Next up we have a challenge we don’t normally see in online CTFs like this, a lock picking challenge. This task can be found on the Island of Misfit Toys: Squarewheel Yard. Going south from the boat we’ll encounter Garland Candlesticks and his Luggage Lock Decode challenge.
Talking to Garland he’ll ask for help getting into his luggage to get a pamphlet that he needs. He’ll also point to a talk by Chris Elgee that may be some help. That talk can be found here and in it Chris walks through how to “pick” these luggage locks. If we apply the right amount of pressure to the TSA key when we spin the rotors they will get stuck on certain numbers. These numbers are the combination and the luggage can be opened.
Starting the challenge we are given the option to try with one to four wheels. In order to have the objective checked off we will need to complete it with four wheels so to avoid wasting time we just start with that. Pressing the question mark in the top right corner gives us some helpful keybinds for this task.
Testing the buttons the circular button has 5 levels of tension before it resets. From Chris’s talk he says to use “just enough force” and so translating that to an online task I set the force to level four and begin spinning the rotors. From this point it’s more of a feeling than an exact science. We can test different tension levels and we’re looking for the rotors to periodically stick in the same spot. If we get that we probably have the correct setting. Once we have all the numbers we can press the button all the way in and if we are correct the luggage will open revealing the below photo.
With that completed we can talk to Garland again but sadly no new hints for completing this.
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