CCTF Platform

This is a CTF platform built using Django and MaterializeCSS used in the CCTF 2015 competition. We wanted to create a unique platform that can accomodate both novice and veteran CTF players alike. The CCTF Platform tried many experimental things such as Interact Points, AJAX challenge loading system, and dynamic graphs. Most of them turned out nicely but some features still require significant polishing. Also, the platform lacked an integrated administrative system. We are starting work on improving the platform for next year!

Prerequisites

The following prerequisites are needed for the platform to run.

1. Python 3 (latest version preferable).
2. Django pip install django.
3. Psycopg2 pip install psycopg2.
4. PostgreSQL (latest version preferable, 8.4 minimum).
5. Memcached (latest version preferable).
6. A deployment method (uwsgi preferable).

Development

Development of the CCTF platform can be done using any IDE or Notepad++. Koala was used for SASS compilation and JavaScript minification. All JS and CSS files in the static folder are minified.

Frontend

The base HTML files can be found in /ctf/templates/ Read up on the Material Design Spec before tweaking your settings. Find ~ for all prompts to customize the content of the CTF.

Challenge Files

Challenges are made of three components: a descriptor, a grader, and an adder.

Descriptors are Python functions that return the data to be displayed for the challenge. Graders are Python functions that are used to determine the correct "flag" for each challenge. Each grader should return a tuple. The first item in the tuple should indicate whether the user's submission was correct. The second item should be a message to display back to the user. Adders are Python functions that add the challenge into the database. They contain the title, category, value, and type (if necessary).

All challenge files should contain three functions: def grade(flag), def description(), and def add(). They should be placed in the challenges folder (or whichever folder you choose in the config file). There should be one file per challenge. Challenge files can be named arbitrarily.

Example: Web 2

def grade(flag):
	if flag == '{this_is_a_flag}':
		return (True, 'Success!')
	else:
		return (False, 'You are a failure.')
    
def description():
	data = "<p>Are you ready for a horrible web challenge?</p>"
    return data
    	
def add():
	data = {
		'title': 'Web 2',
		'category': 2,
		'value': 15,
		'type': 0, # Optional. If 1, tells browser not to cache challenge.
	}
	return data

The file in this case can be arbitrarily named web_2.py.

Administration

Challenges can be automatically added using admin.py. Simply run the following:

python -c "from admin import add_challenges; add_challenges()"

Other administrative tasks can be done by calling functions in admin.py. This will be improved in the next version of the platform.

Deployment

The preferable method for deploying the CCTF Platform if using uwsgi. Other methods include mod_python, gunicorn, or the deprecated FastCGI (highly not recommended but possible).

Credits

CCTF 2015 and the CCTF Platform was possible thanks to the contribution and dedication of the following CSC Members: Lujing Cen, Oskar Wirga, Alastair MacMillan, Paul Hsiao, Spencer Hu, Mike Iovine.