anyone interested in cracking crackme's?

hi all,

at the moment i'm learning secure coding, meaning create a secure (hard to crack) serial routine to use in programs. at the same time i'm learning ASM.
and during this study, i thought it might be nice to create some crackme's and let other people (try to) crack them, and ask them to let me know how they did this.

this way the "cracker" learns something from it, and me too ;)

if anyone has gotten interested, the crackme's can be found on my site.

if anyone has some nice tut's about this subject, please post the links here so i can learn even more ;)

Way too easy... total time 10 minutes while eating a sandwich..

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Desktop\crackit_1>crackit_1.exe Simple

Congratz! the first one! the password is: Simple

_______________________________________

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Desktop\crackit_2>crackit_2.exe EaSyCrAcKiNg

Excellent! you have cracked it, the password was: EaSyCrAcKiNg

_______________________________________

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Desktop\crackit_3>crackit_3.exe .data

Nice! this one was a bit harder, the password was: .data


Too lazy to go on.. but if you want them, post and I'll get them to you in a few minutes once I get some time.

[edit]

Sorry but I feel compelled to point out once again that post numbers, green dots, and status don't mean **** lepri... you know what I'm talking about. ;) No hard feelings hopefully.

Ok how did you do that? because i tried to click on the image and it just brought me right back

ummm...kool. I tried The first two and then the last! Easy. Did you mean it to be that way? I like the progs though and would like to see more :D ;)

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Ok how did you do that? because i tried to click on the image and it just brought me right back

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image? Do you mean the icon!>?

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Way too easy... total time 10 minutes while eating a sandwich..

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Desktop\crackit_1>crackit_1.exe Simple

Congratz! the first one! the password is: Simple

_______________________________________

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Desktop\crackit_2>crackit_2.exe EaSyCrAcKiNg

Excellent! you have cracked it, the password was: EaSyCrAcKiNg

_______________________________________

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Desktop\crackit_3>crackit_3.exe .data

Nice! this one was a bit harder, the password was: .data


Too lazy to go on.. but if you want them, post and I'll get them to you in a few minutes once I get some time.

[edit]

Sorry but I feel compelled to point out once again that post numbers, green dots, and status don't mean **** lepri... you know what I'm talking about. No hard feelings hopefully.

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did you really think this was the best i can do? it were just the first that i have wrote during lunch time at work within half an hour. i just wanted to know how hard they should be...

but tell me, did you actually crack them, or just bruteforced them? cause THAT's not cracking!
that's why asked for the explanations on how you did this. so please let me know.

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ummm...kool. I tried The first two and then the last! Easy. Did you mean it to be that way? I like the progs though and would like to see more

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can you tell me how you "cracked" the final one? i'm pretty interested in that one.
yes, there will be more, but as i said above, i just created these ones in half an hour. didn't had more time ;)

The meaning was that they get harder as you go further, meaning: the second one is a little harder then the first, the third one is a bit harder then the second one. and so on....

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Originally posted here by lepricaun
at the moment i'm learning secure coding, meaning create a secure (hard to crack) serial routine to use in programs.

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You may be interrested in Hacker Disassembling Uncovered.

It talks alot about C/C++ structures and how they're translated into assembly. It also talks about securing your code to prevent 'snooping'.

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You may be interrested in Hacker Disassembling Uncovered.

It talks alot about C/C++ structures and how they're translated into assembly. It also talks about securing your code to prevent 'snooping'.

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what a coincidence, that's one of the books i'm learning it from :p

it is a great book indeed!

thanks for the info though ;)

[EDIT]
this is the next book i'm planning to buy.
[/EDIT]

I'm reading in too. So, I'll definitely gonna try some of your crackmes if I have some spare time ;)

that would be nice. if you made some of your own, send them to me, and i can have a shot at it ;) (perhaps it would be nice to put them on my site too).

