-page-....-2f-2f....-2f-2f....-2f-2fetc-2fpasswd < FREE >

Alex immediately suspected that the email was a phishing attempt or a clue left by a malicious actor. They quickly gathered their team and began to investigate.

The -page- suggests a parameter name or delimiter, while each .. escapes one directory level. The final target is /etc/passwd (a Unix file listing user accounts). -page-....-2F-2F....-2F-2F....-2F-2Fetc-2Fpasswd

username:password:UID:GID:GECOS:home_directory:shell Alex immediately suspected that the email was a

Imagine a website that shows you help articles using a link like help.php?page=intro.html . The server looks in its "articles" folder for intro.html . -page-....-2F-2F....-2F-2F....-2F-2Fetc-2Fpasswd