HackThisSite Basic Mission 1 Walkthrough
This is a walkthrough of HackThisSite.org Basic mission number 1. I decided to do a video series about the basic missions, and I plan to write a write-up on each of them.
For those who don’t know, what is HackThisSite?
HackThisSite is a site where hackers can test and improve their ethical hacking skills with challenges (legally). The site is free to use, but you can donate to them if you want. On the front page, there is a text that says, that HTS costs up to $300/month, so donations are appreciated.
I have been using HTS on/off for years. It was the first real hacking resource that I got hold of when I was younger… I like to learn hacking in my free time, with no real goal for learning, I’m just curious how things work.
Basic 1 - Mission briefing
When we open the first basic challenge, we have this briefing that tells that this is the “idiot test” and there is a hint:" If you have no idea what to do, you must learn HTML".
Solution
There isn’t much to see on this one. I opened the page source code and pressed CTRL+F to open search. I searched the word “password” and there it was on a HTML-comment.
Copy-paste the password to the password field, press submit and congrats.
My thoughts about the challenge?
The challenge is indeed a “idiot test”, but looking at the source code is a great way to get a view “under the hood”. Developers have to ship their code before the deadline, and sometimes people forget things in a hurry. I guess it’s not entirely impossible to forget a password in there (I really hope that people don’t do this in the real life).