The picoCTF-shell-manager project consists of the hacksport library and the shell_manager utility which are used to create, package, and deploy challenges for use in a CTF. During a competition these components can be used to run a shell-server where competitors are given access to the necessary command line tools and challenge related files.
This project has two goals:
- To reduce the overhead associated with CTF challenges.
- Prior to a competition during challenge creation.
- During a competition for system administration and management.
- To allow reproducible challenge sharing and reuse.
The hacksport library consists of a number of convenience functions related to challenge creations. Specifically it provides the following features:
- Templating to support auto-generated challenge instances from a single problem source.
- Creation of Debian packages (.deb) from problem sources to ease sharing and reuse.
- Dependency management for challenges.
- Common challenge functionality such as random flags, file permissions, and remotely accessible services.
Examples of how to use the hacksport library to create picoCTF compatible challenges are available in the picoCTF-problems directory. Additionally end-to-end documentation examples are covered on the wiki under Adding Your Own Content.
The shell_manager is the utility that a competition organizer would use to package, deploy, and manage challenge instances on a picoCTF-platform shell-server. This tool builds on the hacksport library and problem specification metadata to turn challenge sources into deployed instances which a competitor will face in a CTF.
The picoCTF-web integrates with the shell_manager utility to expose deployed challenges to competitors.