PatriotCTF 2025 — Where’s Legally Distinct Waldo (OSINT Challenge 3)
The PatriotCTF 2025 roster featured a fun, four-part OSINT challenge track titled
“Where’s Legally Distinct Waldo.”
This series was a true geolocation scavenger hunt, pushing players to precisely identify highly specific locations hidden across the George Mason University (GMU) campus.
In this post, I’ll walk through how I solved:
🟩 Challenge 3 — Where’s Legally Distinct Waldo Three
📌 Challenge Prompt
Image Given:
🧭 Step 1 — Campus Identification
After careful visual analysis, the image was confidently placed on the George Mason University campus. This immediately narrowed the search space from a general geolocation problem to a targeted reconnaissance task focused solely on GMU landmarks.
🌊 Step 2 — Recognizing Mason Pond
One distinctive environmental feature stood out:
That’s Mason Pond, a well-known landmark on campus. Identifying it helped establish orientation and viewing direction.
🅿️ Step 3 — Environmental Correlation
Another critical detail in the image was a large parking lot:
To validate the hypothesis, I cross-referenced the scene with Google Maps and satellite imagery.
Matching indicators included:
- Parking lot layout
- Tree placement
- Sidewalk paths
- A small bridge structure
This confirmed the exact vantage point.
🏛️ Step 4 — Building Identification
The view aligned directly with a specific building:
Switching to Street View allowed me to verify the building’s name by spotting the signage:
Center for the Arts / Concert Hall
🚩 Final Flag
After a few formatting attempts, the accepted flag was:
1
pctf{Center_for_the_Arts_Concert_Hall}
🧠 Takeaway
This challenge was a great demonstration of OSINT fundamentals:
- Landmark recognition
- Environmental correlation
- Satellite + Street View cross-validation
Small details win geolocation challenges — especially when the hunt is legally distinct 😉
Happy hacking 🧑💻🌍