Archive

Research Notes

84 writeups across 11 tracks. Search by title, tag, or keyword.

picoCTF - General Skills

ABSOLUTE NANO

picoCTF Absolute Nano writeup using GTFOBins nano technique with sudo privileges to escalate access and read the flag file.

 picoCTF - Blockchain

Access_Control Writeup

picoCTF Access Control writeup exploiting an unprotected owner-setter function in a Solidity smart contract to claim ownership and reveal the flag.

 picoCTF - Reverse Engineering

Add/On Trap Writeup

picoCTF Add On Trap writeup analyzing a binary with anti-debugging traps and reversing the validation to extract the correct flag.

 Malware Analysis

Advanced Static Analysis

Deep dive into advanced static analysis techniques including IDA Pro disassembly, Ghidra decompilation, and identifying malicious code patterns without executing the binary.

 picoCTF - Reverse Engineering

Autorev 1 Writeup

picoCTF AutoRev 1 writeup using automated reverse engineering tools like angr or Z3 to solve constraint-based flag validation.

 CTF Writeup

Beacon (Hybrid-01) — Progress Writeup

Status: Pipeline fully reverse-engineered; final key fragments not yet confirmed against the SHA3 oracle. Flag not yet recovered.

 Binary Exploitation

Binary Exploitation 101 – Tools Setup & Key Commands

Introduction to buffer overflow vulnerabilities including tool setup, essential GDB commands, and understanding memory corruption fundamentals.

 Binary Exploitation

Binary Exploitation Methodology

Complete methodology for approaching binary exploitation challenges, from initial reconnaissance through vulnerability identification to working exploit development.

 picoCTF - Reverse Engineering

Binary Instrumentation 3 (bin-ins3.zip) Writeup

picoCTF Binary Instrumentation 3 writeup using dynamic binary instrumentation tools like Frida or Pin to trace and solve the challenge.

 picoCTF - Reverse Engineering

Binary Instrumentation 4 (bin-ins4.zip) Writeup

picoCTF Binary Instrumentation 4 writeup applying advanced instrumentation techniques to hook functions and extract the flag at runtime.

 Binary Exploitation

Binary Protections & Bypasses

Overview of binary security protections including NX, stack canaries, PIE, RELRO, and ASLR along with techniques to bypass each protection.

 CTF Writeup

Blind Spot — PerfectRootCTF Writeup

Flag: r00t{bl1nds1gn4tur3s4r3n0ts0bl1nd}

 CTF Writeup

Broadcast II (Salvation) — PerfectRootCTF Writeup

Flag: r00t{p4dd1ngd035nts4v3y0ufr0mh4st4d}

 picoCTF - Reverse Engineering

Bypass Me Writeup

picoCTF Bypass Me writeup patching or reversing binary validation logic to bypass authentication checks and reveal the flag.

 picoCTF - General Skills

bytemancy 2

picoCTF Bytemancy 2 writeup sending raw bytes to a network service using pwntools to satisfy binary protocol requirements and retrieve the flag.

 picoCTF - General Skills

bytemancy 3

picoCTF Bytemancy 3 writeup using objdump disassembly and pwntools p32 packing to reconstruct data from binary sections and extract the flag.

 CTF Writeup

Copenhagen — PerfectRootCTF Writeup

Flag: r00t{sh0rtp4dd3lt4hunt}

 picoCTF - Web Exploitation

Credential Stuffing

picoCTF Credential Stuffing writeup using leaked credential databases to automate login attempts and gain unauthorized access to the target application.

 CTF Writeup

DAY 1

CyberStudents Day 1 challenge covering binary to ASCII, hex decoding, and Base64 encoding and decoding transformations to recover hidden flags.

 CTF Writeup

DAY 2

CyberStudents Day 2 challenge involving Wireshark packet capture analysis to extract credentials and hidden data from network traffic.

 CTF Writeup

DAY 3

CyberStudents Day 3 challenge performing DNS chain reconnaissance to discover hidden subdomains and extract flag data from DNS records.

 Binary Exploitation

Dynamic Tracing: ltrace & strace

Dynamic analysis using ltrace and strace to trace library calls and system calls, revealing runtime behavior of binary executables.

 picoCTF - Binary Exploitation

Echo Escape 1 Writeup

picoCTF Echo Escape 1 writeup leveraging format string bugs in an echo service to read sensitive memory and extract the flag.

 picoCTF - Binary Exploitation

Echo Escape 2 Writeup

picoCTF Echo Escape 2 writeup using format string vulnerabilities to leak and overwrite memory for shell access.

 picoCTF - General Skills

Failure Failure

picoCTF Failure Failure writeup exploiting HAProxy failover behavior by exhausting rate limits to trigger backend routing to the flag server.

 picoCTF - Web Exploitation

Fool the Lockout

picoCTF Fool the Lockout writeup bypassing a rate-limiting lockout mechanism to brute-force credentials and access the protected endpoint.

