New Challenge Type

[-Ninjex-]

I know this would not be coming anytime soon, even if the idea is liked, as the devs/admins are very busy now.

I was thinking that it would be cool to simulate a Terminal/CLI, and make it interactive; probably by some flash programming. We could use this to create challenges, where the goal would be to do what it takes to gain root access into a target machine, place a root-kit on the machine, gain persistent access to the machine, etc... If you could program the flash script to respond to certain commands and outcomes like a real terminal, it would be a great new set of challenges! When making the challenges, you could do something like these examples (Of course excluding the parenthesis):

1. Figure out what the os for remote host 192.168.1.0 is. (nmap -Pn 192.168.1.0)
2. Gain root access to a Linux Ubuntu machine, the IP is 192.168.1.0 (SSH Not Protected > ssh root@192.168.1.0)
3. Gain root access to a Linux Ubuntu machine, the IP is 192.168.1.0 (SSH Protected > bruteforce the password with a dictionary on our programmed machine, and then ssh into remote host ssh root@192.168.1.0)
etc..

You could use any number like 192.168.1.0 in the example above, and ask for certain things to be done, such as the 3 above. The flash program would simulate a real terminal, although it doesn't do any harm, as it's all programmed to only simulate what would happen in real life.
Just a thought...

[0phidian]

Cool idea, but why flash? Why not just write a cli app to simulate a teminal in something like c++? In fact that this sounds like a fun project. I may start writing some code.

Edit:

This is what I have got so far. It's really basic and needs alot of work, but here it is in case you want to use it or work on it. I will probably work on this some more whenever I get a chance(Darn, schoolwork).

Code: Select all

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <algorithm>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    const char* commands[] = {
        "", "exit","ls", "pwd"
        };
    string user_input;
    while(1){
        cout << "1337@hts~$ ";
        getline(cin, user_input);

        //Finds the user input in the commands array. commands+number: number must be num of elements in commands array
        int cmdid = find(commands, commands+4, user_input) - commands;

        //Takes number corresponding to element in commands array.
        switch (cmdid){
            case 0: break; break;
            case 1: exit(0); break;
            case 2: cout << "hi.txt" << endl; break;
            case 3: cout << "/home/1337" << endl; break;
            default: cout <<  "Invalid command" << endl; break;
        }

    }
    return 0;
}



-- Sun Feb 03, 2013 11:45 am --

Update:
It's coming along nicely, should done in about a week depending on how much time I have to work on it. When I'm done I'll post the source code somewhere in case anyone wants to use it to make there own challenges.

[-Ninjex-]

I love the idea, I compiled it and ran it, it seems to be a great way to make the challenges as well.
I was thinking of flash because you could easily put it on the site without having to make users download a file to run in the terminal, but either way, it seems like it would be great.

I can't wait to see the finished version.