143 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
143 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
# Anesthesia Gateway
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| Field | Value |
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|-------|-------|
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| Category | IoT |
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| Difficulty | Medium-Hard |
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| Points | 500 |
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| Author | Eun0us |
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| CTF | Espilon 2026 |
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---
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## Description
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The anesthesia monitoring gateway in Operating Room 13 at Clinique Sainte-Mika is
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broadcasting live data over MQTT.
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Something unusual is being transmitted on the network. The contractor left a debug
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channel open.
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Connect to the MQTT broker and investigate.
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- MQTT Broker: `tcp/<host>:1883`
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Format: **ESPILON{flag}**
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---
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## TL;DR
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Subscribe to the MQTT wildcard topic `sainte-mika/#`. Find the debug firmware topic
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publishing a base64-encoded blob every 45 seconds. Reverse the encoding chain
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(base64 → XOR with key `WIRED` → zlib decompress → JSON) to extract the maintenance key
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`N4V1-C4R3-0R13-L41N`. Publish it to the unlock topic to receive the flag.
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---
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## Tools
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| Tool | Purpose |
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|------|---------|
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| `mosquitto_sub` / `mosquitto_pub` | MQTT client |
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| Python 3 | Decode base64, XOR, zlib, JSON |
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---
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## Solution
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### Step 1 — Connect and discover topics
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```bash
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mosquitto_sub -h <HOST> -t "sainte-mika/#" -v
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```
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> 📸 `[screenshot: mosquitto_sub output listing all discovered topics and their messages]`
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Topics discovered:
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| Topic | Content |
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|-------|---------|
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| `sainte-mika/or13/vitals` | Patient vital signs (JSON) |
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| `sainte-mika/or13/sevoflurane` | Anesthetic gas data |
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| `sainte-mika/or13/propofol` | Infusion pump data |
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| `sainte-mika/or13/ventilator` | Ventilator data |
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| `sainte-mika/or13/alarms` | Alarm status — note `"network": "WIRED-MED"` |
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| `sainte-mika/or13/debug/firmware` | **Base64 blob, published every 45s** |
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### Step 2 — Capture the firmware blob
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Wait for a message on `debug/firmware` (up to 45 seconds). Save the base64 string.
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Note the `"network": "WIRED-MED"` in the alarms topic — this is the XOR key hint.
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> 📸 `[screenshot: debug/firmware topic publishing the base64-encoded blob]`
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### Step 3 — Reverse the encoding chain
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The chain is: `base64 → XOR("WIRED") → zlib → JSON`
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```python
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import base64, zlib, json
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blob = "<base64 string from debug/firmware>"
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# Step 1: base64 decode
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raw = base64.b64decode(blob)
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# Step 2: XOR with key "WIRED"
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key = b"WIRED"
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xored = bytes(b ^ key[i % len(key)] for i, b in enumerate(raw))
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# Verify: first two bytes after XOR should be 0x78 0x9C (zlib magic)
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assert xored[:2] == b'\x78\x9C', "Key is wrong — magic bytes don't match"
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# Step 3: zlib decompress
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decompressed = zlib.decompress(xored)
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# Step 4: parse JSON
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config = json.loads(decompressed.decode())
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print(config)
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```
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> 📸 `[screenshot: Python script printing the decoded JSON configuration]`
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### Step 4 — Extract the maintenance key
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The decoded JSON contains:
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```json
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{
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"maintenance_key": "N4V1-C4R3-0R13-L41N"
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}
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```
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The key is a leetspeak encoding of "Navi Care OR13 Lain".
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### Step 5 — Publish the key and get the flag
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```bash
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mosquitto_pub -h <HOST> -t "sainte-mika/or13/maintenance/unlock" -m "N4V1-C4R3-0R13-L41N"
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```
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Subscribe to the flag topic:
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```bash
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mosquitto_sub -h <HOST> -t "sainte-mika/or13/maintenance/flag"
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```
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> 📸 `[screenshot: flag topic publishing the ESPILON flag after unlock]`
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### Key insights
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- The XOR key `WIRED` is derivable from the alarms topic which includes `"network": "WIRED-MED"`
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- After XOR decryption, the zlib magic bytes `0x78 0x9C` confirm the correct key
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- MQTT wildcard subscription `#` enumerates all topics in one command
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- An open MQTT broker with no authentication is a real-world IoT misconfiguration
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---
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## Flag
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`ESPILON{mQtt_g4tw4y_4n3sth3s14}`
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