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About

ZeroNights hackquest is a hacking challenge before annual ZeroNights conference where the goal is to solve tasks related to information security (reverse engineering, web, mobile hacking, penetration testing and more).
The winners receive free invitation to the conference and a place in our Hall of Fame.

There is no pre-registration for a quest. When tasks are available there will be a field for a flag and your email.

If you have any questions related to hackquest - drop us a line at hackquest@zeronights.ru

2025's Rules

  1. Hackquest lasts 7 days, from 20:00 Oct 17 to 19:59:59 Oct 24 (each task starts at 20:00 Moscow Time (UTC+3, check your time);
  2. One task a day. Task duration: 24 hours;
  3. 7 tasks in total;
  4. The first person to solve the task and provide valid detailed write-up will get an invite;
  5. The second and third participants to solve the task will also earn points. The second one gets 0.5 point, the third—0.25. 1 point will get you 1 invitation, but not more than one per one competitor;
  6. It's prohibited to share hints and flags with other participants;
  7. Current date and time: 2025-11-16 09:01:02

Good luck and have fun!

Day 1 / Speistel

Description

Day 2 / Attack on HR

Description

Hints

19/10/2025 15:25
Flag is inside /root/ folder on the host (not inside the containers)
19/10/2025 13:10
You need to find a race condition vulnerability

Day 3 / Project UNABOMB

Description

Day 4 / Zero-chan <3

Description

Day 5 / Startup

Description

Day 6 / N3TW0RK

Description

Hints

23/10/2025 20:00
Task was extended till 23:59:59 UTC+3
23/10/2025 19:00
We looked into vpn-client binary and seems Merkle Damgård is under attack
23/10/2025 15:15
VPN server identifies clients using signature in RPC connections
23/10/2025 11:00
Admin keeps his flag in the vault, and the vault authenticates users by IP

Day 7 / WISHMASTER

Description

Winners

Task Place Nickname Reward
Day #1 / Speistel #1 darkside · 11 min Invite
#2 vos · 17 min 0.5 points
#3 disasm_me_ch · 23 min 0.25 points
Also solved Palermo, xa9e, imaloneliness, crypt0b0y, d4nd3lion, AV1ct0r, beched, wabloxa, hlop, Row, st3f, BronyUraj, Bottom85, r0binak, maximxls, furushigava, hero_in, sh1lo
Day #2 / Attack on HR #1 yanikita · 22 h 23 min Invite
Day #3 / Project UNABOMB #1 vos · 25 min Invite
#2 reworr · 1 h 50 min 0.5 points
#3 yanikita · 2 h 04 min has an invite
Also solved disasm_me_ch (0.25 points), hlop, aftalik, darkside
Day #4 / Zero-chan <3 #1 Reworr · 26 min declined
#2 vos · 27 min has an invite
#3 yanikita · 46 min has an invite
Also solved troubleshoot (Invite), vladko312 (0.5 points), wabloxa (0.25 points), disasm_me_ch, Palermo, crypt0b0y, pavkir, augustovich, hlop, seraphima, sh1lo, darkside
Day #5 / Startup #1 vos · 11 min has an invite
#2 Reworr · 34 min Invite
#3 disasm_me_ch · 55 min 0.5 points
Also solved wabloxa (0.25 points), ran_mao, crypt0b0y, Palermo, seraphima, vladko312, shurik, player01, L3G5, Kettle, be4hblu, Melo4ka, HoBBiT, sh1lo, l4mdor
Day #6 / N3TW0RK #1 vos · 2 h 07 min has an invite
#2 pavkir · 26 h 25 min Invite
Day #7 / WISHMASTER #1 AtomCenter · 5 h 28 min Invite
#2 augustovich · 8 h 41 min 0.5 points
#3 vladko312 · 14 h 07 min 0.25 points
Also solved wabloxa, Skriep

Hall of fame

Winners of 2021

Task Place Nickname Reward
Day #1 / Collapse #1 beched Invite
Day #2 / Not a problem. #1 AV1ct0r Invite
#2 sysenter 0.5 points
#3 YOBA 0.25 points
Also solved revervand, s0ph1e, hedger, a.v.e.r, vient, Felis-Sapiens
Day #3 / Regular Cipher #1 WGH Invite
#2 hedger 0.5 points
#3 YOBA 0.25 points
Also solved vient, s0ph1e, keltecc, Obriv Mostov
Day #4 / Exotic #1 YOBA Invite
#2 hedger 0.5 points
Day #5 / Read it later #1 ma9a Invite
#2 arbn 0.5 points
#3 ims0lo(testik_testov) 0.25 points
Also solved empty.jack, sysenter

Winners of 2019

Task Place Nickname Reward
Day #1 / TOP SECRET #1 vladvis Invite
#2 YOBA 0.5 points
Day #2 / MICOSOFT LUNIX #1 torn Invite
#2 Sin__ 0.5 points
#3 AV1ct0r 0.25 points
Also solved demidov_al, YOBA, medidrdrider, groke_is_love_groke_is_life
Day #3 / HOUSE OF BECHED #1 blackfan Invite
Day #4 / ASR-EHD #1 AV1ct0r Invite
Day #5 / PROTECTED SHELL #1 vos Invite
#2 Bartimaeous 0.5 points
#3 CLO 0.25 points
Also solved Maxim Pronin, 0x3c3e, tinkerlock, demidov_al, x@secator, groke_in_the_sky, d3fl4t3
Day #6 / UNLOCK #1 YOBA Invite
#2 medidrdrider 0.5 points
#3 sysenter 0.25 points
Day #7 / Beep Beep! #1 sysenter Invite

