After approximately 100 iterations, the script encountered a file named flag.txt instead of another archive.
: The text file contained Base64 encoded strings. Decoding : Extracted the string from flag.txt . Ran a Base64 decode sequence. The resulting plain text revealed the flag. Conclusion
: To prevent disk overflow, the script deleted the previous layer after successful extraction. Phase 3: The Final Layer File: Rescuing_You_in_the_Infinite_Loop.rar ...
: The script attempted to use the filename of the current layer as the password for the next, a common trope in these challenges.
: Manual extraction revealed a nested file structure (e.g., layer100.zip -> layer99.zip ). After approximately 100 iterations, the script encountered a
To bypass the "infinite loop," a Python script was developed using the zipfile and patoolib libraries to automate the process.
: Some layers utilized simple password protection or varying compression formats (ZIP, RAR, 7z). Phase 2: Automation Scripting Ran a Base64 decode sequence
: A while loop was used to check for the existence of a compressed file in the current directory.