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Originally posted here by lepricaun
did you really think this was the best i can do? it were just the first that i have wrote during lunch time at work within half an hour. i just wanted to know how hard they should be...

but tell me, did you actually crack them, or just bruteforced them? cause THAT's not cracking!
that's why asked for the explanations on how you did this. so please let me know.

can you tell me how you "cracked" the final one? i'm pretty interested in that one.
yes, there will be more, but as i said above, i just created these ones in half an hour. didn't had more time ;)

The meaning was that they get harder as you go further, meaning: the second one is a little harder then the first, the third one is a bit harder then the second one. and so on....

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A) You're an idiot...

B) No, I didn't brute force them which is obvious... brute force attacks (which are considered cracking) take enormous amount of time, I, on the other hand, used a hex editor and they were spelled out in plain English for me you tard... thank you very much... way to easy... and btw, get a new hobby, cause you suck at coding.

C) I'm not here to pamper around your needs and explain everything I do and/or know, you made a simple game, I solved it... now let it be and go back to your hole of shame.

Seing as no one has yet posted how they cracked your challenge thought i would. I have only got time to do the first, which was very easy. It must have been cuz i cracked it first go.

Here is how i did it, unzipped crackit_1
open tds3 and run it's string extractor.
navigate to crackit_1 with extractor and load, View output.

Thats all there was to this one as i said very easy. I have attached the output for anyone who is intersted.

Chill out ;TT.

a) he's learning
b) the book starts with simple stuff and gradually moves on.
c) you're not helping

Don't want to dissapoint ya but it was even easier than that.

Copied it to c:\
Entered MS-Dos
dir
Result > crackit1.exe
type crackit1.exe
result > check for your self. Its not difficult after that stage !

The first one is dead simple (as is shown in the book). It should gradually be more and more difficult as you progress. But I agree that the first few are dead easy if you know just a little about the way a compiler works and how data is stored.

That's the whole point of the book. To show you the ways how it can be done, ways to prevent it and ways to make it nearly impossible. But as always nothing is 'uncrackable' it's just a matter of time and perseverance.

TT --> if i could give you a NEG, i would! if you believe that i suck in coding because i put the strings in plain text on purpose, go ahead. but don't flatter yourself by thinking your such a good cracker, any other skiddie could have solved the first 3 ones. if you think the 4th and especially the 5th are also easy (which they are), then you may have reason to speak!
but if you have so much knowledge cracking those without any trouble, then why bother at all with trying it, and keep your comments out of this thread if they aren't meant to help someone with them!!!!

So please get the hell out of this thread, cause i do NOT like your comments and i doubt they are useful to anyone!

and as SirDice already mentioned, i am still learning.
However, i made the first so easy on purpose. i know exactly how to "crack" them. but i just added them to encourage people without any experience on this field to learn and think along.
and although i can easily "crack" those myself. it can never hurt to hear how people did this, since they might use another way to solve it, and that could be something you never thought about.

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The first one is dead simple (as is shown in the book). It should gradually be more and more difficult as you progress. But I agree that the first few are dead easy if you know just a little about the way a compiler works and how data is stored.

That's the whole point of the book. To show you the ways how it can be done, ways to prevent it and ways to make it nearly impossible. But as always nothing is 'uncrackable' it's just a matter of time and perseverance.

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your absolutely right. except i didn't wrote these by following the book, i just wrote them since i knew how easy they would be, so i might encourage the lesser experienced people to start learning (as i stated above).

Jinxy --> please keep your solutions to yourself. this way it is still worth trying for the others.
of course the first ones are SO easy, but still can be very hard for someone without the knowledge.

Soon i will write some which will be a lot harder to crack, they will be added to the site too.
I'm already working at an alghoritm and i am planning to pack some of the apps too with different types of packers...

Dear lepricaun

First of all: Gratulations to your interest in asm - going back to the roots so to say.
Don't bother about flames and try to ignore them. There always are jealous
people around - jealous or simply too young to realise that one cannot know
everything. This has nothing to do with lack of intelligence, but simply is due
to our limited lifespan. Nevertheless, I spent some of my precious evening-time
to look at your little progs. While the first 4 are for beginners, the last one
needs at least some basic knowledge of asm - let's say I am done with it ... ;)
Good work.

