Type your comment> @scud78 said:
I was told that this is one of the toughest non-retired machines on HTB? And 8 people still rooted it just today? Is the difficulty exaggerated, or did someone leak a walkthrough?
I would disregard this. It would appear there are some teams working together on the machine, and therefore information is likely to be passed around as a result. After some brief OSINT & digging, I also found a website online where people appear to be buying/selling machine flags (which comes as no surprise… however unfortunate it may be). Just ignore the people who choose to cheat and be confident working at your own pace, knowing you’ll be far better off than them in the long run! 
Regarding your second comment about the cookie, I’m not sure I took the same route you did… Though I rooted this box quite a while ago, so it’s possible the method I used was either unintended or a completely different (usable) route. Either way, if you’re confused, feel free to PM and I can provide minor hints at the methods I used.
Good luck