The announcement shenanigans are in play again.
As a small hint, maybe bulking up on the nothingness was the best way to hide it. ;) Go get your shovels ready!
Leave the photos alone, man! The flag is not there.
From the discord announcement, there is a message with steganography:
@everyone Starting in 3 hours!! (and 15 minutes). Get your shovels ready! 😉 ​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌‌​‌
https://ctf.thefewchosen.com/
There are hidden \x200B and \x200C characters. Map them to binary 0 and 1 and decode:
import itertools
text = """@everyone Starting in 3 hours!! (and 15 minutes). Get your shovels ready! 😉 ​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌‌​‌
https://ctf.thefewchosen.com/"""
data = []
for ch in text:
if ord(ch) == 0x200B:
data.append(0)
elif ord(ch) == 0x200C:
data.append(1)
# https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20541023/in-python-how-to-convert-array-of-bits-to-array-of-bytes
data = bytes(
[sum([byte[b] << (7 - b) for b in range(0, 8)]) for byte in zip(*(iter(data),) * 8)]
)
print(data)
Get flag: TFCCTF{hidden_shenanigans}
It can also be solved online by selecting only U+200B and U+200C: https://330k.github.io/misc_tools/unicode_steganography.html