It's like saying in biathlon (skiing+shooting) how can you arrive at the finish second if you have a working gun?

Rules are rules, there's a clearly defined scope of where the fighting happens and where it does not.

> It's like saying in biathlon (skiing+shooting) how can you arrive at the finish second if you have a working gun?

It’s really not.

CTFs are not free-for-all competitions, they are clearly time-bounded and designed for enjoyment. Having a team show up with a zero day chain for Linux that they designed for a year spoils the enjoyment of everyone else.

rming the CTF infra spoils the enjoyment of everyone else, winning because you’re the best and showed up with a cool exploit chain isn’t spoiling anything for anyone.

Right, so my point is that hacking everyone playing the CTF or the infrastructure is similar to running rm. Using a zero day on a challenge to get a flag is often allowed and even seen as amusing.

> Right, so my point is that hacking everyone playing the CTF or the infrastructure is similar to running rm.

It’s really not. rm is destructive, hacking competitors or infra to collect flags isn’t.

If you hack the infra to get all the flags it's really pretty close to just nuking the competition then and there isn't it? What's the point for everyone else to continue after that?

Winning is not the same as nuking the competition.

> What's the point for everyone else to continue after that?

Fun? Second, third, fourth … place?

I’d imagine most CTF teams don’t go in expecting to win.

And how are the other teams supposed to know anyway?