Unknown

Platform: CUSTOM | Category: Crypto | Type: Challenge | Difficulty: Easy | OS: N/A | **Author: XESXOR Techniques: ASCII85/Base85 decoding, Identify encoding by character set

Summary

Walkthrough of the CUSTOM Crypto Unknown. Task: File with unknown encoding. Solution: Identified ASCII85 encoding by character set and decoded using Python base64.a85decode().

Description

File encoded in ASCII85 (Ascii85). Decode to find flag.

Solution

base64.a85decode() reveals text with 'Flag: REDACTED' ‍​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​‍

Key Takeaways / Lessons

• Mastering ASCII85/Base85 decoding, Identify encoding by character set was key to this challenge.
• Always check for common misconfigurations and verify assumptions.

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Crafted by XESXOR Research • 2026-03-08 • CUSTOM • Unknown • Difficulty: Easy