CASE FILE / ARCHIVED CTF / 001
OFFLINE SOLVE · DOWNUNDERCTF 2024Shufflebox.
Two known rows expose a hidden permutation. Invert it once, recover the censored input, then prove the answer by running every row forward again.
01 / METHOD
The order was the only secret.
The organizer's program shuffles input positions. It uses the same 16-position order for three rows and leaves each character unchanged.
- Label each source index. In the first known input, four-character blocks identify its group. In the second, repeating
abcdidentifies the position in that group. - Read the outputs together. Each pair of output characters matches exactly one pair in the two known inputs, revealing all 16 source indices.
- Invert the third row. Put each character from the censored output back at its recovered source index.
- Check forward. Reapply the recovered order to the two known inputs and recovered third input. All three outputs must match the handout byte for byte.
02 / RESULT + VERIFICATION
One answer.
Three exact checks.
Restoring the third input yields a 16-character phrase. The organizer's archived answer confirms the same value.
DUCTF{udiditgjwowsuper}Historical challenge answer. No platform submission, rank, or prize is claimed.
- Known row A re-encodes exactly
- Known row B re-encodes exactly
- Recovered row re-encodes exactly
- Organizer archive confirms the flag