VaultGate CTF Walkthrough: Three Exploitation Paths Demonstrated on Vulnerable App

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Security researcher and CTF author todorslavovv published a detailed walkthrough of VaultGate, a deliberately vulnerable open-source web application designed for penetration testing practice. The app, built on Node.js, Express, and SQLite, exposes three independent attack paths plus a bonus fourth, all leading to a hidden flag string on the server. The three main paths involve guessing admin credentials to access a maintenance console, exploiting an outdated dependency for unauthenticated remote code execution, and manipulating the app's built-in chatbot into leaking the secret. A bonus SQL injection vector via the search box can also dump the entire database. VaultGate is freely available on GitHub and is intended to be run locally in Docker or on a hosted platform, strictly isolated from the public internet due to its real, unauthenticated RCE vulnerabilities.

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