What if “landmine codes” occur in hackable Codeforces contests?

Revision en13, by Zaoly, 2023-05-08 08:02:02

I’m a Chinese. Sorry if my English had some grammar mistakes.


In a recent contest: Codeforces Round 871 (Div. 4), I saw a “Successful hacking attempt” in the “Hacks” list. But I think this hacking might involve cheating.

Look at this hacked submission: 204925830.

The source code of the defender contained a “landmine”, which means that for some corner case (unlikely contained in test data), the code wouldn’t be accepted, which is intentionally designed for hackers.

Following is the source code (GNU C++14). Note the corner case in the code that would make it wrong.


#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>
#include <cstdio>
#include <vector>
#include <cmath>
#include <queue>
#include <stack>
#include <set>
#include <map>

using namespace std;

string s1,s2;
int t;

int main(){
	scanf("%d",&t);
	s1 = "codeforces";
	int ans;
	while(t --){
		cin >> s2;
		if(s2 == "xxxxxxxxxx"){ // Here! The corner case
			puts("-1"); // Wrong output
			return 0;
		}
		ans = 0;
		for(unsigned int i = 0 ; i < s1.size() ; ++i){
			if(s1[i] != s2[i])
				++ans;
		}
		printf("%d\n",ans);
	}
	return 0;
}

Therefore, for the case “xxxxxxxxxx”, the code would definitely get “Wrong answer”. Unluckily (or luckily, for the hacker), this corner case wasn’t contained in test data.

Then view the hacking test.


1
xxxxxxxxxx

What a “coincidence”!

But do you think someone may intentionally leave a “landmine” for others to hack, and give himself/herself a chance to lose $$$50$$$ points? Anyone knows it’s impossible.

And see the rating of the defender: Newbie. I’m not discriminating against Newbies (since so am I), but this is one of the typical features of an alt account. In addition, he/she participated in few contests so far.

So, most likely, the contestant created an alt account, used his/her alt account to submit a “landmine code”, used his/her main account to hack it, to let the main account get extra $$$100$$$ points. Or maybe, it’s his/her friend, not his/her alt account. But that doesn’t matter.

This is why I suspect that this hacking may involve cheating.


I’m not targetting any user. This example is just one of all. Actually I saw at least three such examples of “landmine code” hackings only in this contest (where some of the defenders are even Unrated). Cheating is shameful, but a flawed rule may also become a breeding ground for cheating behaviors. I think this phenomenon should be controlled.

Tags cheat, hack, landmine, corner case

History

 
 
 
 
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  Rev. Lang. By When Δ Comment
en20 English Zaoly 2023-07-29 10:36:22 15
en19 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 17:15:40 3 Tiny change: 'Following is the sour' -> 'Following was the sour'
en18 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 17:14:52 3 Tiny change: 'ed, which is intentio' -> 'ed, which was intentio'
en17 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 08:34:12 0 (published)
en16 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 08:06:27 17 Tiny change: 'ating.\n\n\n\n[cut]\n\n\n\nLook a' -> 'ating.\n\nLook a'
en15 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 08:05:57 8 Tiny change: 'ating.\n\n[cut]\n\nLook a' -> 'ating.\n\n\n\n[cut]\n\n\n\nLook a'
en14 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 08:05:35 14
en13 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 08:02:02 84
en12 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 07:05:12 7 Tiny change: 'ating.\n\nI’m no' -> 'ating.\n\n---\n\nI’m no'
en11 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 07:03:58 16
en10 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 07:03:24 8
en9 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 07:02:45 117
en8 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 06:57:02 19
en7 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 06:54:39 7 Tiny change: 'takes.\n\nIn a r' -> 'takes.\n\n--\n\nIn a r'
en6 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 06:54:22 96
en5 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 06:49:31 214
en4 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 06:43:09 37
en3 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 06:41:32 415
en2 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 06:35:02 614
en1 English Zaoly 2023-05-08 06:21:31 1188 Initial revision (saved to drafts)