Rating:

TL;DR: We're given the source for a Turing machine, which has four main subroutines:

  • Converting ASCII to binary
  • Checking that the input has the UMASS{} flag format
  • Swapping pairs of consecutive bits
  • Left rotating the tape taking the output and applying these operations in reverse order gives the flag.
Original writeup (https://bburns.xyz/blog/umassctf2024.html#primitive-reversing).