Ready Gladiator 0 | picoCTF 2023 Solutions

Description

CoreWars is back, and this time you must intentionally lose every battle against the Imp. Submit a warrior that self-terminates immediately.

Setup

Edit the provided CoreWars warrior so it contains nothing but a header and ends immediately.

Pipe the modified warrior into nc saturn.picoctf.net 62089 to fight the Imp.

printf ';redcode\nend\n' > imp.red

nc saturn.picoctf.net 62089 < imp.red

Step 1Strip the warrior
Removing the code ensures your warrior instantly dies each round, satisfying the “always lose” requirement.
Step 2Run all rounds
Send the file through nc; once the matches finish, the server prints the flag.

picoCTF{h3r0_...6d4cf}

Any warrior that terminates immediately will forfeit every round and yield the flag.