Bandit Level 4 -> Level 5

• Platform: OverTheWire
• Wargame: Bandit
• Date: 2025-12-13 00:14

Overview

Bandit Level 4: The password for Level 5 is stored in a file named -file07 in the ~/inhere directory.

The inhere directory contains 10 files, most of which are binary. The goal is to identify the one text file and read its contents to obtain the password.

Because the filename starts with a dash (-), extra care is needed when referencing it from the command line.

Connection:

Host: bandit.labs.overthewire.org
Port: 2220
User: bandit4
Password: (use the password from Level 3's ...Hiding-From-You file)

Steps

1. SSH into the server as bandit4

(enter the password you found in Level 3 when prompted)

2. Identify the text file in ~/inhere

inhere/-file07: ASCII text

This confirms that -file07 is the wanted file.

3. Read the contents of -file07

Because the filename starts with -, include the path explicitly:

(password for bandit5)

The output is the password for Bandit Level 5. Use it to continue with ssh bandit5@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220.

Summary

• The password is stored in a file named -file07 inside the inhere directory. Identify the correct file and use cat to read its contents, taking care to handle the leading dash (-) in the filename.
• Use find together with file to locate the text file among the binary files (e.g., find inhere/ -type f -exec file {} \;).