kashiCTF 2026 - POEM

I like to have my poems saved on CTFd instances like this. But the admin does like it, so I hid the secret in my poem.

Solution

The provided poem contains a significant amount of trailing tabs and spaces at the end of each line. This is a classic indication of SNOW (Steganographic Nature Of Whitespace) steganography.

By using a SNOW decoder (such as the web-based snow.js decoder), we can extract the hidden message from the poem text:

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

The decoded message reveals the flag.

Flag

kashiCTF{1_like_poems_but_1_lik3_u_more<3}