Awaab KheiriSecurity Testing & Vulnerability Research
Specializing in practical security testing, vulnerability discovery, and secure system design. Working across web, cloud, and network environments to build stronger defenses through methodical analysis and hands-on experimentation.
Featured Work
Selected projects and security research write-ups
Simple Encryptor HTB Challenge
A walkthrough of HackTheBox's SimpleEncryptor reverse engineering challenge. In this writeup I reverse engineer a 64-bit ELF binary using Ghidra, identify a custom encryption scheme based on XOR and bit rotation seeded by the system time, and exploit the fact that the seed is stored inside the encrypted file itself to recover the plaintext flag.
HackTheBox -- Pterodactyl (MEDIUM) Experience
I’ll walk through my experience tackling the HackTheBox "Pterodactyl" CTF (Medium). I'll showcase my thought process, tools, and methods as I work through each stage — whether I succeed or hit roadblocks. The goal isn't just solving it, but highlighting how I approach challenges and sharpen my skills along the way. As of now this machine remains unsolved.
ZTE ZXHN H298A Home Gateway – Hardware Recon & Boot Process Analysis
An initial hardware security assessment of the ZTE ZXHN H298A home gateway focusing on physical access, UART discovery, and boot process analysis. This post documents the methodology, extracted bootlogs, observed security mechanisms, and limitations encountered, with proposed next steps for deeper firmware and bootloader analysis.
HackTheBox -- Imagery (MEDIUM) Experience
I’ll walk through my experience tackling the HackTheBox "Imagery" CTF (Medium). I'll showcase my thought process, tools, and methods as I work through each stage — whether I succeed or hit roadblocks. The goal isn't just solving it, but highlighting how I approach challenges and sharpen my skills along the way. As of now this machine remains unsolved.