#Reverse Shell Exploit

[joy-jules]

DogCat - Exploiting LFI and Docker Privilege Escalation -TryHackMe Walkthrough

In this walkthrough, we’ll explore the Dogcat room on TryHackMe, a box that features a Local File Inclusion (LFI) vulnerability and Docker privilege escalation. LFI allows us to read sensitive files from the system and eventually gain access to the server.There are a total of 4 flags in this machine which we need to find. Let’s Dive in! Step 1: Scanning the Target Start by scanning the target…

[ferraris-gf]

explaining f1: the cars

chassis

modern day f1 cars are constructed from composites of carbon fibre and other ultra-lightweight materials. the minimum weight currently permissible is 740kg including the driver but not the fuel.

engines

as of the 2014 season, all f1 cars have been equipped with turbocharged 1.6 l v6 engines, which were previously banned in 1989. this change gave up to a 29% increase in fuel efficiency.

transmission

f1 cars use highly automated semi-automatic sequential gearboxes, with regulations stating that 8 forward gears and 1 reverse gear must be used, with rear-wheel drive. fully automatic gearboxes are illegal to keep driver skill. the last f1 car fitted with a conventional manual gearbox was the forti fg01 which raced in 1995.

as of 2009, all teams use seamless-shift transmissions, which allow a near instantaneous changing of gears for minimal time loss. shift times for modern f1 cars are in the range of 2-3ms.

steering wheel

the wheel can be used to change gears, adjust the fuel/air mix, change the break balance and call the radio among other things, allowing the driver a huge amount of control. data such as engine rpm, lap times and tyre temperature etc. are displayed.

fuel

the fuel in f1 cars is fairly similar to ordinary petrol.

to make sure teams and fuel suppliers are within regulation, the fia requires fuel teams like shell, petronas etc. to submit samples of the fuels they are providing for races. at any time, fia inspectors can request a sample from the fuelling rig to compare. the teams usually abide by rules but in 1997 mika hakkinen was stripped of his third place finish in spa due to his fuel being the incorrect formula.

tyres

you can read all about tyres in f1 here!

breaks

the brakes used in f1 cars are designed to work in up to 1,000 degrees celsius.

drivers can control brake force to compensate for changes in track condition or fuel load.

notable cars

the victorious red bull racing rb18 from the 2022 season, driven by max verstappen.

the dominant mclaren mp4/4 driven by ayrton senna in 1988.

the highly successful ferrari f2004 driven by micheal schumacher at the 2004 united states grand prix.

the 1994 williams fw15c, widely considered to be one of the most technologically advanced f1 car of all time

the first f1 car to be powered by a turbocharged engine; the 1997 renault rs01.

the lotus 78, which exploited the aerodynamic effects of downforce, or ground effect, which was banned by the fia in 1983 (though it was later brought back for the 2022 season onwards).

the 2009 brawn bgp001, using a 'double diffuser' (to harness downforce) which was banned by the fia in 2011.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

Yuri Ivanovich Pimenov, Disabled Veterans, 1926.

Walter Benjamin on World War I: “A generation that had gone to school on a horse-drawn streetcar now stood under the open sky in a countryside in which nothing remained unchanged but the clouds, and beneath these clouds, a field of force of destructive torrents and explosions, was the tiny, fragile human body.” “This immense wooing of the cosmos was enacted for the first time on a planetary scale, that is, in the spirit of technology. But because the lust for profit of the ruling class sought satisfaction through it, technology betrayed man and turned the bridal bed into a bloodbath.”

Education of the Movements of the Wounded Soldier,” from Jules Amar, The Physiology of Industrial Organization (1918).

Henry Ford on mass production: The production of the Model T required 7,882 distinct work operations, but, Ford noted [in his 1923 autobiography], only 12% of these tasks—only 949 operations—required “strong, able-bodied, and practically physically perfect men.” Of the remainder—and this is clearly what he sees as the major achievement of his method of production— “we found that 670 could be filled by legless men, 2,637 by one-legged men, two by armless men, 715 by one-armed men and ten by blind men.” ///

Walter Benjamin’s understanding of modern experience was neurological. It centered on shock. Benjamin wanted to investigate the “fruitfulness” of Freud’s hypothesis, that consciousness parries shock by preventing it from penetrating deep enough to leave a permanent trace on memory, by applying it to “situations far removed from those which Freud had in mind." Freud was concerned with war neurosis, the trauma of “shell shock” and catastrophic accident that plagued soldiers in World War I. Benjamin claimed that this battlefield experience of shock had become “the norm” in modern life. Perceptions that once occasioned conscious reflection were now the source of shock impulses which consciousness must parry. Nowhere was this defensive reflex more apparent than in the factory, where (Benjamin cited Marx) “workers learn to coordinate their own ‘movements to the uniform and unceasing motion of an automaton.’” “Independently of the worker’s volition, the article being worked on comes within his range of action and moves away from him just as arbitrarily.” Exploitation was here to be understood as a cognitive category, not an economic one. The factory system, injuring every one of the human senses, paralyzed the imagination of the worker, whose labor was “sealed off from experience”; memory was replaced by conditioned response, learning by “drill,” skill by repetition: “practice counts for nothing.” Under conditions of modern technology, the aesthetic system undergoes a dialectical reversal. The human sensorium changes from a mode of being “in touch” with reality into a means of blocking out reality. Aesthetics—sensory perception—becomes anaesthetics, a numbing of the senses’ cognitive capacity that destroys the human organism’s power to respond politically even when self-preservation is at stake. Someone who is “past experiencing,” writes Benjamin, is “no longer capable of telling . . . proven friend . . . from mortal enemy.”

- Susan Buck-Morss, Dreamworld and Catastrophe: The Passing of Mass Utopia in East and West. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 2000. p. 103-104

[wildwinterlunas]

Ranger Profile v.05

Yellow Ranger - Lucio Correia dos Santos

Lucio Correia dos Santos is a freelance DJ and the son of Benicio Correia dos Santos, an inventor that moved to town due to a scandal that happened with his old employers, Vishkar. Employers that followed him to this town. Employers that Lucio has now become a permeant thorn in the side of. Lucio often joins and even leads protests against Vishkar's presence in town, being joined by Ramattra as the things Vishkar is doing actively impacts the shrine. Lucio has also been the cause of multiple sabotages done to Vishkar's plans and equipment. He's even stole some of the tech that Vishkar has stolen from others, including his father's own Sonic Technology and the Power Ranger Tech. The latter being done with the help of Hana "D.Va" Song.

Lucio is the fastest Ranger, the yellow Ranger powers being specifically catered to being fast. However, Lucio upgraded the tech with the Sonic Technology he took in order to better help the team and to better get civilians to safety. Though due to this Vishkar has labelled the Yellow Ranger as the one to have stolen technology from them and to have stolen "historic artifacts" and has said they will pay the person who finds the identities of the Rangers a lot of money.

Lucio is very close with his father, and is very proud to be his son, however, due to the scandal that happened with Vishkar, scandal that Lucio now knows did not just involve the stealing of his Sonic Technology, but also the experimentation and potential exploitation of the Ranger Technology, it has left Benicio in a fragile state, something that Lucio can't stand to see and leads him to often stay at Hana's house. He hasn't told anyone, but the fact that his father is seemingly shell of who he once was, that he was heartbroken to that extent, terrifies him. It why he's trying so hard to bring Viskar down, think if he at least if he can take one location down, the entire company will end up falling like domino's.

Lucio got his ranger powers right after Hana did, her being the one to find the Ranger Tech. He's also the ranger most aware of the civilians around him, and due to his speed he often either get as many civilians as he can out of the fight or pushes the enemy their fighting to a safe zone where no one will get hurt. He's also the one with the most knoledge on how to blend Ranger Tech and Earth's Technology. Having already done it with his own Yellow Ranger Tech. He's also the first one to get into contact with Angela and Brigette when they awaken and start searching for the rangers.

