GSMG Duality — Reproducible solution (SalPhaseIon + Cosmic Duality)

A note before we begin

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This folder contains minimal scripts and instructions to reproduce the final stage of the GSMG.io puzzle using:

• SalPhaseIon.txt → 7 textual parts
• cosmic_duality.txt → OpenSSL Salted__ AES‑256‑CBC blob

Phase: SalPhaseIon (how the 7 passwords were derived)

1. Identify AB blocks → ASCII (p1, p2)

   • Observation: two long sequences composed only of a and b, space-separated.
   • Method: map a→0, b→1, group 8 bits per byte, decode as ASCII.
   • Results: p1=matrixsumlist, p2=enter.

2. Decode z-separated segments with a restricted alphabet (p3, p4)

   • Observation: segments around the letter z contain tokens only from a..i plus o.
   • Hypothesis: map a..i→1..9, o→0; interpret the resulting decimal string; convert to hex; then to ASCII.
   • Results: p3=lastwordsbeforearchichoice, p4=thispassword.

3. Resolve inline phrase for p6

   • Literal in text: “our first hint is your last command”.
   • Take the directive literally and compress spacing/case consistently across the puzzle.
   • Result: p6=yourlastcommand.

4. Interpret “shabefanstoo” for p7

   • Pattern: sha appears across the puzzle as a nudge towards SHA‑256; ans too reads naturally as “answer too”.
   • Semantic resolution: a second answer.
   • Result: p7=secondanswer (alternatives like answertoo, answertwo, answer2, answeralso were tested and rejected).

5. Determine p5 by constrained search + validation

   • p5 is textually ambiguous; use a compact, reasonable candidate set tied to p1’s theme (e.g., matrixsumlist, sumlist, rowcolsum, ...).
   • Criterion: only one candidate, combined with p1–p4,p6,p7, yields valid PKCS#7 padding on the final decryption and the expected output hash.
   • Result: p5=matrixsumlist.

Phase: Cosmic Duality (why OpenSSL, why AES‑256‑CBC)

• Input properties
  • File is base64 (valid charset, length multiple of 4).
  • Base64-decoding reveals the header bytes 53 61 6c 74 65 64 5f 5f → ASCII Salted__.
• OpenSSL convention
  • Salted__ + 8 bytes of salt is the standard envelope used by openssl enc.
  • Key and IV are derived via MD5 EVP_BytesToKey(password, salt).
• Mode and key size selection
  • Prior phases reference enc -aes-256-cbc -a explicitly.
  • The password we produce (XOR of seven SHA‑256 digests) is 32 bytes, matching AES‑256.
  • Decryption with AES‑256‑CBC yields correct PKCS#7 padding and a stable binary. Other modes/sizes do not validate.

Summary of the method

• Compute SHA‑256 for each password, XOR the 7 digests (in order) to obtain a 32‑byte hex key.
• Use that hex as the OpenSSL password (EVP_BytesToKey, MD5) to derive AES‑256 key + IV and decrypt cosmic_duality.txt.
• A correct key yields valid PKCS#7 padding and a fixed output hash.

Passwords (order is critical)

1. matrixsumlist
2. enter
3. lastwordsbeforearchichoice
4. thispassword
5. matrixsumlist
6. yourlastcommand
7. secondanswer

Derived key (hex)

a795de117e472590e572dc193130c763e3fb555ee5db9d34494e156152e50735

Expected output

SHA-256(cosmic_decrypted.bin) = 4f7a1e4efe4bf6c5581e32505c019657cb7b030e90232d33f011aca6a5e9c081

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• pip install pycryptodome
• Place SalPhaseIon.txt and cosmic_duality.txt one directory above GSMG_Duality/.

Usage

1. Derive key and decrypt:

python .\GSMG_Duality\solver_salphasion_cosmic.py

Outputs:

• Prints the 7 passwords and the derived hex key
• Writes cosmic_decrypted.bin at the project root
• Prints the SHA‑256 of the output

2. Verify the hash:

Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 .\cosmic_decrypted.bin
# or
certutil -hashfile .\cosmic_decrypted.bin SHA256

Expected:

4f7a1e4efe4bf6c5581e32505c019657cb7b030e90232d33f011aca6a5e9c081

3. Optional: validate uniqueness for parts 5–7

python .\GSMG_Duality\validate_uniqueness.py

Confirms that, with parts 1–4 fixed and a compact search set for 5–7, exactly one combination yields valid padding and the expected hash.