I recommend the following tool for the analysis: PE Explorer[1]

Go on !


[1] http://www.heaventools.com/overview.htm


/edit: Actually...

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But as always nothing is 'uncrackable' it's just a matter of time and perseverance.

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This whole story reminds me of the old password-protected games. Especially
LucasArts (if I remind it correctly) was quite persevering and perverse as well
in hiding the password. At that time, people simply replaced most of the jnz with jz ...

thanks for the tool, and your absolutely right! but hey, this guy is just so annoying!
oh well, time to start on the next crackit's ;)

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Originally posted here by lepricaun
TT --> if i could give you a NEG, i would! if you believe that i suck in coding because i put the strings in plain text on purpose, go ahead. but don't flatter yourself by thinking your such a good cracker, any other skiddie could have solved the first 3 ones. if you think the 4th and especially the 5th are also easy (which they are), then you may have reason to speak!
but if you have so much knowledge cracking those without any trouble, then why bother at all with trying it, and keep your comments out of this thread if they aren't meant to help someone with them!!!!

So please get the hell out of this thread, cause i do NOT like your comments and i doubt they are useful to anyone!

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Your code from what I remember had the first 3 levels in plain English.. each was supposed to get harder step by step.. the first 3 were nothing more than the same thing..

I'll do 4 and 5 later on tonight once I finish up some other work, 4 _looks_ like it has something to do with a blank space and 5 _looks_ like it has something to do with abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.1234567890 but I'll have to play around with it before I can say that for sure.

But as far as I'm concerned, no one else has posted an answer so I'll just assume I'm God's gift to the world so **** off.

Next, this is a public forum, if you post material that is bad, expect someone to say something, if you don't like me, ignore me, simple click of a button will do that and it'll prevent me from posting in your thread.. but as I said before... I solved your little "crack me" programs with nothing more than my usual hex editor and looking for the right values.

[edit]spelling issue[/edit]

;TT dont get yourself banned again dude.....be calm....yes hes learning...i bet you were a newb like him at one point too.....lep i know your not a newb but your still learning so meh

;TT if what you plan to say isnt nice then dont say it at all...you putting down his skills is as far from helping as possiable....and i think im right in saying...helping is what this place is all about....

TT --> i will try to give a serious reply:

code 1 --> simple a string in plain text. for those that wouldn't find it if they would change the jmp it would still give him the password.

code 2 --> same as code one except this time the jmp won't work.

code 3 --> same as 2, except using the tool "strings.exe" won't help you since the pass is in there very often too.

code 4 --> here it is starting to be a bit like cracking, no more string in plain text, except if you follow the code in memory, still easy.

code 5 --> about the same as 4, except it is a little more difficult following the code.

code 6 --> this will be a lot harder since it doesn't include the password, just calculations with the password which will be compared to several values. haven't finished it yet, but i hope to have it on my site in about 8 hours or so (have to go to work first :().

all these code were coded like this on purpose. i already knew how they would be "crackable" before i wrote the code. i WANTED it to be like this.

but just be patient and start with 4,5,6 and the others that will follow. then you will see it can be fun if you really need to work for it :)

and yes i'm a noob in coding, but like i said, that doesn't mean i did not do the above on purpose.

i already cracked a lot of crackme's before i started to learn how to code myself (sounds strange doesn't it).

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[edit]spelling issue[/edit]

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if this is addressed to me, yes i'm not a native american or englishman. but i think i'm doing pretty well for a foreigner ;)

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Next, this is a public forum

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Yes. Its also a community forum so if you don't intend to play nice with the guys your gonna find yourself being the lonely fat kid in the corner then banned.

Nice!

the 6th one is available now.. this WILL require some ASM skills...

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this WILL require some ASM skills...

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Indeed, it did ;) Again, well done.

Instead of solving crossword puzzles while using public transportation,
I am now checking asm code - back to the old times :D

Lepricaun, waiting for the 7th!

lepricaun: Nice little exercises. Might I suggest a solutions page? I realize that there are many different ways to solve your challenges... but a general solution for those not too familiar? I tried the first few and found them pretty easy using a hex editor or even notepad.

