how to get out of the ftp root directory

I know this sounds suspecious but its for a hacking challange.I got the user name and want to get out of var/ftp/pub(i'm guessing) to another sub directory in var.I have tried to repackage the software(application) that was given for the mission manipulated the text files that were created in the process of starting the application but whatever i try i can seem to get out of the root of ftp and download(mdir displays 2,which may signal that 2 files are in the var subdirectory).but when i try get FILENAME " | more" the telnet client hangs. Please advice.
Is there any way i can download the two file(im guessing) in the var subdirectory without leaving the root of ftp.I am stuck in this challange for the past two days.

Not sure but... More requires user input (space for the next page or a message asking you if it's OK to show the file because it may contain binary) which might explain why telnet seems to "hang" (it's waiting for user input but you cannot reach it so it waits indefinitely).. Try | cat..

Quote:

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I know this sounds suspecious but its for a hacking challange

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This is clearly against the AUP. :)


AUP

To the op: Are you refering to one of the many online hacker challanges? If so which one?
If not, are you refering to server you have permission to do this with? Though pen testing is a valid topic and not a violation of the aup, you will not find any assistance in preforming exploits here. If that is what your looking for you are very likely to recieve a very bad responce from the community.

look sorry but i paid for the membership and it might be against their user policy to mention their wargames server ip adress. If a moderator/admin pm's me about this action i will be more than wiling to share all the info from being banned .Because i am not a regular browser it migh take some time.

For Fsck's sake.....just answer his question and quit being so freaking paranoid!!

hjack, his question might not be easy to answer without the information concerning exactly what he's trying to do...dont take this the wrong way but its like me asking ok im setting up a station on a prexisting network, whats the correct subnet? The only thing is you have to answer the question directly, you cant ask me for any more info.

I don't actually know the answer to your question. My experience with linux is limited to setup and deployment, not necessarily the security. I'm just wondering why you would pay for this "challenge" and then try to take the easy way out.

If you're attempting to do the challenge why are you not just going to hack your way through it the way all the rest of us do when we hit a problem? If you're going to ask questions why can't you just ask members of that community where they obviously have the knowledge and the willingness to share it?

Honestly I'd like to know the answer to this as well, but I'm not going to ask memebers of this community something that, quite frankly, I think I could figure out with about 20 minutes of research on google.


my two cents,

The_Captain

to op. Are you limited to using telnet, or can you use and actual ftp client or even ssh to access the server? Personaly I would try a ftp client for your descibing as to actually downloading the files.

Hi!

As spamdies suggested, try an FTP client or similar apps, I would suggest using Windows Commander/Total Commander (by Christian Ghisler - http://www.ghisler.com/).

Yo!

what server and version? i suppose you've tried the obvious double dot (never can tell).

I havent paid for it directly it came with the membership, they set up wargames for us to hack(we meaning members).It was filled with problems initially,they had the setup wrong and its been there for a long timeso theres not much action in that paticular thread.

I know thses things about my objective
It migh be a binary because it has no extension (./ filename) makes the client(my pc) stop responding.
I dont have any idea on how to open a ssh connection from a windows pc to a linux server
The file that i downloaded dosent have a extension so windows dosent have any program for Opening it in notepad is of no use nor any c compilers/debuggers.
Its not a virus/malicious software for sure
I feel that the community here is a lot more open to basic questions
I am stuck in this problem for the last 2 days ( that takes a lot of googling time )

orion9: the more you post the more confusing this all gets. we're into page two now and i still have no idea what your talking about. if your trying to obscure information your doing too well.

what does ssh have to do with telnet?

putty is a windows ssh client which is ALSO a telnet client as well as an scp and sftp client...what the f are you trying to do?

unix doesn't need to use file extentions so it could be anything,

when you open 'FILENAME' in notepad what do you see? even bin files have strings in them and now that you have 'FILENAME' what are you supposed to do with it?...why did you download it?

if you want to 'hack' this bitch we're going to need some info to help you.

There are a lot of ssh clients for windows, I like puTTY. If you managed to download the file and open it in notpad at least you can tell if its a script or not. if its not a script ./file will not do anything other than error out.

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Originally posted here by spamdies
There are a lot of ssh clients for windows, I like puTTY. If you managed to download the file and open it in notpad at least you can tell if its a script or not. if its not a script ./file will not do anything other than error out.

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if he finds martian speak when its opened in notepad then we'll know he needs to load a live cd if the object is to run it. if we knew what in hell he was trying to do we might be able help him. but the way it is now..."is it bigger than a bread box?" ...this could go on forever.

i am trying to get to the next level
It is an empty file (0 mb size), when i open it using ./ .filename command my telnet client hangs nor does any thing appear when i open it in notepad ( the file name begins with a dot )
my objective is to get to another folder in var outside the ftp root folder
This wargames server is relatively old so there has been not much info at the concerned thread
I am trying to answer all questions in one thread
Some one suggested i use a ssh client so i asked for one

./ means the directory your now in while .filename means its a hidden file. the using of ./ is only necessary if you want to run a script or binary in the same directory your in. you've put a space between the current directory "./" and the file name ".filename" which will only get you an error. more is not an ftp command to begin with. maybe the telnet client your using can't get the error msg from this machine.

in certain unpatched older versions of ftp servers it is possible to "double-dot" out. "cd ../logs" or just "cd ..". the two dots signifing up one level, then into the logs directory. it may be this simple. some ftp servers allow you to execute files. type help to see if the 'site exec' command is listed and see if you can "SITE exec /bin/sh <whatever>".

what does the banner tell you when you log into the ftp server? it should give you version info. do a google search for "&lt;that version&gt; exploit" or "&lt;that version&gt; vulnerability" and see what you turn up. if the banner is turned off use amap to find out whats running.

it's a war game it's gotta be exploitable.