https://metesec.com/tags/cryptography/Recent content in Cryptography on MeteSecHugo -- gohugo.ioenmetesec@outlook.com (Mete Demirci)metesec@outlook.com (Mete Demirci)© 2026 Mete DemirciThu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:00 +0200https://metesec.com/posts/living-off-the-vault/Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:00 +0200metesec@outlook.com (Mete Demirci)https://metesec.com/posts/living-off-the-vault/<p class="article-lead">It started with a chatbot. It ended with an enterprise password vault decrypted without its master password. Everything in between involved an FTP jail escape, an Electron AppImage, a native Node.js add-on and a custom cipher that collapsed under its own mathematics.</p> <p>I recently worked through OffSec&rsquo;s <strong>Living Off the Vault</strong> challenge, and it had one of the strangest technical progressions I have seen in a lab so far.</p> <p>The first page looked like a normal support portal. A few stages later, I was analyzing an affine substitution box and using the application&rsquo;s own native encryption primitive against it.</p>