Challenge Repository
The public release for UIUCTF 2024 challenge source code and infrastructure can be found on GitHub.
Writeup Contest Information
For UIUCTF 2024 we paid out $1,500 in writeup prizes. In total, we received 143 writeup submissions and awarded 30 writeups.
Prize Information
- The top 3 writeups were awarded $150, $125, and $100 respectively.
- The remaining prize pool will be used to award quality writeups. This year, we decided to award winning writeups at least $40 each.
- It is possible to win multiple writeup prizes; however, there is a maximum limit of $200 per individual.
Eligible Writeups
Writeups were graded by individual challenges or challenge suites. Challenge suites are sets of related challenges which are trivial to solve. Each suite is only eligible for one prize, regardless of the number of writeups created for challenges in a suite. The challenge suites for UIUCTF 2024 were:
- rev / Goose Suite (Goose Chase, Wild Goose Chase)
- osint / UIUC-Chan Suite (Hip with the Youth, An Unlikely Partnership, The Weakest Link)
- osint / Geoguesser Suite (Night, Chunky Boi, New Dallas)
- web / pwnypass Suite (pwnypass, pwnypass 2)
Scoring Procedure
Writeups were graded with three criteria in mind:
- Correctness and clarity
- Approachability and beginner-friendliness
- Presentation
Writeups were scored between 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest quality and 1 being the least. Each challenge developer gave their own score, and the total score is computed as the average of these scores.
This year, we had three stages for writeup grading.
- Stage 1: UIUCTF challenge developers grade writeups for their own challenges.
- Stage 2: Different developers grade other writeups which scored 8 or higher by their author.
- Stage 3: Writeups which were contenders for top prizes were all graded by at least six developers.
Writeup Winners
Top Winners
| Award | Writeup | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 🥇 1st Place, $150 | pwn / Syscalls | amoor22 (PwnSec) |
| 🥈 2nd Place, $125 | misc / Picoify | nneonneo (Maple Bacon) |
| 🥉 3rd Place, $100 | rev / Lost Canary | Minei3oat (CyberTaskForce Zero) |
Honorable Mentions
| Award | Writeup | Author |
|---|---|---|
| $55 | osint / UIUC-Chan Suite | goldenscience (example.com) |
| $55 | rev / Goose Suite | Jinn (CoSGang) |
| $55 | rev / Time Travel | nope_engineer (IrisSec) |
Winners
| Award | Writeup | Author |
|---|---|---|
| $40 | crypto / Determined | awrreny (agoficaa) |
| $40 | crypto / Groups | FlaggnGoose (b01lers) |
| $40 | crypto / Key in a Haystack | lolipop (IUT GENESIS) |
| $40 | crypto / Naptime | awrreny (agoficaa) |
| $40 | crypto / Snore Signatures | lolipop (IUT GENESIS) |
| $40 | crypto / Without a Trace | nightxade (:reCAPTCHA the Flag) |
| $40 | crypto / X Marked the Spot | elijah5399 (G04T3DP30PL3) |
| $40 | crypto / X Marked the Spot | (snick) |
| $40 | misc / Astea | opliko (DistributedLivelock) |
| $40 | misc / Push and Pickle | hhhkb (zhonger) |
| $40 | misc / Slot Machine | Ench Lolz (CPCSEC) |
| $40 | osint / Geoguesser Suite | AkaniX3 (Bits & Pieces) |
| $40 | osint / Geoguesser Suite | vow (Black Bauhinia) |
| $40 | osint / UIUC-Chan Suite | Ench Lolz (CPCSEC) |
| $40 | pwn / pwnymalloc | (die_trying) |
| $40 | pwn / pwnymalloc | HyggeHalcyon (Project Sekai) |
| $40 | pwn / Rusty Pointers | 0xM4hm0ud (CyberSpace) |
| $40 | rev / Lost Canary | the.m3chanic (bi0s) |
| $40 | rev / Summarize | elijah5399 (G04T3DP30PL3) |
| $40 | rev / tooooo fancy | fsharp (ADMinions) |
| $40 | web / Fare Evasion | Samik081 (my_cat_is_fat3) |
| $40 | web / Fare Evasion | BlueDolphin (Dolphins) |
| $40 | web / Log Action | siunam (ARESx) |
| $40 | web / pwnypass Suite | jackfromeast (thehackerscrew) |