I'm not a programmer by any means (I know the basics of C/C++, etc.) and will surely find them a nice challenge as I progress. However, if I am unable to complete the challenge, I would be interested in relevant reading material. Don't give me the answers, just point me in the right direction. I'm learning a bit of Intel ASM in one of my "hybrid" classes now, but we are not that far... focusing on hardware and computer org. more than programming ASM. More ASM to come later in the semester. :(

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Originally posted here by sec_ware
Indeed, it did ;) Again, well done.

Instead of solving crossword puzzles while using public transportation,
I am now checking asm code - back to the old times :D

Lepricaun, waiting for the 7th!

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I'll swallow my pride... I got up to 4 and dropped out dead like a fish. I'm guessing decompiling the code is necessary so how about posting your answers for I am curious now.

[edit]

BTW,

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if this is addressed to me, yes i'm not a native american or englishman. but i think i'm doing pretty well for a foreigner

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That edit refers to the reason my post has an edit time... I had a spelling issue in it and I corrected it... thus I included the reason for it. LIke this one has the edit tags as well because I am editing it after it was posted and am showing what is being changed.

[/edit]

Then PM me them please. =)

I've got 4's password, and I've got 5 and 6 cracked so any password works, but I can't get them to spit out the actual passwords. :(

So I guess I did 4 legit, but 5 and 6 I "technically" cracked. In a week or so I'll post how I did it if anyone cares.

Exercise 1-3 can be solved using a hex-editor, even Exercise 4.
5 and 6 need to be decompiled (I refer to the prg PE Explorer I recommended
in this thread).
While 5 needs some basic asm knowledge, 6 is the first "real" one to crack.
The password is protected using an algorithmic procedure, although also
in a basic way: You'll end up with 9 non-linear equations,
but you have to determine a number of unknowns that is less than 9.
Although I could not get one of the equations right (never saw an asm construct
like that :D), one can solve for the Password. It's not easy, but feasible.

I can give more help, even publish the passwords, but I think it was lepricauns
effort to make them, so he should decide and publish hints as he wants.


Just a note: The passwords can be cracked by brute-force in just a few minutes.
But I think that's not the goal here.
Oups, this is one hint about the structure of the password. Sorry lepri :)

[EDIT]crackit_7.exe is now available! this took me all day to code, so i would like to see it get cracked ;-)[/EDIT]

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lepricaun: Nice little exercises. Might I suggest a solutions page? I realize that there are many different ways to solve your challenges... but a general solution for those not too familiar? I tried the first few and found them pretty easy using a hex editor or even notepad.

I'm not a programmer by any means (I know the basics of C/C++, etc.) and will surely find them a nice challenge as I progress. However, if I am unable to complete the challenge, I would be interested in relevant reading material. Don't give me the answers, just point me in the right direction. I'm learning a bit of Intel ASM in one of my "hybrid" classes now, but we are not that far... focusing on hardware and computer org. more than programming ASM. More ASM to come later in the semester.

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that would be a good idea, but then the ones solved it should bive my a text on how they did it. cause to be honest, i can solve 4 and maybe five, but 6 is also to difficult for me yet :)

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I'll swallow my pride... I got up to 4 and dropped out dead like a fish. I'm guessing decompiling the code is necessary so how about posting your answers for I am curious now.

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the 4th one can be solved by following the program in memory. just get ollydbg and set breakpoints at the password testing points, and then slowly step through it, this way character for character, the password should become visible. (this also goes for the 5th).
only the 6th is really a pain in the ass (for me at least!). this one i can not give you any hints, the only one who has solved it (or in his words almost) is sec_ware. so he's the only one who can give you a hint on how to crack it.

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So I guess I did 4 legit, but 5 and 6 I "technically" cracked. In a week or so I'll post how I did it if anyone cares.

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you've altered the JNZ's to JE. that's possible with all ones, but only the first will spit out the real password with this technique :p

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I can give more help, even publish the passwords, but I think it was lepricauns
effort to make them, so he should decide and publish hints as he wants.