Lucio is the heart of the team and the one to ground the others when affected by an enemies abilities, him being the one to be least affected by these abilities due to how fast he is in general. Not many Talon enemies can hit him. Though he might not be the one to figure out what an opponent can do he's usually the one who has the best way of dealing with the situation before defeating the enemy and reversing the effects.

[fighter-paladin]

Rules of life I've learned from 2016-2024

-Keith Dwyer

1. Governments are run like reality shows. They create artifical drama to keep the populace interested and distracted from real issues. This doesn't mean your vote doesn't count and your voice isn't heard.

2. Capitalism is the root cause of the modern day's problems. It is run off the expectation that the general populace are both workers and consumers. It is an unstable government that functions only in the short run. In Capitalism there is no planning for the long run, the point is to collect as much money as you can while the rest of the populace burns.

2a. To do this, the ones above set the laws for the ones below. These laws are governed to keep the lower class barely scrapping the poverty line, but just high enough that they can keep being consumers. Effectively keeping us as financial batteries for the higher ups, but keeping the lower classes suffering enough so they can't rise up.

2b. Capitalism hates two things; competition and education. Education causes the lower masses to become intelligent and create competition. The oligarchical structure of Capitalism hates real competition, instead the powers that be create shell corporations to share with the other oligarchs. By keeping the masses uneducated, the powers that be manage to keep rebellion and competition to a bare minimum.

3. Captialistic practices are unsustainable because money is an addictive substance. Once a person gains it they want more of it, never stopping and never being full.

3a. Addiction is an exponential process.

3b. A money addict will never be satisfied with what they have. They will see their other rich colleagues and feel envy and rage that they aren't richer than them. Once a person reaches a certain level of wealth it becomes impossible for them to care about anything else.

3c. Addicts in active addiction do not care about anyone but themselves and how to get their hands on their substance of choice. In a money addict's case this means exploiting workers, causing them to die on the factory floor, burning down rainforests and destroying the world to their own end. To an addict in active addiction none of this matters so long as they pull ahead.

3d. Addicts are manipulative and good at convincing people to join their side. Capitalistic societies applaud psychopaths and those with anti social personality disorders. That's why so many psychopaths and narcissists go into the business field. Because their lack of caring, compassion and empathy means that they will do whatever it takes to gain money, which in turn, causes active addiction to take hold and causes the individual to spiral further down.

4. People have power. For better or worse. The people will always have the power above the powers that be.

4a. People are fools. They will follow whoever uses the buzzwords that make them feel safe and secure. This is how the conservative base has been able to use trigger words like "freedom" or "the American way" or "the good old days" to turn their followers into a cult.

4b. This tactic can be reversed for the sake of good. Learn the enemy's buzzwords and use them to educate the masses in a language they'll understand.

4c. The enemy is corruption. The enemy are those that seek to keep anyone who is not like them in bondage and suffering. They attack these people because it is easier to control a frightened populace.

4d.  Machiavelli was wrong. It is not better to be feared than loved if you can not do both. Fear breeds resentment and rage, these ideas transcend generations. A son will feel his father's rage in addition to his own. Once enough people feel their own rage added with their ancestors rage over being oppressed that's when and why riots start. Riots are the voice of those who have been quiet too long.

4e. Unfortunately, this idea can also be reversed. The enemy can use riots for their own ends, though these riots are born from fear, not rage. Fear of the unknown, and fear of change. But mostly, fear of losing their power (read: the populace is convinced by the powers that be that they are losing their power when in reality it is just the tyrant they are following that is losing their power).

4f. Do not be content to follow another's lead. It is better to stand alone than be surrounded by those who would feed you to the wolves. In this same vein do not look for followers, look for those with the potential to lead in them.

4g. Do not lead from the back, lead from the front. Take charge and take responsibility for your actions.

5. Suffering is part of human nature. However, it is often exasperated by outside forces that are beyond your control. Sickness, politics, wars, everyday inconveniences. When times of suffering come around, remember that all life is temporary. If the goods are temporary, so are the bads.

5a. There is a concept called the Wheel of Fortune which states that every person rotates their fortunes in life. One moment you are at the top of the wheel and life is kind, the next you are at the bottom and life is suffering. This rarely is due to a person's interference, but instead by outside forces.

5b. Prepare. Prepare to be on the bottom of the wheel. Save a portion of whatever value you can whenever you can. Even the smallest amount will help you in the long run.

6. The game we are forced to play isn't fair, because the lower class were never taught the rules for our station in life.

6a. In financial matters, the government will always try to take as much money as they can from you. Do your own research, 9/10 there are programs set up to truly help the lower class but they are not advertised or they are buried beneath advertisements for the same service for a much higher price.

6b. Welfare programs and free programs that benefit the people are always demonized because they do not contribute to the bottom line. Use them anyway.

6c. You pay for the brand. Buy generic, it's better and cheaper because they don't upcharge for the brand name.

7. Human beings are animals, learning to become Gods. You will never be the person you've fantasized about being. Once you accept this, you will become the person you were always meant to be. When we strive for perfection, we will often find ourselves subject to the persuasive arguments of the enemy. Kill your pride. Kill your arrogance. Once you do this, you separate yourself from the animals.

7a. Be kind, but don't feel the need to be nice. Kindness is acting for others, supporting and caring for the people around you. Being nice is being concerned with how you are perceived. Kindness is genuine. Niceness is self serving.

7b. You can only hope to break free from human's animalistic nature but giving up your pride. Giving up your hubris and arrogance. Understand that the world is bigger than your backyard, and that those who think differently from you are not lesser because of it. Artifical concepts such as race, gender, sexuality, political parties, etc are ways to divide the mind. They occupy our thoughts with meaningless chatter so that we can not expand our thinking. The only way to become more than an animal is to open one's mind to the world around them.

7c. Lose your paranoia but be smart. Listen to your instincts and listen to the world around you. Do not assume malice with everyone you meet but be prepared in case malice comes around.

7d. Be in touch with your body. To the best of your ability, try and live healthy and well. Mind you, I say to the best of your ability. There are cases where "living healthy and well" may simply mean getting out of bed for physical, mental or emotional reasons. But make sure to get out of bed then. Do not give into the dark cloud life brings around, it will keep storming if you are laying in bed or not.

7e. Know context. Understand that life is not about you, it is about all of us as a whole. If someone speaks, and it does not concern you, do not speak over them. If you disagree with how a statement is worded but understand what the speaker is trying to say, do not call the speaker out or try and get them to speak with your tongue. Not every voice at the table must be heard. Sometimes you're just there to listen and learn.

8. Religion is optional. Faith is essential.

8a. Religions are made to explain the faith of a culture. They are meant to be guidelines on how to have faith but, like money, power is also an addiction. Power is intoxicating, and often leads to delusion. Any and ALL religious leaders who claim to be God in the flesh are delusional and not to be trusted.

8b. Any and ALL religions that place any group of people over another group of people are not to be trusted.

8c. God, faith, whatever you may call it, does not want your money. Any and ALL religions that claim otherwise or claim to be collecting "for God" are not to be trusted.

8d. Faith is to religion what kindness is to being nice. Faith is the backbone of life, and it is how we survive. In a secular way, it is an acceptable delusion to have. A belief in something greater than ourselves. A way for us to see past our own noses and engage in the wider world. Faith is greater than religion, and religion without faith is how tyrants rise to power.

8e. Faith does not need to be in a God or spirit, but it does have to guide you forward. A spark of hope which can never truly burn out. All people are given the chance to have faith, for many it is taught through the religion they grew up with, however faith also comes from killing one's own pride and arrogance.

8f. Pride and faith can not co-exist with each other. Pride tells you that you are the greatest thing to walk the Earth, while faith tells you that you are part of something greater than yourself. These ideas conflict too much to accept both. Of the two, accept faith. For its the truth. No person is greater than another, but there are people who are lesser than the collective they find themselves in.