Winners of 2018

Task Place Nickname Reward
Day #1 / Galois #1 Felis-Sapiens Invite
#2 sysenter 0.5 points
#3 AV1ct0r 0.25 points
Also solved a1exdandy
Day #2 / BLACKANWYTE #1 QwErTy Invite
#2 AV1ct0r 0.5 points
Day #3 / PAD ME #1 AV1ct0r Invite
#2 a1exdandy 0.5 points
#3 Felis-Sapiens 0.25 points
Day #4 / IMAGE HUB #1 sysenter Invite
#2 antichat.com 0.5 points
Day #5 / TIME #1 beched Invite
Day #6 / AWESOME VM #1 a1exdandy Invite
Day #7 / HIDDEN RESOURCE #1 Bartimaeous Invite

Winners of 2017

Task Place Nickname Reward
Day #1 / Webpwn #1 blackfan Invite
#2 DarkCaT 0.5 points
#3 kreon 0.25 points
Also solved ilyaluk, raz0r, akamajoris, kurlikasd, poneev, shvetsovalex007, leon+zeronights, mohemiv
Day #2 / PETROVKEY #1 vient Invite
#2 Felis-Sapiens 0.5 points
Day #3 / YOUAREWELCOME #1 Paul_Axe Invite
Day #4 / REMASONRY CHALLENGE #1 sysenter Invite
#2 AV1ct0r 0.5 points
#3 Felis-Sapiens 0.25 points
Also solved Aleksey Cherepanov
Day #5 / NOT SAFE AGENCY #1 maximilian Invite
#2 p41l 0.5 points
Day #6 / STRANGE COMMAND SERVER #1 Aleksey Cherepanov Invite
#2 smalukav 0.5 points
#3 paulch 0.25 points
Also solved okob2008, Kurlikasd, mcstarpro
Day #7 / HACKING CHAINS #1 ilyaluk Invite
#2 smalukav 0.5 points
#3 Felis-Sapiens 0.25 points

Winners of 2016

Task Place Nickname Reward
Day #1 #1 sysenter Invite
#2 vos 0.5 points
#3 smalukav 0.25 points
Also solved ilyaluk, AVictor2007, a.v.e.r, dmit.mx, felis-sapiens, stas.zn
Day #2 / Golden Rabbit #1 smalukav Invite
#2 ilyaluk 0.5 points
#3 vos 0.25 points
Day #3 / ETHERIUM BOT #1 ilyaluk Invite
#2 lozko.roma 0.5 points
#3 snk 0.25 points
Also solvedvladas.bulavas, okob2008, dartslon, beched
Day #4 / BAD ASSISTANT #1 beched Invite
#2 smalukav 0.5 points
#3 Aleksey Cherepanov 0.25 points
Day #5 / StrongBox #1 Stanislav Povolotsky Invite
Day #6 / Packer #1 erbolsyn Invite
#2 ilyaluk 0.5 points
Day #7 / I wanna be better! #1 blackfan Invite

Winners of 2015

Task Place Nickname Reward
Day #1 / Chocolate Factory #1 cdump Invite
#2 BlackFan 0.5 points
#3 kidcrash 0.25 points
Day #1 / Chocolate Factory (reborn) #1 BlackFan Invite
#2 Beched 0.5 points
#3 AV1ct0r 0.25 points
Day #2 / HSM V1.0 #1 Abr1k0s Invite
#2 BooL 0.5 points
#3 kidcrash 0.25 points
Day #3 / BAZAAR NG #1 AV1ct0r Invite
#2 shr 0.5 points
#3 Petuhov_Forever! 0.25 points
Day #4 / ILLOGICAL PHOTOGALLERY #1 Beched Invite
#2 bafoed 0.5 points
#3 allyofgood 0.25 points
Day #5 / CRACKME #1 sysenter Invite
#2 okob2008 0.5 points
#3 h0t_max 0.25 points
Day #6 / BANK ROBBERY #1 dr.glukyne Invite
Day #7 / BLINK2PWN #1 mr_dawerty Invite

Winners of 2014

Task Place Nickname
#1 / Alighieri #1 BECHED
Also solved derwolfman, neomant, Anton Cherepanov
#2 / Yolochka #1 BECHED
#3 / InfectedTerminal #1 sysenter
#4 / Chip-in-the-middle #1 GiftsUngiven
Also solved Dmitry Ananyev
#5 / M-Nature #1 Roman Bondarenko
Also solved Stanislav Povolotsky
#6 / Not a HARD task #1 Torn
Also solved goober, ispras team, Richard Baranyi, BECHED, qwerty@x.x
#7 / private bank haxing #1 Dmitry Ananyev
Also solved abc1111abc, beched, Abr1k0s ctf team, darkbyte, obriain, bmth, bo0om, arnor9400
#8 / Photo story #1 Sergey Bobrov
Also solved Dan, Alexander & Tolya

Winners of 2013

Task Place Nickname
#1 / Hello, snake #1 BECHED
#2 / Hello, snake (special task: read file) #1 Dan Sigalov
#3 / Hello, snake (special task: read + write) #1 George Noseevich
#4 / A problem #1 darkbyte_ru
#5 / Bo0oM #1 Ilia Deto
#6 / wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee #1 vos
#7 / Erlang #1 Anton Sapozhnikov
#8 / [noname] #1 vos
#9 / Quake 3 #1 Andrey1800

Contacts

If you have any questions related to hackquest - drop us a line at hackquest@zeronights.ru