 Binary Exploitation

Format String Vulnerabilities

Format string vulnerability exploitation including reading from and writing to arbitrary memory addresses using printf format specifiers.

 picoCTF - Blockchain

Front_Running Writeup

picoCTF Front Running writeup monitoring the mempool for pending transactions, extracting the plaintext solution, and front-running with higher gas price.

 picoCTF - Reverse Engineering

Gatekeeper Reverse Engineering Writeup

picoCTF Gatekeeper writeup reversing a gatekeeper binary with multiple validation stages to find the correct input sequence for the flag.

 Binary Exploitation

GDB & Debugging Tools Reference

Comprehensive guide to GDB and debugging tools for binary exploitation, including breakpoints, memory examination, and essential debugging workflows.

 Binary Exploitation

GDB + Pwndbg Cheat Sheet

Guide to using pwndbg, a GDB plugin for exploit development, covering its enhanced commands for heap analysis, register display, and memory inspection.

 CTF Writeup

Glitch in the Vault — PerfectRootCTF Writeup

Flag: r00t{f4ultys1gn4tur3f4ct0rsth3m0dulus}

 Resources

Hacking Resources & Bookmarks

Curated collection of hacking and cybersecurity resources including learning platforms, tools, reference materials, and practice environments.

 picoCTF - Web Exploitation

Hashgate

picoCTF Hashgate writeup exploiting an IDOR vulnerability where user IDs are hashed with MD5, allowing access to other users accounts by predicting hash values.

 Binary Exploitation

Heap Exploitation

Heap exploitation techniques covering heap memory management, use-after-free, double-free, heap overflow, and tcache poisoning attacks.

 picoCTF - Binary Exploitation

Heap Havoc Writeup

picoCTF Heap Havoc writeup exploiting heap memory management flaws including use-after-free or heap overflow to gain code execution.

 picoCTF - Reverse Engineering

Hidden Cipher 1 Writeup

picoCTF Hidden Cipher 1 writeup reversing an encryption algorithm to decode the hidden flag from ciphertext output.

 picoCTF - Reverse Engineering

Hidden Cipher 2 Writeup

picoCTF Hidden Cipher 2 writeup tackling a more complex cipher implementation requiring deeper static analysis to reverse the encoding.

 HTB Writeup

HTB — Facts Writeup

HackTheBox Facts machine writeup covering Camaleon CMS privilege escalation, MinIO credential discovery, SSH key recovery, and sudo-based root escalation.

 HTB Writeup

HTB WingData — Writeup

HackTheBox WingData machine writeup chaining vhost discovery, Wing FTP unauthenticated RCE, XML credential extraction, hash cracking, and tarfile privilege escalation.

 picoCTF - Reverse Engineering

JITFP Writeup

picoCTF JITFP writeup reversing a just-in-time compiled program, analyzing dynamically generated code to understand flag computation.

 CTF Writeup

Labyrinth — Writeup

Challenge: Labyrinth (crypto/misc reverse engineering, VM-based crackme)

 CTF Writeup

Main anti-debugging check:

CyberStudents Day 4 challenge writeup covering additional CTF techniques and problem-solving approaches for flag discovery.

 HTB Writeup

Malware Analysis Report: SecretPictures

HackTheBox Sherlocks SecretPictures investigation writeup involving digital forensics analysis to uncover hidden data within image files.

 HTB Writeup

Malware Analysis Report: Simple Encryptor

HackTheBox Simple Encryptor challenge writeup, reversing a PRNG-based file encryption scheme by recovering the seed and decrypting the flag.

 Malware Analysis

Malware API Reference

Analysis of common Windows API calls used by malware for file operations, process manipulation, registry modifications, and network communication.

 Malware Analysis

MD5 Hash Verification

Using MD5 hashes for malware identification and verification, including command-line tools and online lookup databases like VirusTotal.

 picoCTF - General Skills

MY GIT

picoCTF My Git writeup forging a Git commit identity to bypass repository validation checks and retrieve the flag.

 picoCTF - Web Exploitation

No FA

picoCTF No FA writeup exploiting Flask session cookie vulnerabilities to leak OTP codes and crack passwords for authentication bypass.

 picoCTF - Binary Exploitation

offset-cycle Writeup

picoCTF Offset Cycle writeup solving a binary exploitation challenge involving cyclic offset calculation and return address control.

 picoCTF - Binary Exploitation

offset-cycleV2 Writeup

picoCTF Offset Cycle V2 writeup building on the first version with additional protections requiring more advanced exploitation techniques.

 picoCTF - General Skills

Password Profiler Writeup

picoCTF Password Profiler writeup using CUPP to generate a custom wordlist from OSINT data and cracking a SHA-1 hash to recover the password.

 Malware Analysis

PE Header Analysis

Analyzing Portable Executable headers including DOS header, COFF header, optional header, section tables, Import Address Table, and detecting packed binaries.

 CTF Writeup

Phantom Nonce — PerfectRootCTF Writeup

Flag: r00t{ECDSAn0ncesfr0manLCGc0llaps3t0aquadraticindrhin0charge}

 picoCTF - Binary Exploitation

Pizza Router Writeup

picoCTF Pizza Router writeup exploiting a routing application through buffer overflow or command injection to capture the flag.