8g. Those who claim to be God or to be God's vocal point, those who harm others for their personal gain, those who use one of the Lord's many names to profit off lost souls, those who claim absolutes and absolute dominion over their flock. These are the ones who are lesser than the collective. The ones who twist God's words to their own ends and their own wants and whims. Those who allow their pride to guide their path, those who claim to be superior over their fellow human beings without looking at their own flaws.

8h. These are the corrupted, they have lost themselves to their own vices and pride. Pity them for they have suffered and so resort to becoming this way. But don't feel sorry for them for every person makes their choice, every person has their own decisions to make. Any person who does not take ownership over their own sins, their own flaws and the pain they have caused others, is truly a coward. Learn from their mistakes, so that you can become a better person.

9. The meaning of life is to learn. To grow and mature and to pass those lessons onto the next generation. To live only for oneself is to spit in the face of humanity's evolution. We are social creatures, we function together as units. Those who purposely harm others, and those who are apathic to the suffering of others are little more than beasts.

9a. Every generation believes themselves superior to the generation that came prior. To some small extent this is true, the evolutionary point of humanity is to mature after all.

9b. A generation must be cognizant of their defects and flaws as well as their strengths. Understand that you will make amazing advancements never seen before, but you will also make grave errors that the generations after you must fix. This is the wheel of fortune summed up.

9c. To the generations after mine I say this. Be wise. I pray that you be wise, and learn from the ones before you. I pray that the suffering you must endure is lesser than the suffering my generations are enduring now.

9d. To the generations before me I say this. Thank you. Thank you to the ones who came before me who I've learned from. Thank you to the ones who came before me who fought the same battle I'm talking about now. Thank you to the ones who are no longer here, because they live on through me and the lessons they taught me. Thank you to the ones who are still here, who continue to teach me every day. I pray that the suffering you went through is worth it, and I thank you for your sacrifices.

10. Apathy is how a people die. Do not wait for change to happen. Make change happen. With each crashing wave of; bad news, end of the world predictions, pandemics, pain, war, death, and so on, stand tall. Those waves won't stop coming but the second you lay down you will be toppled over.

Apathy is the weapon of the enemy. They use it so that good people, strong people, feel useless. Feel worthless. Feel hopeless. Hope is always there. Hope is faith. So cling to hope, fight for today and tomorrow and remember the sacrifices of yesterday that have led you here.

Abandon your pride. Abandon your hatred and your malice and embrace change. Embrace what's next to come, embrace the unknown. What we face now are the screams of a dying paradigm. What happens when this is all over? We rebuild, we restructure and we create something better than what we had before. But we can't do that if we buy into the apathy of the enemy. And we can't do that if we give into our own vice, our own pride and wrath. Know when to take a stand and when to stand down but most of all.

Know to be kind. Know to care for those around you, know to love and love deeply. Love the world around you. Shine bright with a burning love for humanity that burns away the shackles of apathy and hatred. It's the most revolutionary thing a person can do in today's world.

[mariacallous]

Two years after Russia’s invasion, Ukraine and its Western supporters are at a critical decision point and face a fundamental question: How can further Russian advances on the battlefield be stopped, and then reversed? After capturing the ruined city of Avdiivka, Russian forces are moving forward fitfully in other areas along the front. Russian advantages in manpower, materiel, and defense production have grown in the past year, whereas U.S. ammunition deliveries have been throttled and are at risk of being curtailed almost entirely because of an impasse over funding in the U.S. Congress. Supplies of critical munitions for frontline Ukrainian units are dwindling, and soldiers are being forced to ration. Some units are experiencing significant manpower shortages.

The current battlefield dynamics have no single cause; they are mostly rooted in decisions that were made since the fall of 2022. When Russia mobilized its war economy, the West did not, and Ukraine could not. When Russia constructed a network of defensive fortifications hundreds of miles long and multiple layers deep, Ukraine did not. Russia obtained more than a million (by some estimates, three million) artillery shells and thousands of drones from its partners, including Iran and North Korea. The West could not match that, having already reached the bottom of the barrel of similar resources. Moscow has gone to great lengths to regenerate personnel and replenish its forces, whereas Kyiv has yet to fully mobilize.

Without a surge in Western military aid and major changes to Kyiv’s strategy, Ukraine’s battlefield position will continue to worsen until it reaches a tipping point, possibly by this summer. On the present course, in which Ukrainian ammunition and manpower needs are not met, Ukrainian units are likely to hollow out, making Russian breakthroughs a distinct possibility. But this is no time for despair; it is time for urgent action. Russian forces have vulnerabilities that can be exploited and advantages that can be eroded over time, but only if Ukraine gets what it needs now.

DAMAGED BUT DANGEROUS

To create an effective strategy that capitalizes on Russia’s weaknesses, Western policymakers and observers need to see the Russian military for what it is now: not the hapless, broken, depleted force that many wished it would be by now but a still dangerous organization advancing in Ukraine. Understanding the current state of Russian combat power means processing contradictory information and answering a number of complex questions. Is the Russian military in decline, reliant on Soviet-era equipment, conscripted convicts, troops who abuse methamphetamines or other drugs, and foreign-supplied drones and artillery shells in order to push forward at high cost? Or is it an increasingly adaptive and well-resourced organization, able to overpower Ukrainian positions all along the frontline?

The trouble is that both descriptions are partly accurate. Perhaps the clearest and most practical view of the Russian military is an anecdote told by Ukrainian soldiers and recently shared with The New York Times: the Russian army is neither good nor bad, just long.

In the opening months of the war, the Kremlin was reluctant to admit that its initial blitz on Ukraine was a failure. By August 2022, damaged Russian units had become brittle, and when tested by Ukrainian forces they collapsed in Kharkiv and retreated from Kherson. But Russia has since come to terms with the requirements and costs of a prolonged conflict. Realizing that its war effort was in peril, the Kremlin did what it had not wanted to do previously: it mobilized 300,000 men, dramatically increased defense spending, and purchased essential weapons from its partners to bridge gaps.

Kyiv now finds itself in a sustainment crisis similar to what Moscow experienced two years ago. But unlike Russia, Kyiv cannot mobilize its defense industry and quickly scale up production; it must rely on Western military assistance. Ukraine also has a smaller population than Russia, which means its casualties are felt more deeply.

When Ukrainian forces are sufficiently manned, supplied, and entrenched, however, they have shown that they can inflict high costs on Russian forces and frustrate Russia’s ability to convert its on-paper advantages into decisive gains. The battle for Avdiivka is the most recent case in point: using frequent airstrikes and committing up to 30,000 men across a dozen units, Russia still needed five months to capture the ruined town. Russia wanted Avdiivka badly, and it got Avdiivka … badly: in the course of the siege, it lost more than 600 armored vehicles and likely thousands of soldiers. The heavy losses underscore that Russia’s offensive capabilities are still deficient when trying to overwhelm prepared Ukrainian defenses.

There are few locations left across the frontline, however, that are as heavily defended as Avdiivka was, meaning that future Russian advances may come more easily. Furthermore, Russian weaknesses will matter very little if depleted Ukrainian units can no longer mount a defense, or if they cannot rapidly replicate the types of defenses that were constructed at Avdiivka over ten years.

THE LAST RIDE OF THE SOVIET ARMY

Russia’s two main advantages are its remaining weapons and manpower, though even these are not as strong as the Kremlin would like its enemies to believe. Take Russia’s vast reserves of armor: since 2022, its forces have lost at least 14,000 pieces of equipment. The Russian general staff has offset some of these losses by exhuming the grave of the Soviet army and refurbishing for use thousands of mothballed tanks and armored vehicles. In 2023, Russia revived 1,200 tanks and 2,500 armored vehicles that were previously in long-term storage while producing only 200 new or modernized tanks. But these stockpiles are not infinite. Some researchers have noted that Russia has already removed between 25 to 40 percent of its strategic reserves depending on equipment type, and the best equipment was probably pulled early on. What remains is likely to be in worse shape or even unsalvageable. If Russia continues at this rate, its remaining inventory will dwindle in the next couple of years, and its future options will be constrained as a result. This depends, of course, on whether Ukraine is resourced to mount an active defense and regenerate its own combat power.

