I took a closer look at the stealmybitcoin.com CTF, which aims to demonstrate that PHP2SHELL is not realistically exploitable. So I gave it a try. Note: My analysis could be wrong, and I'm more than happy to be proven otherwise. Here’s what I found: • The server responds with Server: nginx and X-Powered-By: PHP/8.4.26. • My differential fingerprinting scanner independently confirmed at least PHP 8.2+ • Hypotheses: I considered two possible setups: ◦ nginx → PHP-FPM ◦ nginx → Apache → PHP-FPM/mod_php • After comparing the server's behavior against local test environments, the closest match appears to be nginx → PHP cli-server. Plot twist: the response behavior is consistent with the PHP cli-server serving a static index.html rather than an index.php. If that's indeed the case, the challenge appears to be intentionally made unexploitable. My conclusion (for now) is that I'm questioning whether this is a good-faith challenge. Happy to be corrected if I've missed something!

Have you seen the three-legged cat in the lighthouse at Brave Haven? That's Pogo, the cat of one of our talented 3D artists! Sadly, Pogo passed away before the game drop but he'll eternally live on through the game. Stop by the lighthouse to give Pogo some love 💚