i am bug bounty hunter

Hi guys, I understand that the quality of the CTF this CTF is kind of, uh, have a lot of improvement space,
but I would like to remind you that your weight voting would affect the weighting next time (aka next organizer).
Although I can't vote so I have to remind everyone here.

But personally I would still vote 1/100 if I can vote :)

This shoddy CTF is in no way representative of Hong Kong's CTF scene; please look towards previous iterations and other competitions in the area!

hkcert please do better???

delay no more

Why is the CTF scheduled during exam time? This is really poor planning. Most students are unable to perform at their best or even can't attend.

Plus, why has the admin always disappeared?

It's very disappointing.
1/10.

Tbh, this is quite an unprofessional competition.

Regex are not provided.
While little to no hints are provided.

There are huge space for improvements.
Still, I'm very glad to see CTFs being held locally in Hong Kong!

Among the five advancing teams in the international group, four are from Mainland China, and the company behind these poor-quality challenges is also from Mainland China... This inevitably leads to many unfavorable associations... Hopefully, next year we can see challenges created by Hong Kong CTFers themselves.

This iteration of HKCERT CTF is not co-organized by Black Bauhinia. I'm very disappointed with this year co-organizer. There are so many problems in this year:
1. First/second/third blood bonus points
It's unfair to international players. If the CTF is strictly limited to local players only, I think it's still somewhat fine. However, you have to consider that HKCERT CTF has an international category, meaning that not all players (especially international players) can get first blooded when the challenges are released. In some teams, the time of the first wave is at 2 a.m. on their side. Like, what, are you expecting that they can stay awake just to get first blood bonus points?

2. Challenge waves release schedule
The wave schedule is not mentioned in anywhere before and even after the CTF has started. Some waves' schedule were announced only after players urging the co-organizer to do so. Also, the schedules were only announced through the official Discord server. Dude, your platform has a freaking notification system, is that just for decoration like a Christmas tree? I have to keep going back and forth with my team's server and the official Discord server just to see if there's any new waves, so I can get first blood bonus points in time.

Not only that, some players also complained about there's too many waves and challenges. Here's the direct quote from the player:
"There are too many challenges, and too many waves. I mean, if each chal is very hard thats ok, but if every chal gets tons of solves then I had to stay in front of my computer for like 30 fucking hours. Thats a torture. And also because of that ppl are winning because of blood's bonus (chals are relatively easy), so I just had to work when EVERY wave got started. I had to get up at 9 at weekend. And not to mention some challenges suck (sorry!). [...]"

3. Guessy challenges
Many challenges were just straight up guessing. There are so many of them that I can't even have the time to list them here.

4. Challenges reuse
I don't know if this is a Chinese CTF "culture" or what, some challenges are copied from other CTFs, some didn't even modify a single line of code. Example:
- web/nettool is reused from Mimic (Qiangwang) 2025 finals web/wuwa (Only the final SSRF part is different. The rest is the same)
- rev/easydriver is a direct copy from NepCTF2025 rev/XSafe (Writeup: https://tkazer.github.io/2025/07/31/NepCTF2025-XSafe/)
- crypto/ec-fun is reused from hxp 38C3 CTF crypto/alcoholic_variety (Writeup: https://hxp.io/blog/110/hxp-38C3-CTF-alcoholic_variety-writeup/)
and more...

Please, for the love of God, HKCERT, please bring back Black Bauhinia as a co-organizer in future iteration.

btw i hate findkey X:( so guessy

Black Bauhinia should return. This year’s HKCERT CTF is bullshit.

- Guessy challenges. I cannot list every example here, but if you participated, you likely know exactly what I mean, especially in Misc.

- Stealing challenges from other CTFs. Some reviewers have already raised this concern. Additionally, it also appears that other challenges were obtained through irresponsible organizer bought from authors of certain beginner level event, which explains why the overall quality was highly uneven.

- Suspected leakage of challenge and/or rule violations during the contest. The involvement of an irresponsible Chinese organizer, irresponsible Chinese challenge authors, and the strange final standings, where certain teams with no prior comparable results on CTFtime placed near the top, creates substantial grounds for concern. This is not just conjecture. There exists evidence.

I have no idea why Black Bauhinia did not organize the event this year, perhaps for reasons that are well known. However, if Hong Kong wishes to save reputation of this CTF or HKCERT HKPC or whatever, it is clear what needs to be done.

In addition, I want to say this to those who compete in the Secondary School category that genuinely care about CTFs: this event was absolutely shit, and you do not need to feel upset about your result here.

Your performance in a single, poorly run event does not define your ability or your potential. The CTF community offers countless well organized, high quality competitions that are worth your time and effort, and where you can grow and be evaluated fairly.