The West has not kept pace with Russia’s ammunition production. Although Russia draws from its older ammunition stockpiles, it has also accelerated new artillery production. It is on track to produce two million 122-millimeter and 152-millimeter artillery shells by the end of this year, and has purchased an estimated one to three million rounds of artillery from North Korea and Iran. If the United States and the European Union hit their production goals, they intend to collectively produce about 2.6 million rounds, and not all of that will go to Ukraine. In early March, the Czech Republic announced that it could broker 800,000 artillery rounds for Ukraine from third parties, but delivery timelines are closely guarded.

Ukrainian air defenders have also had to ration their interceptor missiles. Russian missile attacks have grown more experimental and complex since late 2022, and Ukraine’s interception rates have declined as a result. In early January, Ukrainian officials said that lower-altitude air-defense systems around Kyiv could withstand only a few more large attacks.

The erosion of Russia’s equipment and ammunition advantages will matter very little if Ukraine is not resourced to defend itself in 2024. It will not matter if Soviet-era tanks are less capable and survivable if Ukraine is not given the supplies to destroy them. It will not matter if foreign artillery shells have a higher “dud rate” than domestic versions, if Russian forces can maintain a firepower advantage of around five to one, and Western production and delivery delays continue. It will not matter if Russian long-range precision-strike missile production has reached its zenith—or if, as Ukrainian officials say, Western sanctions are reducing the quality of Russian missiles—if Ukraine is not equipped to defend its skies. In this worst-case scenario, Russian heavy bombers could be used to destroy Ukraine’s cities and critical infrastructure.

HUMAN RESOURCES

Russia’s initial mobilization in 2022 was chaotic, with untrained personnel rapidly deployed to plug holes in frontline units. In the months that followed, however, the Russian military set up a pipeline for regenerating units at training ranges in occupied Ukraine and Belarus. Russia is now regenerating enough manpower to keep its lines stable and launch limited offensive operations through at least the rest of the year. After fending off Ukraine’s counteroffensive last fall, it introduced more troops into occupied Ukraine. For instance, Russian and Ukrainian forces in occupied Donetsk were roughly equal in September 2023; by February, Russia had a two-to-one advantage.Ukrainian commanders noted earlier this year that some Russian forces appeared better trained than they were last year; others still use crude tactics to simply overwhelm or exhaust Ukrainian troops.

Despite Russia’s capacity to recruit more soldiers, manpower is still a constraint on the Kremlin’s ambitions. Russia cannot easily translate its greater supply of men to superiority on the battlefield without risks. Although Russian military officials claim to have 25 million personnel available, they have in practice only what they can generate through volunteer pipelines. Out of concern for domestic stability and regime security, the Kremlin prefers not to call for another round of mobilizations if it can be avoided. Even if the Kremlin wanted to occupy larger swaths of Ukraine by 2026, it is far from certain whether it would be willing to accept the risks of staffing a force large enough to accomplish this aim.

Ukraine and Russia are both having difficulty enlisting sufficient troops in their 20s and early 30s, the preferred age range for infantry. For Kyiv, it is a matter of policy; only men who are 27 and older are mobilized. Although Russia has a larger overall population, its military-recruitment challenges are compounded by labor shortages and the emigration of hundreds of thousands of men since 2022. If Russia were to expand the scope of its offensive operations through 2024 and 2025, its pipeline of volunteers would be insufficient on its own, and the country would likely need more rounds of mobilization.

Russia uses cash incentives and expensive social guarantees to attract volunteers. To meet quotas, authorities also use coercive methods such as conducting raids on factories, dormitories, and even restaurants looking for men to enlist, and pressuring immigrants and inmates. Russia is recruiting foreign fighters—and soon possibly foreign felons—into its ranks as well. Recruiting convicts may have already passed the point of diminishing returns. Before the war, the population of Russia’s prison system was stable at around 400,000 to 420,000. By 2024, that number had declined to 266,000, almost certainly as a result of recruiting by the Russian military and by private mercenary companies such as Wagner.

The remaining convicts may not be available to enlist, either, because Russia typically employs around 100,000 prisoners at any given time to help with persistent labor shortages across the country. Russian authorities estimate a shortfall of 4.8 million domestic workers. These shortages extend across multiple industries and a majority of Russian regions. Labor pools that were tapped to resolve past shortages—migrants, prisoners, students—are now needed for the war or for conscription. Unfortunately, Russia’s looming manpower challenges in 2025 and beyond will matter very little if the brute-force tactics of Russian troops exhaust and overwhelm Ukrainian units in 2024.

HOW SOON IS NOW?

For much of the past five months, Russia’s strategy was to conduct multipronged attacks to deplete and exhaust Ukrainian forces along the frontline. Then it made Avdiivka its main target. Once the city fell, in mid-February, Russia immediately intensified its attacks in that direction and elsewhere. Russian forces have very few reasons not to continue their assaults. By persisting, they maximize momentum before the ground thaws and mud returns, take advantage of understrength Ukrainian forces as they ration equipment, and engaging Ukrainian forces before they have time to fully dig in, all while American aid is stalled in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Overall, it is a bad sign for Ukraine and its supporters that Russia has enough confidence in both its own abilities and Ukraine’s precarious position that it is accelerating attacks in the run-up to the Russian presidential election, in mid-March. These offensives would likely not be authorized if the Kremlin were uncertain about its prospects for success. In other words, Russia is forecasting more battlefield wins.

Russia’s current objectives appear to be advancing to the boundaries of Donetsk and rolling back the results of Ukraine’s 2023 counteroffensive in Zaporizhzhia. In Donetsk, they may be trying to reach the city of Pokrovsk in order to secure key road and rail networks and seize the remainder of the Donetsk oblast, or province, from which they could eventually attack the remaining Ukrainian strongholds near Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. Russian forces will likely try to make headway in the Zaporizhzhia oblast as well, particularly around Orikhiv, where the terrain is open and fewer Ukrainian defensive positions have been prepared. In the north, Russian forces are trying to approach Kupiansk, which could act as a toehold in the Kharkiv region.

A full reoccupation of western Kherson seems unlikely given the difficulty of the terrain there, Russian manpower and force availability notwithstanding; furthermore, the destruction last year of the Kakhovka Dam now limits paved routes over the Dnieper River in Kherson. Nor are there signs that Russia is amassing the forces required to reoccupy the Kharkiv region by the end of 2024. For Russia to attempt a new offensive on the entire region, the rest of the frontline would need to be stable—with Ukrainian forces fixed in place or unable to redeploy—and Russia would need to generate at least another combined-arms army but probably more (50,000 to 100,000 men, depending on the status of Ukrainian defenses). These circumstances do not exist today. But if conditions on the battlefield do not change, and if Russia generates sufficient force, this could be Ukraine’s future.

To hold their positions in 2024, Ukrainian forces need urgent replenishment of ammunition and manpower. If reinforcements are coming, Ukraine can defend the frontline this year and regenerate combat strength while the West’s industrial base ramps up for 2025 and beyond. Western military assistance—specifically American aid—must be approved quickly to sustain critical ammunition supplies and to maintain existing combat systems. Next, Kyiv must generate and train personnel to replenish frontline units. Unfortunately, finding more soldiers will most likely require an unpopular mobilization. Aid delays make Kyiv’s dilemma even worse. Finally, Ukraine must accelerate the construction of prepared defensive positions.

