Challenge 55 ☆

Welcome to challenge Challenge 55. You need to guess the secret that is hidden in Java, Docker, Kubernetes, Vault, AWS or GCP.

.ssh Bastion?

We have seen many so-called "bastion containers". Here people create a Docker container and embed the "secret" to authenticate to the host inside the container. This secret is often an SSH keypair used to authenticate against a host. In some cases the keypair is committed to git and in some cases it is injected into the container before teh container is pushed to a registry.

In order to make the bastion container work, we have to embed an SSH configuration file (.ssh/config) to simplify the SSH connection setup by storing host-specific configurations.

Can you find the private key? Paste its contents into the answer box below.

Answer to solution :

The private key is located inside the .ssh part of the container and accidentally comitted to git in this case ;-).

You can find the key by:

  1. obtaining it from git in the [.ssh/wrongsecrets.keys]() file:

  2. obtaining it from the docker container:

    • Start the container locally with docker run jeroenwillemsen/wrongsecrets:<TAGNAME-HERE>

    • Find the container id by doing docker ps in a next terminal

    • Do docker exec -it <container id> sh

    • go to /home/wrongsecrets/.ssh/

    • do cat wrongsecrets.keys

Risks of sensitive data in SSH configuration files

Developers frequently store SSH connection configurations in .ssh/config files. However, this convenience may lead to the accidental inclusion of sensitive information, such as passwords or keys, which could become forgotten over time.

Forgotten secrets indicate inadequate security checks and poor secret management practices.

This challenge emphasizes the importance of secure storage practices and periodic auditing of sensitive configuration files.


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