You can use the provided VPN file in a competition to securely connect your workstation or jump box to the Virtual Machines in each challenge.
This VPN type establishes a secure connection between your device and the organisation's network, granting you access to internal resources as if you were directly connected to the network.
Accessing the VPN configuration file
After you enter a competition, you land on Challenges page inside the competition by default. Here, for competitions that have VPN enabled, you will find a Download VPN configuration file[1] button and a Copy VPN configuration link[2] button. You can either download the VPN configuration file directly or copy the download URL to into the Jump Box or elsewhere.
Note: When setting up the connection using VPN configuration link, use a freshly copied link, as it expires every 15 minutes. Once the connection is established, it will persist.
Prerequisite for using the VPN configuration file
To access the VPN configuration file, you'll need client software installed on your system that can handle .ovpn format files. One option is to use OpenVPN Connect as your client. You can download it using the following links:
Using the VPN configuration file
Once you've downloaded the configuration file by clicking the "Download VPN Configuration File" button on the Challenges page in the competition, open this file using the client software you installed in the previous step.
For those using OpenVPN Connect:
For Windows:
Double clicking the downloaded VPN file automatically opens it in the OpenVPN Connect console, from where you can connect it using the connect toggle:
For Linux:
You can use the following command:
sudo openvpn user-config
Using IP access for Virtual Machines in the competition
If the competition's challenges include labs, you can connect to the virtual machines (VMs) by using the IP addresses provided in the challenge drawer. To start a lab within a challenge, click on the Start Lab button, which you'll find in the challenge drawer.
Once you've initiated the lab, wait for about 3-4 minutes, and you will see the IP addresses for the VMs in the lab. You can confirm that the VPN connection is successful by ping testing the lab's access IP addresses using the command prompt on your system.
Connecting to the VPN from Jump Box
After you connect to the Jump Box, to establish a VPN connection through the Jump Box, follow these steps:
Manually:
Download the VPN Configuration File:
Click the "Copy configuration link" button on the platform
In the VDI console press CTRL-SHIFT-ALT to open the copy-paste menu, then paste the download URL into the textbox.
Open Firefox and paste the link into the search bar using the "Paste" button
Right click and save the file as "Conf.ovpn" to the desktop
2. Connecting to the VPN:
Open a terminal where you have saved the config file
Use this command to connect to the VPN:
sudo openvpn conf.ovpnThe command should complete with the text Initialisation sequence complete
Please do not close the terminal after the connection is established
Using the import-vpn command:
Connecting to the VPN:
Click the "Copy VPN configuration link" button on the platform
In the VDI console press CTRL-SHIFT-ALT to open the copy-paste menu, then paste the download URL into the textbox.
Open a terminal and type:
import-vpn "<VPN configuration link>", making sure to enclose the URL in double quotes.Note: When setting up the connection using a link, use a freshly copied link, as it expires every 15 minutes. Once the connection is established, it will persist.
You will be asked to enter the root password; please use 'kali' as the password.
The Command will download the VPN configuration and automatically initiate the connection. Please do not close the terminal after the connection is established.