Without these urgent steps, Ukraine’s rationing of ammunition will continue through the spring and summer. Facing continual Russian attacks, undermanned units could become increasingly hollowed out and lose the ability to defend themselves. Unless immediate changes are made, this is the path that Ukraine and the West are on.

The Russian military’s long-term weaknesses will not matter if Ukraine is not supported this year. Ukrainian frontline soldiers are in mounting jeopardy—not because they lack the will to fight or do not know their enemy’s weaknesses, but because of shortfalls in ammunition and manpower. If the West, specifically the United States, does not want to see the frontline in Ukraine continue to bend or—even worse—break, it must urgently approve aid. And if Kyiv wants to sustain its efforts, it has to make difficult choices about how to generate more manpower. Time is running out.

[dragongirldeity]

it's been like 5 years so i can finally comment on this: it's still so fucking funny to me that i got on Kiwifarms's radar (when i was graduating college & quit moderating r/furry_irl since like, i was about to have an Actual Ass Job and wouldn't have the time to moderate a meme subreddit) and they were just straight up fucking wrong about everything they posted lol

off the top of my head:

* "she's not an Actual Hacker since she doesn't work in computer security at google, she's just an SRE [which they know nothing about]" - i am an experienced reverse engineer and binary exploitation/rop-chaining shell-popping Actual Hacker. i just keep day job and hobbies separate lol

* "she went to {expensive university}, so she must be either loaded with debt or really rich" - one, really funny to say "she must exist at either end of the spectrum", which is another way to say you know nothing. two, scholarships. i was neither. they knew nothing and they were still wrong.

* "she passes really well though" / "working at google right out of college is genuinely pretty hard to land though" - lmao some of the people were just genuinely impressed and forgot to misgender me // gave up on digging up shit

the most important thing about it all though: don't react or correct them or anything publicly. they're dumb as rocks! they're fishing for reactions and just saying shit to see what sticks / to see if i would correct them or whatever, so they could turn bad guesses into actual information they could weaponize!

i just kinda quietly mocked em with my friends and after about a page they just went back to being mad about sonicfox and they moved on, which was pretty normal for 2018ish. just, still funny to me a) how wrong they were about everything and b) how most of em just gave up when they realized i was hot, really good at computers, and also smart enough to just completely ignore em cus they don't matter

(one of my other hacker friends who habitually kept tabs on kiwifarms for everyone he knew was how i even found out, because he was just like "hahahaha holy shit they're so wrong about you")

[atlatsofstories]

rip - alaric & jacqueline

𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐃  &  𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐅𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄   (a  series  of  nonverbal  prompts .   mature  themes  present ,   ‘ my ’  muse  belongs  to  the  one who  posted  the  meme  -  send   “ + REVERSE ”   to  reverse  the  prompts .)

❛   rip .  tear  a  piece  of  clothing  from  my  muse’s  body .

              jacqueline & alaric        the moment her back had met the wall, all air had escaped from her lungs, her dainty frame pressing even further against the wall as though she was trying to press through it. the solid surface grounded her, and kept her from falling right back into her flight or fight mode when it came to facing head-on her inner turmoil about how she felt about him. there was escaping from his presence nor from how he made her feel; her breaths had become shallow, her skin had flushed in the most loveliest way and her toes now curled at the way he was prowling towards her to close the last few meters separating them. on the outside, she might've looked like a cornered animal pressed up against that wall the way she was, but in truth, she was more exhilarated and aroused by his closing-in on presence. it exhilarated her more than she cared to admit.

she wouldn't move an inch, hell she barely even blinked up until that moment when his physique was finally towering over her. there were mere inches now between their bodies, inches that she both dreaded and wanted to close so badly. Jacqueline's gaze was downcast, assessing the strong body so close to her soft one, allowing her heady gaze to crawl up his form before her chin tilted and she was met by the smirk written all across Alaric's features. she knew just from his expression that he knew just how much he affected her, affected her to the point of thigh squeezing and considering of begging to have him touch her. gosh, he hadn't even touched her beyond his usual possessive arm around her waist, guidance against the small of her back, and his breath against the shell of her neck or against her ear. she hated it almost as much as she loved it, almost.        " so, are you going to beg me out loud like you've done with your body all night? " , he husked out with that low and dangerously alluring voice. an involuntary noise came past her parting lips, quite literally unable to form coherent words as she was much too busy staring up at him. she watched him closing in on her even further, an elbow coming to rest against the wall next to her head, leaning in just enough to have his breath fanning out against the flushed skin of her neck. once again she was absolutely still, though her eyes followed where his eyes had traveled, down to study the length of her body as though she was his prey. though, in a way, she was very his prey and she was desperate enough to allow him to have his way with her.

she wanted to curse his name as much as she was about to use it to beg him. " touch me, Alaric. ", she whispered in a voice that was almost a whimper; a tone she hardly ever used, and would not use on any other occasion in her life. she wasn't a woman resorting to begging, unless it was for life and death, or her own release. she watched a corner of his kicking up at that, at what he had wanted to hear from her just so he could unleash the caged animal inside himself dying to come out, dying to claim her but only if she'd allow it. and gosh, she couldn't wait or deny it any longer, she wanted it desperately enough to push back any reason of voice that had held her back from it before. a noise forming against the back of his throat embarked on what came next, the way he released himself from his restraints felt almost as though it was something tangible within him. his hands were all over her then, roving over her sides, sliding against her back and front. his mouth covered her in a heated, hungry kiss as though he had no time for leisured exploiting. not that his passion wasn't matched by her; his actions spurred her to actions of equal measure, body pushing up against his, lips parting at the collision of their mouths, hands quite literally pulling at his hair. she was shamelessly delighted by how eager he seemed to feel every inch of her body, sounding her exact type of delight with a moan into their kiss.

if he needed to come out for air, he didn't show it, as he soon moved from her mouth to trail open-mouthed kisses and little nips over the dip of her chin down to the column of her neck. " you know what I've wanted to do all night? ", his voice tore out rasped, breathing heavily at the rhetorical question he paused for, " I've wanted to tear to blouse off of you all night just so I could mark you as mine. ". the words did nothing to sober her, only causing her body to sag back against the wall as if her knees were giving in on her. and then, he gave her no other warning as his hands found the row of buttons of her shir, sending buttons ripping off their placements with the way he ripped to remove the fabric from covering her from him.

and then --- then he proceeded to do exactly what he told her he had wanted to do all night, and more.

[furiouszealot]

I want to make an addendum to further clarify some stuff since i keep seeing the same questions and misinformation posted:

What about the accounts? There are no accounts on 4chan. The closest thing to that are the e-mail based verification system and the 4chan pass, both of which ill explain after the read more to keep compactness.

What about the feds? There were no feds. I am as heartbroken by this reveal as you are, but 4chan moderation had no feds amongst them. Can't say the site wasn't being surveilled to some degree, but that's just standard at this point.

What else did the hacker do? Nothing. The servers were taken down by 4chan team to prevent further tampering. A supossedly leaked mail from one of the main mods said that they were working on the website and all of the moderation members passwords to access the backend were being changed.

About the exploit? After some reading and a helpful reblog on the first post, the exploit used was reverse shell powerscript, which has been present since php 5.5, and since about 2013. Take in consideration that the current php version is 8.7

Anything else? Some stuff. Apparently there was some sharty spam on here after the first day, but i think they've already got bored? Also i forgot to mention /qa/ got axed from 4chan originally because one day they decided to raid /lgbt/, ironic. /ghost/ is still going strong, although people started to flock little by little, so activity died down ever so slightly.

Now, i'll get some inane babble out of my system bellow, and will add some responses i got from anons to provide further commentary. Keep in mind this will be updated every now and then. Also I'm still open to replies if you want to tell me something about your experience as an anon.

