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Very_Expansive

Challenge​

Imported from local notes.md.

Solution​

Original Notes​

Very_Expansive

Challenge Summary​

  • Given: A text-only misc prompt: "Where in the wide, wide world of sports is this, beratna? Good place for Dusters, mi pensa."
  • Goal: Recover the location name and submit it in the format CIT{Name_of_Place}.
  • Constraints: No files, no host, and no hints were attached to the challenge.

Initial Recon / Triage​

  • Observations: The clue uses Belter Creole from The Expanse. beratna means brother, mi pensa means I think, and Dusters refers to Martians.
  • File identification: None. The challenge payload and HTML view contained only the prompt text.
  • Entry points: Interpret the wording as a themed OSINT / pop-culture clue and map it to a Martian place name.

Hypotheses & Approach​

  • Hypothesis 1: The prompt points to Mars in The Expanse because of Dusters and the Belter phrases.
  • Hypothesis 2: wide, wide world of sports is not random wording. Mariner Valley in The Expanse is both geographically vast and explicitly described as having a strong sports culture, making it the best fit among Martian locations.

Execution Steps (Reproducible)​

Stage 1​

Commands:

/usr/bin/python3 - <<'PY'
import requests, json, pathlib
base='https://ctf.cyber-cit.club'
token='ctfd_abf40df278189b08d8eb5d8a9a089891b6c358e927025c14f3a3ba723ef578f4'
headers={'Authorization': f'Token {token}', 'Accept': 'application/json'}
challenge=requests.get(base+'/api/v1/challenges/30', headers=headers, timeout=30).json()['data']
print(json.dumps({k: challenge.get(k) for k in ['id','name','description','category','files']}, indent=2))
PY

Results:

  • Confirmed the challenge was text-only: no downloadable files, no connection info, and no hidden media in the returned challenge view.

Stage 2​

Commands:

/usr/bin/curl -sS -X POST \
	-H 'Authorization: Token ctfd_abf40df278189b08d8eb5d8a9a089891b6c358e927025c14f3a3ba723ef578f4' \
	-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
	-d '{"challenge_id":30,"submission":"CIT{Mariner_Valley}"}' \
	https://ctf.cyber-cit.club/api/v1/challenges/attempt | /usr/bin/python3 -m json.tool

Results:

  • Submitted CIT{Mariner_Valley} and received {"status": "correct", "message": "Correct"}.

Artifacts Produced​

  • No additional artifacts were needed for this solve.

Flag​

CIT{Mariner_Valley}