Trackdown 2

Writeup for Trackdown 2 (OSINT) - 1337UP LIVE CTF (2024) 💜

Challenge Description

We didn't get him in time 😫 Thankfully, we don't believe he's fled the country yet. He uploaded another photo this morning, it's as if he's taunting us! Anyway, this may be our last chance - do you know where he is?

Solution

Players receive the following image.

A bit harder than the last one, but there's a few approaches. You want to zoom in and look for anything with text, that you can search for on Google Maps. How about the A25 HOTEL?

Alternatively, could go for Little HaNoi EGG COFFEE or THE SIMPLE CAFE.

I'm sure you can find plenty more! We just want to get the general area, I'll try Little HaNoi EGG COFFEE (I was going to post a pic taken from that balcony, but I think it was too hard to pinpoint from the view).

Unfortunately, there are a lot of results (it's a chain, albeit a small one) so let's start with the default and look for a nearby A25 Hotel.

Oh dear, there are a lot! The red arrow is the location of the Litle HaNoi EGG COFFEE.

Let's check for SIMPLE CAFE.

Nope, there should be one right next to the Egg Coffee shop! Some other ways we could verify this would be checking the satellite and street view imagery or looking through the pictures of the coffee shop on Google Maps (there should be some of that nice balcony).

OK, let's revise our approach. I'll search for little hanoi egg coffee without moving the map.

We could check all 3 (already checked Yersin) but let's think smart 🧠 When we looked for directions to the SIMPLE CAFE it was an 11 minute walk away and right next to the Little Hanoi Egg Coffee you see to the left of the Yersin store.

We check it and the very first image is the balcony 🔎

OK, lets think about the original image again. What do we see right in front of us?? That's right, buses 🚌

There's the bus station!! See that hotel on the map? Click on it and look through the pictures. You'll see some that look familiar, e.g.

Flag: INTIGRITI{Express_by_M_Village}

We allowed several variations of the location, not case-sensitive: