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CTF(x) - 50 - λ - Cryptography

noraj (Alexandre ZANNI)
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Information#

Version#

By Version Comment
noraj 1.0 Creation

CTF#

Description#

I used this program to encrypt a flag. The output was: n1s4_t1An(f1ctdb@mpl_h3)m3lp3y__Eas

file: λ.py

Solution#

TL;DR : that solution is just a trick not a smart de-obfuscation.

  • Here is the code of the λ.py:
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print (lambda j,m:(lambda f,t:t if len(t) <= 1 else j([f(f,x)for x in m(j,m(reversed,(lambda s:zip(*[iter(s)]*(len(s)/2)))(t+"\x01"*(len(t)%2))))]))(lambda f,t:t if len(t) <= 1 else j([f(f,x)for x in m(j,m(reversed,(lambda s: zip(*[iter(s)]*(len(s)/2)))(t+"\x01"*(len(t)%2))))]),raw_input("Plaintext:")))(''.join,map).replace("\x01","")
  • It's clear that the code is obfuscated, but even beautified it's still a mess.
  • So as I don't want my brain to blow trying to de-obfuscate this, I got around.
  • I realized that, with enought iteration, we gan get back the original string. So I modified the code to "brute-force" the good combination:
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# Modiied code
mixed_flag = "n1s4_t1An(f1ctdb@mpl_h3)m3lp3y__Eas"

for i in range(100):
    old_mixed_flag = mixed_flag
    mixed_flag = (lambda j, m: (lambda f, t: t
        if len(t) <= 1
        else j([f(f, x) for x in m(j, m(reversed, (lambda s: zip( * [iter(s)] * (len(s) / 2)))(t + "\x01" * (len(t) % 2))))]))(lambda f, t: t
        if len(t) <= 1
    else j([f(f, x) for x in m(j, m(reversed, (lambda s: zip( * [iter(s)] * (len(s) / 2)))(t + "\x01" * (len(t) % 2))))]), old_mixed_flag))(''.join, map).replace("\x01", "")
    print(str(i) + " " + mixed_flag)
  • Here the non-filtered output, that's quite long:
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┌─[root@parrot]─[~/CTF/CTFx/2016/50-lambda_λ-cryptography]
└──╼ #python lambda_λ.py
0 c1t(fm@db4s_n1nAt1_y_p3sEah_3pll3)m
1 n_14s1tnA(tfc1bdm@lpl_3m3)p_3_yhasE
2 cf1(t@mbd41sn_An1ty_h_3Eas_l3lpp)m3
[...]
97 n_14s1tnA(tfc1bdm@lph_3m3)_l3_ypasE
98 cf1(t@mbd41sn_An1ty_pl3Eas_h3lp_)m3
99 ns_41t1An(1tcfdb@mpl_h33)mlp3y__sEa
  • Now let's see what begins with ctf(
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┌─[root@parrot]─[~/CTF/CTFx/2016/50-lambda_λ-cryptography]
└──╼ #python lambda_λ.py | grep 'ctf('
4 ctf(1m@db4_1nsnAt1_y_h3asElp3pl_m3)
10 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty__p3asEh_3lplm3)
16 ctf(1m@db4_1nsnAt1_yl_3asEp_3plhm3)
22 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty_h_3asE_l3lppm3)
28 ctf(1m@db4_1nsnAt1_ypl3asE_h3pl_m3)
34 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty__h3asElp3lp_m3)
40 ctf(1m@db4_1nsnAt1_y_p3asEh_3pllm3)
46 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty_l_3asEp_3lphm3)
52 ctf(1m@db4_1nsnAt1_yh_3asE_l3plpm3)
58 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty_pl3asE_h3lp_m3)
64 ctf(1m@db4_1nsnAt1_y_h3asElp3pl_m3)
70 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty__p3asEh_3lplm3)
76 ctf(1m@db4_1nsnAt1_yl_3asEp_3plhm3)
82 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty_h_3asE_l3lppm3)
88 ctf(1m@db4_1nsnAt1_ypl3asE_h3pl_m3)
94 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty__h3asElp3lp_m3)
  • That begins to make sense, more filtering:
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┌─[root@parrot]─[~/CTF/CTFx/2016/50-lambda_λ-cryptography]
└──╼ #python lambda_λ.py | grep 'ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty_'
10 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty__p3asEh_3lplm3)
22 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty_h_3asE_l3lppm3)
34 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty__h3asElp3lp_m3)
46 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty_l_3asEp_3lphm3)
58 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty_pl3asE_h3lp_m3)
70 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty__p3asEh_3lplm3)
82 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty_h_3asE_l3lppm3)
94 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty__h3asElp3lp_m3)
  • Not so hard: 58 ctf(1@mbd4_1nsAn1ty_pl3asE_h3lp_m3).
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