OverTheWire Bandit — Levels 0 to 5

Bandit is the entry-point wargame on OverTheWire. Each level hands you credentials to SSH into the next. It looks trivial, but it quietly drills the Linux fundamentals every red-teamer leans on daily.

The goal is not to "win" — it is to make ls, cat, find, and ssh feel automatic.

Level 0 → 1

Connect over SSH on port 2220:

ssh bandit0@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220
# password: bandit0

The password for the next level sits in a plain file in the home directory:

cat readme

Level 1 → 2

The file is literally named -, which cat reads as stdin. Reference it by path:

cat ./-

Level 2 → 3

A file with spaces in the name. Quote it or escape the spaces:

cat "spaces in this filename"

Level 3 → 4

The password lives in a hidden file inside inhere/:

ls -la inhere/
cat inhere/...Hiding-From-You

Level 4 → 5

Only one file in inhere/ is human-readable text. Let file classify them:

file inhere/*
cat inhere/-file07

Commands worth internalizing

Command	Why it matters
ls -la	Reveals hidden dotfiles and permissions
file	Identifies content type without guessing
find	Filters by size, owner, and permission bits
cat ./-	Escapes filenames that break naive commands

Takeaway

The early Bandit levels are muscle memory: reading awkward filenames, spotting hidden files, and classifying unknown data. These same reflexes show up later during enumeration on real engagements.