CTF OSINT

Quick reference for OSINT CTF challenges. Each technique has a one-liner here; see supporting files for full details.

Prerequisites

Python packages (all platforms):

pip install shodan Pillow

Linux (apt):

apt install whois dnsutils nmap libimage-exiftool-perl imagemagick curl

macOS (Homebrew):

brew install whois bind nmap exiftool imagemagick curl

MCP servers (optional): Playwright MCP (microsoft/playwright-mcp) for browser-driven OSINT (JS-rendered pages, reverse-image/map flows) — see tools-mcp.md.

Additional Resources

social-media.md - Twitter/X (user IDs, Snowflake timestamps, syndication API, memory.lol, Wayback CDX), Tumblr (blog checks, post JSON, avatars), BlueSky search + API, Unicode homoglyph steganography, Discord API, username OSINT (namechk, whatsmyname, Osint Industries), username metadata mining (postal codes), platform false positives, multi-platform chains, Strava fitness route OSINT
geolocation-and-media.md - Image analysis, reverse image search (including Baidu for China), Google Lens cropped region search, reflected/mirrored text reading, geolocation techniques (railroad signs, infrastructure maps, MGRS), Google Plus Codes, EXIF/metadata, hardware identification, newspaper archives, IP geolocation, Google Street View panorama matching, What3Words micro-landmark matching, Google Maps crowd-sourced photo verification, Overpass Turbo spatial queries, music-themed landmark geolocation with key encoding
web-and-dns.md - Google dorking (including TBS image filters), Google Docs/Sheets enumeration, DNS recon (TXT, zone transfers), Wayback Machine, FEC research, Tor relay lookups, GitHub repository analysis, Telegram bot investigation, WHOIS investigation (reverse WHOIS, historical WHOIS, IP/ASN lookup), fake service banner detection via nmap fingerprinting
tools-mcp.md - Playwright MCP for OSINT: reading JS-rendered pages, screenshots, interactive reverse-image and map/Street View search flows, social media and Wayback snapshots, profile-API mining via browser_network_requests (list) + browser_network_request part="response-body" (payload)

When to Pivot

If you already have the files or packets locally and now need extraction or carving, switch to /ctf-forensics.
If the task becomes active exploitation of a live HTTP service, switch to /ctf-web.
If you uncover malware samples, beacons, or suspicious binaries during attribution, switch to /ctf-malware.

Quick Start Commands

# DNS recon
dig +short -t txt target.com
dig +short -t cname target.com
dig +short -t mx target.com
dig -t txt target.com
dig axfr @ns.target.com target.com
whois target.com

# Image metadata
exiftool image.jpg
identify -verbose image.jpg | head -30

# Web archive
curl "https://web.archive.org/web/20230101*/target.com"

# Username lookup (site is browser-only — no JSON API; curl returns 403)
git clone https://github.com/WebBreacher/WhatsMyName
cd WhatsMyName/scripts/checker && python3 wmn_check.py --help  # needs requests + playwright

# Shodan
shodan search "hostname:target.com"
shodan host <ip>

String Identification

40 hex chars -> SHA-1 (Tor fingerprint)
64 hex chars -> SHA-256
32 hex chars -> MD5

Twitter/X Account Tracking

Persistent numeric User ID: https://x.com/i/user/<id> works even after renames.
Snowflake timestamps: (id >> 22) + 1288834974657 = Unix ms.
Wayback CDX, syndication API, memory.lol for historical data (Nitter is dead — do not use). See social-media.md.

Tumblr Investigation

Blog check: curl -sI for x-tumblr-user header. Avatar at /avatar/512. See social-media.md.

Username OSINT

whatsmyname.app (~717 sites as of 2026-10; browser-only, no JSON API — for scripting use the WebBreacher/WhatsMyName dataset), namechk.com. Watch for platform false positives. See social-media.md.

Image Analysis & Reverse Image Search

Google Lens (crop to region of interest), Google Images, TinEye, Yandex (faces). Check corners for visual stego. Twitter strips EXIF. See geolocation-and-media.md.
Cropped region search: Isolate distinctive elements (shop signs, building facades) and search via Google Lens for better results than full-scene search. See geolocation-and-media.md.
Reflected text: Flip mirrored/reflected text (water, glass) horizontally; search partial text with quoted strings. See geolocation-and-media.md.

