Table of Contents

• Challenge Description
• Reconnaissance
  • Decoding the constraints
  • Google Maps anchor points
  • Extracting the 2014 Street View thumbnail
  • Business directory search
  • Scribd Kalokal document
  • Key find: Aquabest contact page
• Exploitation
• Flag
• Tools Used
• What Didn't Work
• Lessons Learned

Water Bottle — TryHackMe CTF Writeup #

Platform: TryHackMe
Category: OSINT
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Date: 2026-04-04
Author: t0nt0n
Reading time: ~5 min

Challenge Description #

Track down a vanished water station using nothing but fragments of memory and OSINT. After returning to my hometown, I needed a water refill from a station I frequently used until 2014, but I've forgotten its name and contact number. I only remember that it is a twelve-digit contact number starting with 63922.

While driving near Boni Avenue, I noticed a new water refilling establishment now stands where the original station used to be. Can you help me find the name and contact number of the original water station?

Flag format: {Water Station name in lowercase + _ + Contact Number}
Example: {happystation_12345678}

From the THM answer format hint (star count): THM{XXXXXXXX_XXXXXXXXXXXX} → 8-char name + 12-digit number

Reconnaissance #

Decoding the constraints #

• 63922 = Philippines country code 63 + Globe Telecom mobile prefix 922
• Full number format: 63-922-XXX-XXXX = 12 digits total
• Location: near Boni Avenue, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila
• Time frame: station was operational until 2014, now replaced by a new one

Google Maps anchor points #

Two Maps links were provided as starting points:

Both coordinates are ~15m apart — essentially the same location on Boni Avenue. Water JAM replaced the original station at that spot.

Extracting the 2014 Street View thumbnail #

The first Maps link redirect contained a Street View panoid:

panoid=NHB-mXd1toBgiIVOouSCkQ
date=20140401 (April 2014)

Fetching thumbnails at various yaw angles via the Street View Pixels API:

https://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?
  panoid=NHB-mXd1toBgiIVOouSCkQ&w=900&h=600&pitch=0&yaw=<ANGLE>

Observed in the 2014 panorama:

• East (yaw=90): hardware store (ARCHITECTURAL HARDWARE) along north side of Boni Ave
• South/SW (yaw=150–200): yellow + blue structure across the Boni Ave median

The yellow/blue building = Blue Cube Water Re-Filling Station at 425 Pulog cor Boni Ave, Barangay Malamig — active circa 2012 per Foursquare listing 4f4655a0e4b0019d1bf13158.

Business directory search #

Searched across Waze, Cybo, Foursquare, PuertoParrot, near-place.com, contact.page:

Scribd Kalokal document #

The barangay business directory Kalokal Barangay Highway Hills (Scribd doc 416508020) confirmed:

• Water Market Refilling Station → 0922 874 6887 → 639228746887 (12 digits, starts with 63922 ✓)
• But water market = 12 chars → doesn't fit the 8-char name slot

Key find: Aquabest contact page #

https://ph248574-aquabest-mandaluyong-boni.contact.page

Returned:

• Address: Unit D, Villa Maria Apartment, 31 Mayon Street, Boni, Mandaluyong City
• Mobile: +63 922 872 1228

Validating the format: 63-922-872-1228 = 12 digits starting with 63922 ✓ aquabest = 8 characters ✓

Aquabest is a long-running franchise in the Philippines (pre-2014), whose Boni branch was subsequently replaced by Water JAM Water Refilling Station at the same location.

Exploitation #

No exploitation — pure OSINT pivot:

1. Google Maps short links → decode redirect → extract panoid + coordinates
2. Street View API thumbnail → confirm 2014 visual context
3. Business directory trawl (Waze, Foursquare, contact.page, Scribd barangay doc)
4. Cross-reference name length (8 chars) + number format (63922XXXXXXX)
5. Match: Aquabest + +63 922 872 1228

Flag #

Tools Used #

• Google Maps (historical Street View, short URL decode)
• Google Street View Pixels API (thumbnail endpoint, panoid extraction)
• Waze live map (place search + address extraction)
• Foursquare venue pages (historical listing dates)
• contact.page aggregator (Philippine business contacts)
• Scribd barangay Kalokal directory (business + phone list)
• PuertoParrot.com (local Philippine business directory)

What Didn't Work #

• Water Market Refilling Station — correct phone format (639228746887) but name is 12 chars, not 8
• Blue Cube Water Re-Filling Station — 8 chars ✓, visible in 2014 Street View, but only has a landline (02) 497 2712 — no 63922 mobile found in any directory
• Scribd document raw content — behind paywall/JS render, only extractable via Google search snippet summaries

Lessons Learned #

• Star-count the format hint — THM sometimes reveals answer length via masked format; count carefully (8 chars ≠ 12 chars)
• contact.page aggregates masked numbers — even partially-masked numbers (+63 922 872 1228) are valid and complete in international format
• Foursquare ID timestamps — the hex prefix encodes Unix time; 4f4655a0 → Feb 2012, confirming pre-2014 existence
• Street View panoid extraction — decode Maps short URL redirect, extract panoid and 5s<date> from the data parameters, then query the Pixels API thumbnail endpoint directly
• Franchise chains close locations — Aquabest is still active as a brand but this specific Boni branch was replaced; don't assume a chain = still there

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