Challenge overview
Lilica hosts a personal website using a third-party hosting service. The website itself is not violating any terms, but the objective is to identify the abuse-reporting email address of the hosting provider.
Flag format:
SWIMMER{EMAIL_ADDRESS}Warning: Do not send emails to this address. The task is only to identify it via OSINT.
Initial assumptions
- The website domain is
twilight-lilica.com. - The challenge focuses on the hosting service, not the domain registrar.
- Hosting service contact information can be retrieved via IP address WHOIS lookup.
- Only publicly available, legal sources will be used.
Investigation process
- I resolved the domain twilight-lilica.com to its IP address.
- I performed a WHOIS lookup on the IP address using ARIN and RDAP services to retrieve hosting provider information.
- The WHOIS output provided details of the hosting provider and included abuse contact information. Key details extracted:
Organization: Vultr Holdings, LLC
Abuse Email: abuse@vultr.com
- This email is the canonical point of contact for reporting abuse for the hosting service, as required by the challenge.
Key findings
- The hosting provider for twilight-lilica.com is Vultr Holdings, LLC.
- The publicly listed abuse-reporting email is abuse@vultr.com.
- This information is retrievable via lawful IP WHOIS lookup.
Final flag / answer
SWIMMER{abuse@vultr.com}Notes & takeaways
- IP WHOIS provides hosting provider contact info, which is different from domain registrar WHOIS.
- The abuse email is intended only for reporting violations or issues; it should not be used casually.
- This demonstrates the value of passive OSINT in verifying infrastructure-related contacts without direct interaction with the target.