01step · watch first
DNS is more than the internet's phonebook.
A quick primer: DNS is the system that turns a web name into a machine address — but it can also carry little text notes. This lab teaches you to follow a hidden trail of those notes. Watch through, then jump to the simulation to walk the whole trail from start to finish.
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Lesson · DNS TXT Chain Reconnaissance
~5 min
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Summary
what to remember
- 1DNS is the internet's phonebook. It turns names into addresses — but you can also pin little text notes to a name, and the whole internet trusts them.
- 2One command asks the question.
dig +short TXT namereads the notes on a name, one per line, with no clutter. - 3Scrambled text hides nothing. An ending of
==and a jumble of letters and numbers means it's base64 — andbase64 -dunscrambles it into the next place to look. - 4Check before you follow. Fake notes sit right next to the real ones — only trust the note that starts with
next=. - 5The last note is the prize.
dig +short TXT stageN.acme.testhands back the flag itself at the end of the trail.
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Quick check · before you continue
1 question · pick one
QYou've found a note on acme.test that reads next=c3RhZ2UyLmFjbWUudGVzdA==. What's your move?