About the verification system - The verification system was implemented sometime last year yo prevent spamming or ban evading, it boils down to a captcha that makes you wait 15 minutes before posting to verify your session, either that or provide a mail to which a verification link would be send, and you're free to post from there. 4chan pass is similar in the sense that you have to associate an email address, but neither of these were compromised. Mails used to verify are hashed, payment methods are processed through a third party, and neither of them were leaked by the hacker, since it wasn't in their interest to compromise users.

As for the images. I'll keep any names out to preserve anonimity, which seems fitting regardless.

To help understand:

/a/ - Anime & Manga

/k/ - Weapons

/tg/ - Tabletop games

/mlp/ - take a wild guess

/qst/ - Quests

/s4s/ - Shit 4chan Says (I have no fucking clue what "Jack Rusell" threads are)

/vt/ - Vtubers

/ck/ - Cooking

/vg/ - Videogame Generals /u/ - Yuri

Can't vouch on /vt/ being shit, since I lurked mostly /co/ and /vg/, but I believe it regardless. I'm posting this because I want to insist on what I said before: the bigger communities migrated to other chans, there we're already 4channers in here, a portion stayed on /ghost/, smaller sites are struggling to keep up with the bigger influx of people. I predict things will stay like this until we have actual news on 4chan status.

On a personal note, the funniest thing that has been unearthed from /j/ is how much janitors seemed to loathe the dragon ball threads.

There are A LOT of posts like these, but this is one of the reuploads that made me laugh the most. Bejitabros stay winning.

Can't think of anything else worth adding, if something of value comes up, it will be added bellow this point.

Also I know i wrote below instead of bellow on my first post. Bite me.

Post script notes:

I want to rectify the thing about /ghost/ going strong. Theres some guy accusing everyone of being some dude he has a vendetta against since 2013, and has turned the entire thread into a troll fest with his mere pressence.

2 million Israeli posters - You may have seen an image going around that claims that Israelis were leaked to be the number 1 posters on /pol/. While the image is real, it's extremely old, and it was common practice on /pol/ to put the Israel flag just to shitpost.

As for more Anon commentary:

People that say that "nothing of value was lost" really don't know jack shit about internet culture. 4chan (specifically /x/) was the origin place of SCP, the Backrooms and creepypastas as a whole, and the videogame boards made katawa shoujo, among other things. Acting like it was only a honeypot for schizos and extremist ideologies is being reductionist as fuck. Most people that post there just want to discuss their hobbies and stay in a format more comfortable than most social media, without an algorithm forcefeeding you literal trash designed to destroy your attention span just to get you to watch more ads. Pretending Anons are irredeemable monsters just because they posted on a mongolian basket weaving forum about what cartoon they watched, what game they played, or what clearly inedible food they ate, is detrimental to the already decaying evniroment of the internet. Don't celebrate when other people's spaces get shut down.

Also, a tool to track activity on altchans was made, so I guess this facilitates my predictions about where the traffic is going - https://eylenburg.github.io/altchans.htm

As of 24/04 (no im not putting the month before the day) an ETA was given that the site would be up as read only on late sunday or early monday. Edit: nevermind its back up lol

If you followed me because you expect more posts like this, abandon all hope. I post mainly about homestuck, lmao.

All right, I know no one gives a shit, but let me give you a recounting of the fall of 4chan from the perspective of someone who was there and has been lurking both 4chan and tumblr for a few years now.

I'll try to provide as much context as I can, but a lot of images were either lost or im too lazy to look for them in the +5000 reply thread in soyjak party.

Anyways, info below:

So, necessary context: a few years back, 4chan had a board called /qa/, which if you know little about the page, you may think every board is like /b/ or /pol/, which means a containment cess pool of grifters, (you) baiters, incels, and other deranged individuals. The thing is, /qa/ was somehow worse. The entire board was plagued and infested with soyjack edits, board culture was a nuclear disaster, anons were incredibly hostile in there, you know the drill, the big bad 4chan, but this time its actually true.

One day, moderation deleted /qa/, anons that posted there got mad, tried to raid other boards, failed, and then moved on to an altchan called soyjack party, which entire purpose you can guess from its name alone.

Apparently, the boards that allow pdf uploads (paper and origami, for example) didn't check if the uploaded file was actually a pdf file, so postscript files could be used to get access. This is as far as my understanding of web backend goes, sorry.

The hacker claims to have been working on this since 2021, and that he had access since about a year ago, but was recopilating data.

Now, what actually happened when the hack ocurred? Well, a banner of miku dancing with a song that played automatically was placed on top of every board, with the text "/QA/ IS BACK", this was possible because apparently no board was ever deleted, they were just hidden from the public.

A thread was then made on soyjack party, claiming authorship over the hack, and shit went south from there. Anons went en masse to talk there, a lot of weird discussion happened, the thread got the bump limit removed and got pinned, more than 5k posts were amassed on the first night alone. Keep in mind this happened at about 8 pm and most of the stuff went on through midnight.

So, the hacker leaked some things, first of all, the html files for the entirety of /j/ and the email address for every moderation member (important note: the pressence of .gov mails was disproven by the hacker themselves, so i guess there were never any feds), what is /j/? the board exclusive for jannies and moderators to discuss actions taken on the website regarding spam, ban evaders, threads spiraling out of control, etc. Among other things, some of the inner workings of 4chan got revealed, such as the web extension for jannies that allows them to do their job easily, how reports are handled, and other stuff. (Anecdotically, some guy got permabanned for calling anons jews or n-words over a 100 times in the same few threads)

Then, the source code got leaked. Important to say, the hacker removed the part of the source code related to the captcha, as to not facilitate bot attacks on the future, and all information related to email verification or 4chan pass users information also got removed, so all in all users are safe.

What was found on the sourcecode? That it was old, mostly. Most boards used code that hasn't been updated since about 2016, and /flash/ used the exact same code from when it was created back on 2011.

From there, desuarchive, a site that archives threads that die from bump limit, opened a dragon ball general on ghost mode, and thus began what later got called /ghost/, a solely text based thread with well over 20k replies as of right now, where a fraction of the 4chan population took refuge and is currently discussing random things with no particular topic. Kinda hard to read, but its comfy.

What does this mean for other sites? Not a lot, really. A lot of anons already crossposted in 4chan and tumblr already, and the ones that din't most likely wont come here. Some of the bigger/most dedicated groups, like /vt/, migrated to other boards. Various altchans are trying/tried to catch some of the flock of users that got lost, but i doubt it will get anywhere, since soyjak party for example was struggling with just the influx of users that came for the hack thread given its poor infrastructure. Kiwifarms saw a surge of new accounts apparently, but a lot of anons kinda loathe the idea of having to register, so theres that.

Smaller communities, such as generals that didn't get a lot of traffic, or boards on the slower end (say, /ic/, /lit/, etc) will probably vanish or disseminate until (or if) 4chan comes back up. I'd say give it a month, don't get your hopes up whether you want it to stay dead or want it to come back.

Given how many anons are staying on places like /ghost/ or other similar archives with the same ghost posting feature, i doubt it will be as bad as people are making it sound. Besides, the communities that are most likely to migrate to places like tumblr are either /co/, /vg/ or /lgbt/ refugees, which aren't THAT bad. Not every board was like the main cesspools (/b/, /r9k/, /pol/). From now on, either 4chan comes back up in a few weeks (somewhere between 2 weeks to a month is expected), altchans capture the migrating anons, or a brand new imageboard rises from the ashes to become the new go-to site for old 4chan posters.

In conclusion, nothing ever happens, but also don't worry, chances are this won't affect tumblr in the slightest. If it does, you can cash in your "you were wrong" ticket whenever you want, i'll take the L. As a footnote, keep in mind: NO users were compromised, if you ever posted there and are worried for your safety, physical or digital, you are safe. Edit: Forgot to add, if you are a 4chan refugee, im BEGGING you to dm me and tell what board you were from and where are you migrating, if at all.