Geolocation

Railroad signs, infrastructure maps (OpenRailwayMap, OpenInfraMap), process of elimination. See geolocation-and-media.md.
Street View panorama matching: Feature extraction + multi-metric image similarity ranking against candidate panoramas. Useful when challenge image is a crop of a Street View photo. See geolocation-and-media.md.
Road sign OCR: Extract text from directional signs (town names, route numbers) to pinpoint road corridors. Driving side + sign style + script identify the country. See geolocation-and-media.md.
Architecture + brand identification: Post-Soviet concrete = Russia/CIS; named businesses → search locations/branches → cross-reference with coastline/terrain. See geolocation-and-media.md.
Music-themed landmark geolocation: Multiple images of music-related landmarks worldwide; each yields a piano key number encoding one flag character. Identify all locations first, then decode the key sequence. See geolocation-and-media.md.

MGRS Coordinates

Grid format "4V FH 246 677" -> online converter -> lat/long -> Google Maps. See geolocation-and-media.md.

Google Plus Codes

Format XXXX+XXX (chars: 23456789CFGHJMPQRVWX). Drop a pin on Google Maps → Plus Code appears in details. Free, no API key needed. See geolocation-and-media.md.

Metadata Extraction

exiftool image.jpg           # EXIF data
pdfinfo document.pdf         # PDF metadata
mediainfo video.mp4          # Video metadata

Google Dorking

site:example.com filetype:pdf
intitle:"index of" password

Image TBS filters: Append &tbs=itp:face to Google Image URLs to filter for faces only (strips logos/banners). See web-and-dns.md.

Google Docs/Sheets

Try /export?format=csv, /pub, /gviz/tq?tqx=out:csv, /htmlview. See web-and-dns.md.

DNS Reconnaissance

dig -t txt subdomain.ctf.domain.com
dig axfr @ns.domain.com domain.com  # Zone transfer

Always check TXT, CNAME, MX for CTF domains. See web-and-dns.md.

Tor Relay Lookups

https://metrics.torproject.org/rs.html#simple/<FINGERPRINT> -- check family, sort by "first seen". See web-and-dns.md.

GitHub Repository Analysis

Check issue comments, PR reviews, commit messages, wiki edits via gh api. See web-and-dns.md.

Telegram Bot Investigation

Find bot references in browser history, interact via /start, answer verification questions. See web-and-dns.md.

FEC Political Donation Research

FEC.gov for committee receipts; 501(c)(4) orgs obscure original funders. See web-and-dns.md.

IP Geolocation

curl "http://ip-api.com/json/103.150.68.150"

See geolocation-and-media.md.

Unicode Homoglyph Steganography

Pattern: Visually-identical Unicode characters from different blocks (Cyrillic, Greek, Math) encode binary data in social media posts. ASCII = 0, homoglyph = 1. Group bits into bytes for flag. See social-media.md.

BlueSky Public API

No auth needed. Endpoints: public.api.bsky.app/xrpc/app.bsky.feed.searchPosts?q=..., app.bsky.actor.searchActors, app.bsky.feed.getAuthorFeed. Check all replies to official posts. See social-media.md.

Fake Service Banner Detection

Pattern: Port appears open on a standard service port (22/SSH, 80/HTTP) but runs a fake service. nmap -sV or nc host port reveals the flag in the banner. Never trust port numbers alone -- always fingerprint the service. See web-and-dns.md.

Shodan SSH Fingerprint Lookup

Search Shodan by SSH host key fingerprint to identify servers: shodan search "fingerprint:AA:BB:CC:...". See web-and-dns.md.

Gaming Platform OSINT

Lookup usernames across gaming platforms (Steam, Xbox, PSN, MMOs) for character profiles, activity, and linked accounts. See social-media.md.

Resources

Shodan - Internet-connected devices
Censys - Certificate and host search
VirusTotal - File/URL reputation
WHOIS - Domain registration
Wayback Machine - Historical snapshots

ctf-osint