Steven Stover
Author of the U.S. Army article documenting AvengerCon IX's February 26-27, 2025 return to the Georgia Cyber Innovation & Training Center.
SourceAvengerCon IX · United States · 2025
AvengerCon IX Electronic Badge
Four-challenge serial CTF badge
The AvengerCon IX electronic badge carried a built-in four-challenge CTF, coin-cell blink behavior, BAT CON battery jumper, micro-USB connection, CP2102 USB-to-UART serial path, and post-event unlock codes published by the official badge page.
EventAvengerCon IX
SeriesAvengerCon
LocationAugusta, Georgia
CountryUnited States
People
Authors & Credits
AvengerCon badge team
The official AvengerCon IX badge page preserves the event badge guide, CTF framing, serial workflow, safety instructions, and post-event unlock codes.
SourceWhy It Mattered
It continues AvengerCon's electronic-badge lineage with primary official badge documentation that describes real CTF behavior, serial access, unlock-code flow, and battery-safety constraints without needing to infer a full hardware design from a page photo.
Hardware
The official badge page documents a coin-cell-powered badge that blinks A-C-9, a BAT CON jumper to connect or disconnect the battery, micro-USB computer connection, and a CP2102 USB-to-UART chip for serial access. It includes strong safety instructions not to have the battery connected while the badge is plugged into a computer.
Software & Apps
The page documents a four-challenge CTF, 9600-baud serial access through PuTTY or equivalent tools, a help command, booth/village unlock-code discovery during AvengerCon IX, a post-event list of four unlock codes, and a separate hints page. No public firmware source, schematic, BOM, or full CTF source archive was recovered in this pass.
Lore
The official AvengerCon history page records AvengerCon IX as a 2025 Augusta edition and says recorded talks were not yet uploaded when archived. The badge page preserves the event-specific AC9 framing and post-event unlock-code publication.
Lifecycle
Add-ons & Upgrades
badge challenge
officially documented
Four-challenge badge CTF
The official badge page says AvengerCon IX's badge carried a small four-challenge CTF contest.
Source
post-event CTF support
officially documented
Post-event unlock-code publication
After AC9, the official badge page published four booth/village unlock codes for people who missed them during the event.
Source
power and safety
officially documented
BAT CON coin-cell safety path
The badge page documents BAT CON jumper behavior and warns users not to keep the coin cell connected while the badge is plugged into a computer.
Source
serial interface
officially documented
CP2102 9600-baud serial workflow
The badge page documents CP2102 USB-to-UART access, /dev/ttyUSB0 discovery, PuTTY, and 9600-baud serial connection guidance.
SourceOperational history
Issues & Camp Impact
firmware and schematic gap
note
The official badge page documents CTF behavior, CP2102 serial access, BAT CON battery handling, 9600-baud workflow, unlock codes, and safety instructions, but this pass did not recover firmware source, schematic files, BOM, Gerbers, challenge binaries, or a complete hardware archive.
The catalogue keeps the strong official badge-guide evidence while avoiding unsupported claims about the unrecovered design files or shipped firmware internals.
- Confidence
- official badge guide with limited hardware depth
- Status
- needs deeper archive recovery
- Timeframe
- current AvengerCon pass
- Source note
- AvengerCon IX Electronic Badge guide and linked hints page.
missing rights-cleared image
note
No AvengerCon IX badge image is published because the official badge page photo has not been paired with explicit reusable image rights, attribution, source URL, and processing provenance for catalogue publication.
The entry remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying the official page image, Army event photos, screenshots, social media, or generated visuals.
- Confidence
- local project policy
- Status
- needs licensed original replacement
- Timeframe
- current catalogue build
- Source note
- badge.gallery image policy, AvengerCon IX badge page, and U.S. Army AvengerCon IX article media.
Resources
AvengerCon IX Army Cyber article
public-affairs article · U.S. Army public-affairs source for AvengerCon IX's return to the Georgia Cyber Center and broader Army Cyber event context.
AvengerCon IX archive
official event archive · Official AvengerCon source marking the 2025 AvengerCon IX edition as concluded and linking to the badge page.
AvengerCon IX badge hints
official CTF hints · Official hint page linked from the AvengerCon IX badge guide for post-event CTF support.
AvengerCon IX badge page
official badge guide · Primary badge source for the four-challenge CTF, A-C-9 blink behavior, BAT CON battery jumper, micro-USB path, CP2102 USB-to-UART serial access, 9600-baud PuTTY workflow, post-event unlock codes, and battery-safety instructions.
Sources
AvengerCon: AvengerCon IX Electronic Badge
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary official badge-guide source for the four-challenge CTF, BAT CON battery jumper, coin-cell blink behavior, CP2102 USB-to-UART serial path, 9600-baud PuTTY workflow, post-event unlock codes, and safety instructions.
AvengerCon: AvengerCon IX badge hints
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Official post-event hint source linked from the AvengerCon IX badge guide.
U.S. Army: AvengerCon IX hacker training event returns to Georgia Cyber Center
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Public-affairs source for AvengerCon IX's 2025 return to the Georgia Cyber Center and broader Army Cyber conference context.