Baby RE Walkthrough - HTB Easy Challenge | Hardcoded Key & Static Analysis
Walkthrough for Baby RE challenge from Hack The Box. A reversing challenge where the `strings` command reveals a partial flag, and Ghidra is used to decompile the binary and recover the complete hardcoded key.
Baby RE Walkthrough - HTB Easy Challenge | Hardcoded Key & Static Analysis
Challenge Description
Show us your basic skills! (P.S. There are 4 ways to solve this, are you willing to try them all?)
Solution
Initial Execution
Running the binary prompts for a key input:
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[Feb 25, 2026 - 11:02:43 (CET)] exegol-main Baby RE # ./baby
Insert key:
Try again later.
Strings Analysis
Running strings on the binary reveals a partial flag, along with a message discouraging this approach:
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[Feb 25, 2026 - 11:04:40 (CET)] exegol-main Baby RE # strings baby
...
HTB{B4BYH # FLAG
_R3V_TH4H
TS_Ef
...
Dont run `strings` on this challenge, that is not the way!!!!
Insert key:
abcde122313
Try again later.
...
The flag is present but split across multiple lines, making it incomplete.
Decompilation with Ghidra
Opening the binary in Ghidra and inspecting the main function reveals the complete hardcoded flag used in the strcmp comparison:
The full flag is HTB{B4BY_R3V_TH4TS_EZ}.
Flag obtained.
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