Holiday Hack Quest 2015

Hey all! The Holiday Hack Challenge 2015, put out by Sans' Counter Hack, is pretty epic. The series comes with a set of 10 challenges, of which the challenges come through an interactive quest game, which we will be focusing on in this post today. You have till Jan 4th to submit the challenge answers, so this review won't cover writeups to the challenges yet, but instead will discus the quest and how this can be leveraged to learn more about Info Sec while having fun and solving these challenges!

The quest covers the following topics, teaching students highly pragmatic approaches and giving them links to more information along their journey. Further, you have to talk to the individuals who give the knowledge in order to continue receiving the evidence necessary to move on to the challenge, so the quest is actually an important part of the ctf that prepares the students for the challenges. This makes it a great learning resource, and is highly recommended to those looking to learn the following topics, while having fun with the game:

Packet capture analysis
Python / Scapy
File reconstruction
Firmware analysis
File carving
Binwalk
Vulnerability analysis
Server Side JavaScript Injection
LFI
SQLI
Webshells
Command and control identification
Post exploitation information gathering
Looting MongoDB

The quest game goes over the prior information through 21 quests of chatting with NPCs, designed to teach the user about computer security as they explore this world and advance through the challenges. The challenges are aimed at intro to intermediate information security practitioners, and overall I'de recommend it to those looking to learn or simply sharpen their skills. Don't forget to attack the real challenges as well! I've listed those bellow for interested parties, they are pretty epic challenges:

Part 1: Dance of the Sugar Gnome Fairies: Curious Wireless Packets

1) Which commands are sent across the Gnome’s command-and-control channel?
2) What image appears in the photo the Gnome sent across the channel from the Dosis home?

Part 2: I’ll be Gnome for Christmas: Firmware Analysis for Fun and Profit

3) What operating system and CPU type are used in the Gnome?  What type of web framework is the Gnome web interface built in?
4) What kind of a database engine is used to support the Gnome web interface? What is the plaintext password stored in the Gnome database?

Part 3: Let it Gnome!  Let it Gnome!  Let it Gnome! Internet-Wide Scavenger Hunt

5) What are the IP addresses of the five SuperGnomes scattered around the world, as verified by Tom Hessman in the Dosis neighborhood?
6) Where is each SuperGnome located geographically?

Part 4: There’s No Place Like Gnome for the Holidays: Gnomage Pwnage

7) Please describe the vulnerabilities you discovered in the Gnome firmware.
8) Once you get approval of the given in-scope target IP addresses from Tom Hessman, in the Dosis neighborhood, attempt to remotely exploit each of the SuperGnomes. Describe the technique you used to gain access to each SuperGnome’s gnome.conf file. You are authorized to attack only the IP addresses that Tom Hessman in the Dosis neighborhood explicitly acknowledges as "in scope". Attack no other system associated with the Holiday Hack Challenge.

Part 5: Baby, It’s Gnome Outside: Sinister Plot and Attribution

9) Based on evidence you recover from the SuperGnomes’ packet capture ZIP files and any statick images you find, what is the nefarious plot of ATNAS Corporation?
10) Who is the villain behind the nefarious plot.

Epilogue: ‘Twas the Gnome Before Christmas: Wrapping It All Up

Please answer each question by January 4, 2016*, sending your description of how you unraveled each one to SANSHolidayHackChallenge@counterhack.com.  For more information visit the main page of Sans' Counter Hack Holiday Hack Challenge!