 Binary Exploitation

Practice Platforms — Pwn & Reverse Engineering

Curated list of platforms for practicing binary exploitation skills including wargames, CTF archives, and vulnerable-by-design applications.

 picoCTF - General Skills

Printer Shares

picoCTF Printer Shares writeup enumerating SMB shares to discover and access hidden printer share files containing the flag.

 picoCTF - General Skills

Printer Shares 3

picoCTF Printer Shares 3 writeup discovering a writable cron job script on a printer share and exploiting it for remote code execution to capture the flag.

 Malware Analysis

PROCESS INJECTION

Comprehensive overview of process injection techniques including DLL injection, process hollowing, APC injection, and thread execution hijacking.

 Reverse Engineering

Program Behavior (Runtime Overview)

Crackme writeup for SEGFAULT challenge, demonstrating reverse engineering techniques to find the correct input that satisfies binary validation checks.

 Binary Exploitation

Pwntools Exploit Template

Reusable pwntools exploit template with boilerplate for local and remote connections, ELF loading, ROP chain building, and payload construction.

 picoCTF - Binary Exploitation

Quizploit Writeup

picoCTF Quizploit writeup exploiting a quiz application through buffer overflow to redirect execution and capture the flag.

 picoCTF - Blockchain

Reentrance Writeup

picoCTF Reentrance writeup deploying an attacker contract to exploit the classic reentrancy vulnerability and drain the bank contract to zero.

 CTF Writeup

Related Party — PerfectRootCTF Writeup

Flag: r00t{fr4nkl1nr31t3rr3l4t3dm3ss4g3s}

 Binary Exploitation

Return Oriented Programming (ROP)

Return-oriented programming fundamentals including gadget discovery, chain construction, ret2libc, and bypassing NX protection through code reuse attacks.

 picoCTF - Web Exploitation

Secret Box

picoCTF Secret Box writeup exploiting SQL injection to forge authentication tokens and access the secret content containing the flag.

 picoCTF - Reverse Engineering

Secure Password Database Writeup

picoCTF Secure Password Database writeup reversing a password database application to extract stored credentials and recover the flag.

 Malware Analysis

SHA-256 Hash Verification

Using SHA256 hashes for malware sample verification and identification, including cross-referencing with threat intelligence databases.

 CTF Writeup

Shared Grounds — PerfectRootCTF Writeup

Flag: r00t{c0mm0ngr0und1sd4ng3r0ust3rr1t0ry}

 picoCTF - Reverse Engineering

Silent Stream Writeup

picoCTF Silent Stream writeup recovering hidden data from a binary that outputs the flag through non-obvious channels or side effects.

 picoCTF - Blockchain

Smart_Overflow Writeup

picoCTF Smart Overflow writeup triggering a uint256 integer overflow in unchecked Solidity arithmetic to satisfy the flag reveal condition.

 picoCTF - Web Exploitation

Sql Map1

picoCTF SQL Map 1 writeup using sqlmap to automate SQL injection attacks and extract password hashes, then cracking them with MD5 lookup.

 Binary Exploitation

STACK

Understanding the call stack architecture including stack frames, registers (EBP, ESP, EIP), function prologues and epilogues, and stack-based memory layout.

 Binary Exploitation

Stack Overflow

Stack-based buffer overflow exploitation covering return address overwrite, shellcode injection, NOP sleds, and controlling program execution flow.

 Malware Analysis

Strings Extraction & Analysis

Extracting and analyzing strings from malware samples using the strings utility and FLOSS for deobfuscating encoded or obfuscated strings.

 picoCTF - Binary Exploitation

tea-cash Writeup

picoCTF Tea-Cash writeup exploiting a virtual currency application through integer overflow or logic flaws to gain unauthorized funds.

 CTF Writeup

Thin Ice — PerfectRootCTF Writeup

Flag: r00t{sp11tk3yw13n3rh4rdw4r3l3ak}

 CTF Writeup

Trinity — PerfectRootCTF Writeup

Flag: r00t{h4st4dbr04dc4ststr1pl3th3fun}

 CTF Writeup

Trusted Courier — Writeup

Challenge: Trusted Courier (crypto series, tier 1/4, difficulty: easy)

 Reverse Engineering

TryHackMe — Reverse Engineering Introduction

TryHackMe introduction to reverse engineering covering fundamental concepts, tools setup, and basic binary analysis techniques for beginners.

 CTF Writeup

UnderStudy — CORVID STUDIOS Incident — Writeup

Flag (reconstructed from evidence):

 Malware Analysis

WINDOWS API

Reference guide for Windows API functions commonly encountered in malware analysis, covering kernel32.dll, ntdll.dll, and user32.dll function families.

 CTF Writeup

Wiretap — perfectRoot CTF Writeup

Category: Forensics / Network / Crypto

 Binary Exploitation

x86 Assembly Implementations

x86 assembly language implementations covering common patterns, instruction set reference, calling conventions, and translating C to assembly.