Swamp CTF 2025 - OSInt Walkthrough

Swamp CTF OSInt Challenge 1: Party Time!

Description:

This party house is known for its 3AM outings, but you've gotta work for the location if you want to come! Enter the GPS coordinates of the location! Example: swampCTF{xx.xx.xx,xx.xx.xx}, swampCTF{xx.xx, xx.xx}

Walkthrough:

Party Time!

We are provided with an image alongside the challenge description. The objective is clear: determine the location of the house. However, upon inspecting the image itself, there are no apparent visual clues. To gather more information, I analyzed the image’s metadata using ExifTool a widely used tool for extracting metadata from files. Upon uploading the image, the extracted metadata included GPS coordinates: 29º 39' 10.32" N, 82º 19' 59.68" W

House Coordinates

Next, I closely examined the description, which hints at a specific flag format. The format suggests that the coordinates might need to be in decimal format rather than degrees, minutes, and seconds. To convert these coordinates, I used an online coordinate converter, which gave the result:

(29.6528666667, -82.3332444444) Since the required flag format specifies two decimal places, submitting the flag as follows solves the challenge:

✅ swampCTF{29.65, 82.33}

Swamp CTF OSInt Challenge 2: On Thin Ice!

Description:

I’ve been looking for well-rated ice-skating rinks, I wonder if there is one out there with decent reviews?

Walkthrough:

Unlike the previous challenge, this one was not as straightforward. The description suggests that we are looking for highly-rated ice-skating rinks.

The image provided was completely black. My first approach was to manipulate its brightness, contrast, and other settings to uncover hidden details, but this yielded no results.

Following my usual approach, I analyzed the metadata using ExifTool. Among the extracted details, a hexadecimal value stored in the "Title" or "Description" field stood out.

Image metadata

To decode this hex data, I used CyberChef a popular online tool for data analysis and decoding. The output was: Ӧкмысӧд воськов. Мездлун.

Hex data decoded!

At first glance, the text appeared to be gibberish. However, recognizing it as a potential foreign language, I translated it using Google Translate, which revealed the phrase: Step eight. Freedom.

This translation was intriguing, but I still wasn’t certain how it related to the challenge. Searching for this phrase on Google led to multiple references to Call of Duty: Black Ops - specifically, a mission named "Step Eight: Freedom." Digging deeper, I discovered that this mission took place in Vorkuta, Russia, which was likely the location we needed to investigate.

I then searched for ice-skating rinks in Vorkuta using Google Maps. There was one notable rink with 244 reviews located at:

📍 Ulitsa Lenina, 51, Vorkuta, Komi Republic, Russia, 169912

Reviewing the user comments, I found the flag hidden in a review of the rink.

✅ Challenge completed!

Flag Captured!

With this we now proceed to the final challenge in the OSInt category

Swamp CTF OSInt Challenge 3: Party Time! Level 2

Description:

The party just ended, but people are hungry. Find the nearest fast food spot to see where everyone went!

Walkthrough:

Since we had already determined the party house's location in Challenge 1, we now needed to identify the nearest fast food spot. This significantly narrowed our search area.

Using Google Maps, I found that within a one-block radius, there were only two fast food restaurants near the party house. To pinpoint the correct one, I sorted the Google reviews by newest first and examined them for any hidden clues.

Upon reviewing the comments for the restaurant Checkers, I found the flag embedded in one of the user reviews.

✅ Challenge solved!

Flag Captured!

I hope you found this walkthrough as enjoyable to read as I did while solving these challenges! If you have any thoughts, feel free to share them in the comments. Would you like to see more CTF walkthroughs like this?

Join the community forum to connect with fellow cybersecurity enthusiasts, form teams, and participate in upcoming CTF events! -AJ