The_Ganges_Speaks_in_Ciphers

By ironhex

"In Kashi, even the dead whisper secrets. Can you hear them?" A rogue oracle on the banks of the Ganga has been intercepting transmissions. It encrypts everything — loyally, deterministically, and without mercy. Five ghats. Five messages. One carries the truth. The oracle swears it used a "different" configuration each time. The oracle lies. Or does it? Maybe the randomness was never where you were looking. But wait — before you scream "nonce reuse" and run your script — ask yourself: why does every ciphertext smell slightly different? Why does XORing two of them give you Sanskrit? Something was done to them after encryption. Something small. Something deterministic. Something hiding in a standard library you've used a thousand times. The flag is in there. It always was.

Files: c0.hex c1.hex c2.hex c3.hex c4.hex hint.txt

P.S. — Padding is a lie. Length is a lie. Trust nothing. Crib everything.