You can spot base64 encoded JSON, certificates, and private keys
I was working on my homelab and examined a file that was supposed to contain encrypted content that I could safely commit on a Github repository. The file looked like this
Hm, key provider? Password key? In an encrypted file? That doesn’t sound right. The problem is that this file is generated by taking a password, deriving a key from it, and encrypting the content with that key. I don’t know what the derived key could look like, but it could be that long indecipherable string.
I asked a colleague to have a look and he said “Oh that? It looks like a base64 encoded JSON. Give it a go to see what’s inside.”
I couldn’t believe my colleague had decoded the base64 string on the fly, so I asked. “What gave it away? Was it the trailing equal signs at the end for padding? But how did you know it was base64 encoded JSON and not just a base64 string?”
I did a few tests in my terminal, and he was right! You can spot base64 json with your naked eye, and you don’t need to decode it on the fly!
