CTF writeup archive

The CTF writeups section: a growing, structured archive of Capture the Flag methodology. The point is not the flags, it is the reasoning, so each writeup follows the same outline and keeps the dead ends in.

Approach

• Red-team learning methodology. Enumerate, form a hypothesis, test it, and record what worked and what did not.
• Consistent structure. Challenge, event, category, difficulty, goal, initial observations, enumeration, failed attempts, breakthrough, solution summary, defensive takeaway, tools used, and lessons learned.
• Defensive takeaways. Where an offensive finding maps to a real-world defense, the writeup says so.

Boundaries

• Legal, authorized practice only: everything targets CTF infrastructure or systems I own.
• No live flags and no fabricated placements. Results are only stated where they are verifiable.
• No guidance for acting against systems without authorization.

Status

In progress. Writeups from this season’s events (National Cyber League, BYU CTF, and others) are being sanitized and published as they are finished.