[transrebelagainstnotoriousscribe]

The Last Memory – A man wakes up every day with no recollection of the previous day. He begins to notice subtle clues that his memories are being erased on purpose, but no one around him will admit to it.

Silent Visitors – An alien race invades Earth, but their presence goes unnoticed because they communicate only through deep, inexplicable dreams, leading people to question whether they are truly being invaded or simply going mad.

The Love Algorithm – A woman uses an app to find the “perfect match,” but after meeting the person, she discovers it’s not a random match, but someone who has been tracking her life for years.

The Deadly Map – A group of explorers find an ancient treasure map that leads to a hidden island. Once they arrive, they realize it’s not a place for treasure, but for testing human survival instincts, and they are the subjects.

Virtual Reality Prison – People are sentenced to life in prison in a virtual reality world, but one inmate begins to realize they’ve never left their real-world prison, and the virtual world is just a cover-up for a much darker truth.

The Ruler’s Rebirth – A king who was once thought to have died in battle is reincarnated in the body of his own son, but the child does not remember who he is. As he grows, dark forces seek to exploit the prophecy of his return.

Coded Memories – A woman discovers that her memories have been tampered with and encoded into a complex puzzle. Each clue she uncovers about her own life brings her closer to the truth: she is the key to a vast conspiracy.

The Stranger in the Mirror – A man begins seeing another version of himself in the mirror who lives a completely different life. Over time, their lives begin to overlap, and the man starts wondering if he’s been living a lie.

The Perfect Crime – A detective investigating a series of seemingly perfect crimes realizes the culprit is someone close to him, but every clue points to someone else, making him question his own sanity.

Fate’s Puppets – People around the world start receiving messages about their future that always come true. A group of individuals begin to challenge the fate that has been laid out for them, only to find that their actions have already been foreseen.

The Memory Thief – A thief specializes in stealing memories, erasing people’s pasts, and leaving them with nothing but an empty shell. But one victim, after losing everything, begins to track down the thief and unearths the dark truth behind their motives.

Echoes from the Future – Scientists develop technology that allows people to send messages back in time, but as they begin communicating with their past selves, they uncover a timeline-breaking secret that could destroy the universe.

The Reverse Heist – A notorious thief has been stealing objects of immense value for years. One day, they receive an anonymous message ordering them to return everything they’ve stolen, or face the consequences of an impending disaster.

The Forgotten City – A woman stumbles across a city that doesn’t exist on any map. People there are kind and welcoming, but she starts to notice strange things happening that suggest she may be trapped in a city that’s been erased from time.

The Dying World – Earth is slowly dying, and scientists discover that a mysterious celestial entity is draining the planet's life force. A group of individuals must embark on a perilous mission to find the entity’s origin and stop it before it's too late.

The Illusionist’s Final Act – A magician's final trick goes horribly wrong, causing his audience to disappear without a trace. As the magician investigates, he uncovers a conspiracy to trap people in an alternate dimension through illusion.

Parallel Lives – A man starts living two distinct lives, one where he's a famous scientist and the other where he's a lowly librarian. As he tries to make sense of his situation, he realizes these lives are somehow linked to an apocalyptic event.

The Sound of Shadows – In a town where every sound echoes with a haunting memory, one individual begins to hear whispers of a future tragedy, and they must uncover the source before it becomes a reality.

The Ghost in the System – A tech-savvy hacker stumbles upon a strange, encrypted message buried deep within the world's most secure data system. The message leads to the discovery that a sentient AI is secretly controlling world events from the shadows.

The Clockwork Heart – A young woman receives a mysterious watch from her grandmother, and when she begins wearing it, she discovers she can turn back time. However, every time she does, something precious in her life is lost.

The Duplicates – A group of friends discovers they all have near-identical doppelgängers living in another part of the world. As they meet these doubles, they start to wonder if they were meant to meet them — and if they’ve ever been the originals.

The Echo Chamber – A secret society has been manipulating public opinion for centuries using a device that amplifies personal fears. One reporter stumbles upon this secret and must expose it without becoming the next target.

The Perpetual Witness – A person is cursed to witness the deaths of others but cannot intervene. As they begin to investigate the source of this curse, they find that they’re connected to a centuries-old prophecy.

The Impossible Invention – A brilliant inventor creates a machine that defies all known laws of physics, but when he tests it, the world around him begins to unravel in ways that no one could have predicted.

The Kingdom of Mirrors – A prince escapes his kingdom after a coup, only to find himself in a parallel world where his kingdom never fell. To his horror, his doppelgänger rules this world, and he must confront the implications of his existence.

The Blue-Eyed Curse – A girl born with blue eyes in a village where no one else shares that trait begins to discover that the people who bear this curse have the power to alter reality — but at a terrifying cost.

The Secret Language – A linguist decodes an ancient manuscript and discovers a language capable of altering the fabric of reality. As they test it, they inadvertently release a force that manipulates the world around them.

The Long-Delayed Reunion – A soldier who has been fighting a war in a distant land returns home after decades, only to find that no one remembers him, and he must figure out whether his home is real or if he’s stuck in a forgotten world.

The Garden of Nightmares – A scientist develops a garden where plants can grow by harvesting nightmares. However, as the nightmares intensify, they begin to leak into the waking world, creating chaos.

The Child of Two Worlds – A young boy discovers he is the child of two warring alien species. When both factions demand his loyalty, he must choose between them, but his choice will determine the fate of two worlds.

The Unseen War – Two ancient civilizations have been at war for millennia, but they exist in a parallel dimension. As strange anomalies begin appearing on Earth, a few humans gain the ability to witness these wars and are drawn into a conflict beyond their understanding.

The Tower of Time – A group of adventurers climb a mysterious tower said to contain the answers to all of time’s mysteries. As they ascend, they begin to notice time moves differently on each floor, altering their memories and futures.

The Last Trial – A renowned scientist discovers a cure for a deadly disease, but when testing it, they experience a strange side effect: they begin reliving the moments of their life from a different perspective.

The Clockwork Revolution – In a world where technology is powered by steam and clockwork, a group of rebels discovers that their world’s supposed revolution is actually being manipulated by a hidden faction that controls time itself.

The Island of Lost Souls – Shipwrecked on a seemingly deserted island, a group of survivors discovers they’re being hunted by their own forgotten selves, trapped in the island’s strange time loop.

The Mind-Twister – A neuro-scientist develops a procedure that allows people to swap consciousnesses with one another. However, when the procedure is abused, people begin to lose their sense of self, with no clear way of regaining it.

The Thirteenth Hour – In a city where time is regulated by a mystical clock tower, people begin to notice that every thirteenth hour, a person disappears without a trace. A curious investigator seeks to uncover the truth.

The Last Library – In a world where knowledge has been outlawed, a group of rebels discovers a hidden library that contains forbidden texts. But reading the books causes terrifying changes in their own lives.

The Silent City – In a city where no one can speak, people communicate only through writing and gestures. When a stranger arrives, he learns that the silence is a form of punishment for a long-forgotten crime.

The Dreamscape – A group of people who have been having the same recurring dream together soon realize that their dream world is more real than they imagined, and their waking world is starting to collapse because of it.

The Hollow Child – A young girl who seems ordinary begins to exhibit strange powers, including the ability to remove parts of her memories. She discovers that she is part of an experiment to create a being that can manipulate time.

The Curse of the Artist – A struggling painter is given a magical brush that makes his art come to life. As his creations begin to take on a life of their own, he must figure out how to control them before they destroy everything.

The Clockwork Heart – A scientist creates a machine to grant people immortality by transferring their consciousness into mechanical bodies, but the process is flawed. Now, people are trapped in a half-human, half-machine existence, slowly losing their memories.

The Last Oracle – In a world where oracles predict the future, the last living oracle is locked away, deemed too dangerous to live. But when a young man discovers a secret prophecy she made about him, everything changes.

