BSides Adelaide 2025 · Australia · 2025

BSides Adelaide 2025 Wombat-2 CTF Badge

Standalone binary-entry CTF badge with tactile buttons, LEDs, and hidden hardware challenge

BSides Adelaide 2025's second Wombat badge is source-backed by Hackerware, Hackster, and attendee challenge analysis: it kept the MS51FB9AE/CR2032 LED badge line but added onboard CTF controls, seven official challenge LEDs, binary flag entry, and an unannounced hardware challenge.

BSides Adelaide Australia Adelaide MS51FB9AE CTF Badge Binary Input Hardware Challenge SMD LEDs CR2032 Oceania

EventBSides Adelaide 2025

SeriesBSides Adelaide

LocationHilton Adelaide, South Australia

CountryAustralia

People

Authors & Credits

attendee challenge writeup author

semaja2

Author of the post-event BSides Adelaide 2025 hardware badge challenge walkthrough used for observed controls and hidden-challenge behavior.

Source

badge designer and project publisher

Abhinav SP / Hackerware

Project-owner writeup author for the 2025 Wombat-2 badge and publisher of the Hackerware badge/CTF pages.

Source

event and badge collaborator

BSides Adelaide

Official publisher of the 2025 event context and collaborator named in the Wombat-2 badge source trail.

Source

Why It Mattered

It shows a regional Australian badge line evolving from USB-assisted CTF interaction into a standalone puzzle gadget, while the record keeps the image policy strict and leaves public photos off the site until reuse rights are explicit.

Hardware

The creator writeup lists a custom PCB, MS51FB9AE Nuvoton microcontroller, RGB LED, eight SMD LEDs, CR2032 battery holder, slide switch, three tactile switches, passives, and two artwork/solder-mask variants. The attendee writeup identifies seven small challenge LEDs, a two-pin RGB LED, and CTF, 1, and 0 push buttons.

Software & Apps

Hackerware documents a binary-entry CTF workflow: press the CTF key, enter a 10-bit flag using 1 and 0 keys, light the corresponding challenge LED on success, reset progress by holding 1 and 0, and use 1010101010 for mystery behavior. The public sources describe puzzles and interaction but do not publish firmware source.

Lore

The 2025 challenge theme used a malfunctioning robot badge story across seven puzzle systems, with a hidden hardware challenge that could be discovered by inspecting the PCB and experimenting beyond the published CTF path.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

badge challenge source-backed

Seven official challenge LEDs

The Wombat-2 CTF presented seven official puzzles; each successful binary flag lit the matching progress LED on the badge.

Compatibility: BSides Adelaide 2025 Wombat-2 CTF Badge

Source

badge interface source-backed

Standalone binary CTF controls

The 2025 badge replaced USB-dependent input with onboard CTF, 1, and 0 tactile buttons for entering ten-bit challenge flags directly on the badge.

Compatibility: BSides Adelaide 2025 Wombat-2 CTF Badge

Source

hardware challenge source-backed

Secret hardware challenge

Creator and attendee writeups document a hidden challenge beneath the published CTF path, with PCB inspection and extra LED behavior rewarding hardware probing.

Compatibility: BSides Adelaide 2025 Wombat-2 CTF Badge

Source

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

challenge-spoiler source caveat note

One source is a post-event challenge walkthrough that contains puzzle solutions and hidden-challenge details, not just neutral hardware documentation.

The catalogue uses it to prove badge behavior and puzzle surfaces while avoiding full challenge-solution reproduction in the main badge summary.

Confidence: source-backed
Status: documented caveat
Timeframe: post-event 2025 writeup
Source note: semaja2 BSides Adelaide 2025 Hardware Badge Writeup.

missing rights-cleared image note

No local BSides Adelaide 2025 badge image is published because public project photos and attendee-writeup images have not been cleared with exact reuse rights, attribution, and processing notes.

The entry remains text-and-source only until a licensed original photo or upstream raster render is selected and documented.

Confidence: local project policy
Status: needs licensed original replacement
Timeframe: current catalogue build
Source note: badge.gallery image policy, Hackerware Wombat-2 page, Hackster writeup, and semaja2 attendee writeup.

source-code archive gap note

The recovered sources document components, onboard controls, CTF prompts, LED behavior, and a PCB-blueprint challenge, but this pass did not recover public firmware source, schematic, BOM, or final gerber archive suitable for component-level verification.

The record keeps the hardware and software claims to creator and attendee documentation instead of inferring a full implementation.

Confidence: source-backed but incomplete
Status: needs public firmware or schematic recovery
Timeframe: 2025 badge archive pass
Source note: Hackerware Wombat-2 pages, Hackster project-owner writeup, and semaja2 attendee challenge writeup.

Resources

BSides Adelaide 2025 Hardware Badge Writeup attendee writeup · Attendee challenge writeup documenting observed 2025 badge controls, LEDs, challenge solutions, PCB blueprint archive, and secret hardware challenge analysis. BSides Adelaide 2025 about page event page · Official 2025 event source for the May 12-13, 2025 Hilton Adelaide edition, villages, CTF context, and continuity from 2024. The FALKEN Wombat Badge 2 badge writeup · Project-owner Hackster writeup for the 2025 badge hardware list, standalone CTF design, tactile buttons, challenge LEDs, hardware village, and hidden challenge. Wombat-2 Badge CTF badge challenge · Hackerware CTF page preserving the 2025 badge challenge prompts, error-code surfaces, and blueprint link. Wombat-2 badge page badge page · Hackerware badge page for the second BSides Adelaide conference badge, standalone CTF controls, binary flag entry, LED unlocks, reset path, and mystery code.

Sources

BSides Adelaide: About 2025 Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary event source for the May 12-13, 2025 Hilton Adelaide edition, villages, and CTF context. Hackerware: BSides Adelaide Wombat-2 CTF Badge Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary badge page source for the second conference badge, standalone CTF controls, binary input, LED unlocks, reset behavior, and mystery code. Hackerware: Wombat-2 BadgeCTF Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary challenge source preserving the 2025 badge puzzle prompts, error codes, and blueprint link. Hackster.io / Abhinav SP: The FALKEN Wombat Badge 2 | BSides Adelaide Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Project-owner source for the 2025 badge hardware list, tactile-button CTF design, artwork variants, Hardware Village, seven official challenges, and hidden hardware challenge. semaja2: BSides Adelaide 2025 Hardware Badge Writeup Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Attendee writeup source for observed controls, LEDs, challenge entry model, PCB blueprint analysis, and secret hardware challenge behavior.