022 CAICC (Cyber Assessment and Training Center) competition.
Nov 16 01:35:12 ubuntu sshd[4201]: Accepted password for developer from 192.168.1.15 port 52432 ssh2