Offensive Security
Hunting With L0WK3Y (Ongoing Series)
Bug bounty and CTF write-ups, tools, cheat sheets and curated resources from L0WK3Y — served on a retro desktop. Opens the standalone Hunting With L0WK3Y site.
Offensive Security
Explore the latest tools, techniques, and strategies used by ethical hackers to fortify defenses by thinking like an attacker. From pen-testing methodologies to exploit development and vulnerability analysis, we cover crucial topics to arm you with the knowledge needed to protect your systems. Our insights and practical guides aim to educate and inspire both beginners and seasoned professionals in the ever-evolving battle against cyber threats.
Offensive Security
Exploiting the Ultimate Essay Grader: A Prompt Injection Deep Dive
A hands-on look at a direct prompt injection vulnerability in an AI essay grader — how a hidden instruction block forced a perfect score, mapped against Pangea's prompt injection taxonomy.
Offensive Security
8kSec FactsDroid Walkthrough
Intercepting and modifying network traffic in a Flutter Android app — bypassing root detection and TLS, setting up DNAT for a proper MITM, and a detour into Flutter's HTTP network policy.
Web Security
Bugforge.io Gift Lab Walkthrough
A gift-list app's "share link" turns out to be raw Base64 of a sequential list ID — enumerating tokens to access other users' private gift lists.
Web Security
Bugforge.io CopyPasta Walkthrough
Chaining an IDOR on the profile endpoint with a broken authorization check on password changes to take over an admin account and grab the flag.
Offensive Security
InjuredAndroid Walkthrough: All 13 Flags
A full flag-by-flag walkthrough of the InjuredAndroid CTF app — string comparisons, DES/XOR decryption, exported broadcasts, Firebase misconfigurations, Unicode collisions, intent redirection, and a native RCE binary.
Offensive Security
PentesterLab Android Walkthrough: Labs 01–08
Working through PentesterLab's Android series — plaintext strings, SQLite assets, XOR ciphers, AES-CBC, PIN-derived keys, and brute-forcing a key that depends on a server-fetched secret.
Offensive Security
KGB Messenger Walkthrough
Reverse engineering an open-source Android CTF practice app across three challenges — fake integrity checks, an MD5-gated login with a XOR-derived flag, and custom cipher messages sent to an in-app chatbot.
Capture The Flag
IP Halloween 2025 - Spirit Halloween! Walkthrough
Walkthrough for infophreak's own Halloween 2025 CTF — directory discovery to an APK, decompiling a native library with JADX, and pulling the flag from an encoded string inside it.
Intelligence
OSINT: Tracking a Session-Hijacking Cyberattack to an Australian Carpet Company
This article covers a post-incident OSINT investigation that linked a recent business email compromise back to an Australian carpet company, due to a DNS registration mishap by the attacker. Persistence and pivoting are key for investigators!
Operations Security
What IS the Dark Web Anyway?
A bird's eye view of the Dark Web focused on the essentials. If the inner workings of the Dark Web remain a mystery to you, this post was made to change that.
Offensive Security
Using Azure Virtual Machines as a Netcat Reverse Shell
This article demonstrates how an Azure VM can be configured as a Netcat reverse shell listener, detailing setup steps (opening ports, running nc), potential security risks, and mitigation strategies. It highlights detection methods via Azure logging and best practices to prevent misuse.
Web Security
PortSwigger Academy - Authentication Bypass via Information Disclosure
This lab's administration interface has an authentication bypass vulnerability, but it is impractical to exploit without knowledge of a custom HTTP header used by the front-end.
Web Security
PortSwigger Academy - Source Code Disclosure via Backup Files
This lab leaks its source code via backup files in a hidden directory. To solve the lab, identify and submit the database password, which is hard-coded in the leaked source code.
Web Security
PortSwigger Academy - Information Disclosure on Debug Page
This lab contains a debug page that discloses sensitive information about the application. To solve the lab, obtain and submit the SECRET_KEY environment variable.
Web Security
PortSwigger Academy - Information Disclosure in Version Control History
This lab discloses sensitive information via its version control history. To solve the lab, obtain the password for the administrator user then log in and delete the user carlos.
Research
A Demonstration of the Potential for Modern LLM Abuse by Threat Actors
This article details the findings of two studies that highlight how security vulnerabilities in publicly-accessible LLMs can present a threat to public security through the proliferation of malicious knowledge, guidance in committing illegal activities, and generation of malicious content.
Web Security
PortSwigger Academy - Information Disclosure in Error Messages
This lab's verbose error messages reveal that it is using a vulnerable version of a third-party framework. To solve the lab, obtain and submit the version number of this framework.