How to Solve a PCAP CTF

Introduction

Many enthusiasts use PacketSafari Analyzer to tackle PCAP CTF challenges. With the recent release of PacketSafari Copilot, some have started exploring the use of AI to solve these challenges automatically.

The Philosophy Behind CTF Challenges

The primary goal of solving a CTF is to work through the challenge independently. PacketSafari Copilot provides valuable context and insights by highlighting packets of interest, but it is not designed to sift through megabytes of data in search of a hidden flag. Currently, requests that resemble a "needle in a haystack" scenario are not supported by the AI.

How to Solve a Simple Challenge by Yourself

This section offers some tips for finding straightforward CTF flags—those that are not obscured by unusual encoding or dispersed across multiple packets. A new search capability in PacketSafari allows you to search across all packets for a specific regular expression pattern. This feature is available for registered users only.

An example CTF is available for you to try: Example CTF Link.

When logged in, click on the gear icon and select the search option.

Enter the following regular expression to search for typical flag patterns:

[A-Z0-9]{3,9}{[^.}]{4,32}}

The search will return matching packets.

Click on the relevant row in the results to jump to the packet in the list and view the flag.