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well hints are given for the 4th and 5th. the 6th i leave up to you, since you are the only one that cracked it.

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Just a note: The passwords can be cracked by brute-force in just a few minutes.
But I think that's not the goal here.

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of course they can. the next one will probably be one with both a username and a password, so we rule out the bruteforce option as well.

but on the other hand, brute-forcing isn't cracking. You will not learn anything about RE if you use this technique.

i'm glad to see you guys have so much fun with them! this is a nice motivation of creating more of them ;)


[EDIT]crackit_7.exe is now available! this took me all day to code, so i would like to see it get cracked ;-)[/EDIT]

I guess I'm the cheapest cracker ever. I couldn't get the password for 7, but again I was able to at least bypass the login.

EDIT: I got 5 cracked (I got the pass, instead of breaking the login), this is really fun.

now onto 6!

ok, heres what you've done:
changed 2 bytes at address 0x00000978 from 8D01 to A103


but again, it won't teach you anything about ASM and cracking ;)

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How the General AO User Brain Works
"You don't seem to have posted anything of value. I am under this assmuntion as you have a post count of 70 and not a single positive point." - mark_boyle2002

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Gotta love it. I spell assumption wrong and it even better suits its purpose.

I usually don't assign points because I am here to learn more than worry about points and who is more worthy than the next. I base a thread on what it gives and this thread has helped me a lot. So to you mark_boyle 2002, who cares if this thread has a lot of replies without points assigned.

I have learned a lot and to me that means more than these silly points.

Man, talk about some angst all up in this house! If someone's learning, no matter how easy it may be on any project they have done, at least give them props for trying. It's easier to break someone else's project and get an answer (in this case) than it is to write code that's secure and solely for the point of "breaking into" and then presenting it to a bunch of unknown people.

I wish I could get the crackits but because I'm at work and geocities is explicitly banned, hehe...I can't :( ...

Once more: Thank you lepricaun!
A tip to 7:
In principle, Nr.7 is "just" somewhat more difficult than
Nr.6, but since the password is somewhat lengthy, one has
to be quite careful while analysing the code in order to
extract the equations to solve for the login/pw.
Double-check each equation you write down. It costs quite
a lot of time to backtrack errors... :D

As usual in IT, there are several approaches how to crack
the login/pw, eg. change the exe itself, use brute-force
attack, make reasonable guesses (after having parts of the login/pw),
solve non-linear and rather undeterministic equations.
There are also several techniques how to do the reverse
engineering ie. one even can analyse somewhat complicated
arithmetics without knowing any assembler at all (well, just some
basics about the [ebp]).

Since people here seem to be quite interested in participating
in this little game, I guess there might be an interest in a
tutorial about "reverse engineering". I think, using crackit_6
and crackit_7 as examples, I could put together something reasonable.
However, it will be somewhat lengthy, I guess. What do you think?
Would it be spoiling the fun ;) here?

Perhaps you then need to post it as hidden sec_ware, this way the people who want to solve it on their own, don't accidentally read your post ;)

but i think it is a good idea...

Vorlin --> i've sent you the crackit's through mail ;)

or I post it encrypted and attach an executable that will decrypt it,
however you will need to reverse engineer a login/pw ...

:D

hahaha, that would be a nice idea too ;)
i like that, i'll take the challenge !

Hi all,

the crackit_8 is finished. this time the challenge is to write a keylogger for the alghorithm used in this program.
mail me the keygen (with source) and tell me how you did this, and i will add your name to the "solved" part of my site ;)

you can get it here.

good luck!

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Originally posted here by lepricaun
Hi all,

the crackit_8 is finished. this time the challenge is to write a keylogger for the alghorithm used in this program.
mail me the keygen (with source) and tell me how you did this, and i will add your name to the "solved" part of my site ;)

you can get it here.

good luck!

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Hey Hey,

Well the first ones were simple.. I may email you if I get bored but sinc eso many have I doubt it...

Anyways I'm playing with 8 right now and I'm kinda curiuos... should it be crashing after I enter a username? or is there something wrong with it?

Peace,
HT