CTF Handbook

Pwn Basics ​

Pwn challenges require you to understand a program's memory and control flow, then turn a bug into code execution.

In progress

This category is being written. Planned topics:

  • Process memory layout and calling conventions
  • Stack overflows and return address hijacking
  • Format string vulnerabilities
  • ROP and ret2libc
  • Heap exploitation: UAF, double free and House of series
  • Sandbox and seccomp escapes
  • pwntools and debugging workflows

Study tips ​

  1. Learn C and x86-64 assembly before diving into exploitation.
  2. Get comfortable with gdb, pwndbg, checksec and IDA.
  3. Start with simple stack overflows, then add Canary, NX, PIE and ASLR.