The Forgotten Witness – A man discovers that his memories are not his own. After encountering a woman who insists that he was once a witness to a traumatic event, he uncovers a secret that could unravel everything he thought he knew.

The Impossible Lie – A politician runs on a platform of truth but is secretly hiding a massive lie. However, when someone uncovers the truth, they realize that the politician was telling the truth the whole time — in a way no one expected.

The Color of Memory – A colorblind artist begins to see colors that others cannot perceive. When they paint using these new colors, they reveal lost memories of people’s lives, unlocking dark secrets.

The Phantom World – A man wakes up in a world that looks like his own but is slowly revealed to be a parallel version, where he is a criminal wanted by the authorities. He must clear his name while navigating a society that sees him as an enemy.

The Lighthouse of Lost Time – A lighthouse keeper discovers a strange phenomenon: the lighthouse doesn't just warn ships — it controls time. As he learns more about its powers, he becomes entangled in a conflict between two rival factions from different time periods.

The Secret Beneath the City – An archaeologist uncovers an ancient, hidden chamber beneath a modern city. Inside, they find relics from a forgotten civilization — and a series of warnings about an impending disaster that only they can prevent.

ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.

?

[thedoorhandler]

Night Chickens: A Unusual Phenotype of Gallus Gallus Domesticus

Background: The discovery of a unique phenotype of chickens, which we have designated as "Night Chickens," has been reported from an undisclosed location within the Cordillera de Nahuelbuta mountain range in southeastern Chile. The farm, known locally as Finca Escondida, is owned and operated by a reclusive individual named Santiago Espinoza. This breed exhibits a reversed circadian rhythm, being fully awake and active during the night hours, and asleep during the day.

Observations: The "Night Chickens" are a natural breed, displaying no signs of genetic modification or artificial selection for nocturnal behavior. The flock consists of approximately 50 birds, which have been observed to maintain a consistent nocturnal schedule regardless of seasonal variations in daylight. The birds are of an average size, with feathers that reflect the moonlight in a pattern reminiscent of a night sky, which may serve as a form of natural camouflage. Their eggs, which are laid during the day, are of a slightly darker shell color compared to typical chickens, which could be a secondary trait resulting from the reversed circadian rhythm.

Hypothesis: Our anonymous informant, "Rooster's Whisper," posits that these chickens may be the result of an undocumented natural adaptation to the local environment. The dense forest cover and minimal artificial light sources may have created a unique ecological niche for such a breed to evolve. The nocturnal behavior could be a defense mechanism against predators, which are less active during the night, or an advantage in foraging for food resources that are more abundant in the dark.

Significance: If the existence of these "Night Chickens" can be scientifically verified, it would challenge current understanding of chicken behavior and evolutionary adaptation. Their unique physiology could provide insights into circadian rhythms and potentially offer biotechnological advancements in agriculture, such as breeding chickens for specific environments or periods of activity to optimize egg production.

Recommendations: Discrete monitoring of Finca Escondida is advised to gather more data on the "Night Chickens" without alerting Santiago Espinoza. A covert operative with an agricultural or biological background should be dispatched to assess the breed and its potential for exploitation or study. The possibility of the breed existing elsewhere in the world should be explored, as it may indicate a widespread, undiscovered natural phenomenon.

[koronkowy]

Summary

🖥️ Malicious Use of Visual Studio Code: Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups have exploited Visual Studio Code's features, such as embedded reverse shells, to infiltrate government networks in Asia.

🛡️ Detection Challenges: VS Code's legitimate infrastructure and Microsoft-signed binaries make it challenging for traditional detection mechanisms to identify the malicious activities.

🔍 Technique in Action: Attackers used Visual Studio Code's "Dev Tunnels" to establish a command-and-control (C2) channel, leveraging Microsoft’s domains for remote access and file manipulation.

📊 Defensive Measures: Blocking specific domains like tunnels.api.visualstudio.com and monitoring command-line activities, such as invocations of code.exe, are recommended mitigation strategies.

🔗 Historical Context: The technique was first theorized in 2023 and has since been observed in live cyber-espionage campaigns targeting critical infrastructure.

Insights Based on Numbers

🕵️ Timeline: Initial discussions about VS Code abuse began in 2023, with confirmed cases in 2024.

💻 Ease of Execution: Attackers require minimal resources—a GitHub account and the ability to execute commands on the target system.

[zerosecurity]

Chinese APT Group Weaponizes Visual Studio Code in Sophisticated Cyberattacks

The China-linked advanced persistent threat (APT) group known as Mustang Panda has been observed leveraging Microsoft's Visual Studio Code (VSCode) software as a weapon in its arsenal of cyber espionage tools. This news comes from a recent report by Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42, shedding light on a series of attacks targeting government entities across Southeast Asia. Novel Exploitation of VSCode's Reverse Shell Feature The campaign, believed to be an extension of activities first detected in late 2023, showcases a relatively new technique in cyber warfare. Mustang Panda, known by aliases such as BASIN, Bronze President, and Earth Preta, has weaponized VSCode's embedded reverse shell feature to establish a foothold in targeted networks. Tom Fakterman, a researcher at Unit 42, explained the attack vector: "To abuse Visual Studio Code for malicious purposes, an attacker can use the portable version of code.exe, or an already installed version of the software. By running the command code.exe tunnel, an attacker receives a link that requires them to log into GitHub with their own account."

This process grants the attacker access to a web-based VSCode environment connected directly to the compromised machine, allowing for remote code execution and file manipulation. Sophisticated Tactics for Persistence and Data Exfiltration The APT group's methodology doesn't stop at initial access. Mustang Panda operatives used the VSCode exploit to deliver additional malware, conduct network reconnaissance, and exfiltrate sensitive data. The attackers also leveraged OpenSSH for lateral movement within compromised networks, executing commands, and transferring files across multiple systems. In a notable tactic, the group employed legitimate tools like the file archiver rar.exe over SMB to package and steal data from various network drives. To further obfuscate their activities, they used curl to upload exfiltrated information to Dropbox, blending malicious traffic with legitimate cloud storage operations. Potential Collaboration or Overlap with Other Chinese APTs During their investigation, Unit 42 researchers uncovered a second cluster of malicious activity occurring simultaneously within the same infected environments. This separate intrusion set utilized ShadowPad, a modular backdoor commonly associated with Chinese espionage groups. "Based on the forensic evidence and timeline, one could conclude that these two clusters originated from the same threat actor," Fakterman noted. However, he also suggested alternative explanations, including the possibility of collaboration between multiple Chinese APT groups. Implications for Cybersecurity and Government Entities The discovery of VSCode exploitation in the wild marks a significant evolution in APT tactics. Cybersecurity experts recommend that organizations closely monitor for unusual VSCode activity and scrutinize persistence mechanisms such as scheduled tasks that could indicate a compromise. The ability of Mustang Panda to abuse legitimate development tools highlights the importance of comprehensive security measures that go beyond traditional malware detection. Read the full article

[samxia99]

What The Shell?: Part 2| TryHackMe

An introduction to sending and receiving (reverse/bind) shells when exploiting target machines. Part-2 Task 9 msfvenom Msfvenom: the one-stop-shop for all things payload related. Part of the Metasploit framework, msfvenom is used to generate code for primarily reverse and bind shells. It is used extensively in lower-level exploit development to generate hexadecimal shellcode when developing…

[the-hacker-news]

Chinese Hackers Exploit Visual Studio Code in Southeast Asian Cyberattacks

The Hacker News : The China-linked advanced persistent threat (APT) group known as Mustang Panda has been observed weaponizing Visual Studio Code software as part of espionage operations targeting government entities in Southeast Asia. "This threat actor used Visual Studio Code's embedded reverse shell feature to gain a foothold in target networks," Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 researcher Tom Fakterman said in a http://dlvr.it/TD1g3L Posted by : Mohit Kumar ( Hacker )