writeups

Hack The Vote 2016 - 50 - TOPKEK - Misc

noraj (Alexandre ZANNI)
, , ,
🇬🇧

Information#

Version#

By Version Comment
noraj 1.0 Creation

CTF#

Description#

A CNN reporter had only one question that she couldn't get off her mind

Do we even know, who is this 4 CHAN???

So she set out to find who this 400lb hacker is. During her investigation, she came across this cryptic message on some politically incorrect forum online, can you figure out what it means?

kek

author's irc nick: krx

Note: This challenge was classified as Crypto but is Misc.

Solution#

The content of the file looks like this:

KEK! TOP!! KEK!! TOP!! KEK!! TOP!! KEK! TOP!! KEK!!! TOP!! KEK!!!! TOP! KEK! TOP!! KEK!! TOP!!! KEK! TOP!!!! KEK! TOP!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP! KEK!!!! TOP!! KEK!!!!! TOP!!
[...]

This looks like an esoteric language (like Ook) but it's not.

N.B.: According to 1, 2 and 3, kek is derivated of lel that is a derivated of lol, and topkek is a cake trademark popular on /s4s chan of 4Chan because of its similarity with toplel which means super funny. (Knowing that is useless for the challenge).

There is only two keyword TOP and KEK and they seem pretty useless. So let's assume that it is binary: (TOP = 0 && KEK = 1) or (TOP = 1 && KEK = 0).

We noticed there is between 1 and 5 exclamation marks following each keywords so let's assume that is the number of times that 0 or 1 is repeated.

Here is my script:

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

# read the file
file = File.open('kek.txt', 'r+t')
data = file.read
file.close
puts "Original: \n" + data + "\n\n"

# Assume that TOP = 1, KEK = 0, and ! the number of time they appear
topkek_to_binary = ""
data.split(" ").each do |bool|
  if bool.match(/TOP/)
    marks = bool.sub('TOP', '') # keeping only the marks
    bin = marks.gsub('!', '1') # replacing marks with 0
    topkek_to_binary.concat(bin)
  elsif bool.match(/KEK/)
    marks = bool.sub('KEK', '') # keeping only the marks
    bin = marks.gsub('!', '0') # replacing marks with 0
    topkek_to_binary.concat(bin)
  end
end
puts "Binary: \n" + topkek_to_binary + "\n\n"

# Let's convert it into ASCII
puts "ASCII: \n" + [topkek_to_binary].pack("B*")

Here is the output of the script:

Original:
KEK! TOP!! KEK!! TOP!! KEK!! TOP!! KEK! TOP!! KEK!!! TOP!! KEK!!!! TOP! KEK! TOP!! KEK!! TOP!!! KEK! TOP!!!! KEK! TOP!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP! KEK!!!! TOP!! KEK!!!!! TOP!! KEK! TOP!!!! KEK!! TOP!! KEK!!!!! TOP!! KEK! TOP!!!! KEK!! TOP!! KEK!!!!! TOP!! KEK! TOP!!!! KEK!! TOP!! KEK!!!!! TOP!! KEK! TOP!!!! KEK!! TOP!! KEK!!!!! TOP! KEK! TOP! KEK!!!!! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK!! TOP!! KEK!!! TOP! KEK! TOP!! KEK! TOP!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP!! KEK! TOP! KEK!!!!! TOP!! KEK! TOP! KEK!!! TOP! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!! KEK!!! TOP!! KEK!!! TOP! KEK! TOP!! KEK! TOP!!! KEK!! TOP! KEK!!! TOP!!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP! KEK!!! TOP!! KEK!! TOP!!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP! KEK!! TOP!!! KEK!! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP!!! KEK!! TOP! KEK!!! TOP!! KEK!!! TOP! KEK! TOP!! KEK!! TOP!!! KEK! TOP! KEK!! TOP! KEK!!!! TOP!!! KEK! TOP! KEK!!! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP!! KEK! TOP!!! KEK!!! TOP!! KEK!!!!! TOP! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK!! TOP!! KEK! TOP! KEK!!! TOP! KEK! TOP! KEK!! TOP! KEK!!! TOP!! KEK!! TOP!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP!!!! KEK!! TOP! KEK!! TOP!! KEK!!!!! TOP!!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP!! KEK! TOP! KEK!!!!! TOP!! KEK! TOP! KEK!!! TOP!!! KEK! TOP!! KEK!!! TOP!! KEK!!! TOP! KEK! TOP!! KEK! TOP!!! KEK!! TOP!! KEK!! TOP!!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP!! KEK!! TOP!! KEK!! TOP!!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!! KEK! TOP!!! KEK!! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP! KEK!! TOP! KEK! TOP!! KEK!! TOP!! KEK!! TOP!! KEK! TOP! KEK!! TOP! KEK! TOP!! KEK!! TOP! KEK!!!! TOP! KEK!! TOP! KEK!!!! TOP! KEK!! TOP! KEK!!!! TOP! KEK! TOP!!!!! KEK! TOP!

Binary:
0110011001101100011000010110011101111011010101000011000001101111001100000110111100110000011011110011000001101111001100000101000001011111010111110101111101011111010111110101111100110001011011010101111101101000001101000101011000110001011011100100011101011111010001100111010101001110010111110111001000110001011001110100100001110100010111110110111000110000010101110101111100110100010100100011001101011111011110010011000001110101010111110110100000110100011101100011000101101110011001110101111101100110011101010110111001011111010111110101111101011111010111110101111101001011001100110100101100100001001000010010000101111101

ASCII: +
flag{T0o0o0o0o0P______1m_h4V1nG_FuN_r1gHt_n0W_4R3_y0u_h4v1ng_fun______K3K!!!}
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