OverTheWire Bandit Beginner Levels 0 - 15

A step-by-step walkthrough of OverTheWire Bandit beginner levels 0 to 15. Learn Linux basics, file manipulation, permissions, and commands through hands-on CTF challenges — perfect for cybersecurity beginners.

This walkthrough covers OverTheWire Bandit beginner levels 0–15. It provides both hints and answers for each stage, helping new cybersecurity learners and CTF players progress when they’re stuck. A great resource for building Linux command-line skills while practicing ethical hacking basics.

Bandit Level 0 → Level 1

(Updated: 28 July 2025)

Credentials

• Username: bandit0
• Password: bandit0

Connection

ssh bandit0@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

Hints & Commands Learned

• cat

Steps to Solve

1. Step 1 – Use ssh to get access to OverTheWire labs.
2. Step 2 – Type cat readme to see the password.
3. Step 3 – Take the password to the next level.

Next Level Password

ZjLjTmM6FvvyRnrb2rfNWOZOTa6ip5If

Bandit Level 1 → Level 2

(Updated: 28 July 2025)

Credentials

• Username: bandit1
• Password: ZjLjTmM6FvvyRnrb2rfNWOZOTa6ip5If

Connection

ssh bandit1@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

Hints & Commands Learned

• cat

Steps to Solve

1. Step 1 – Use ssh to get access to OverTheWire labs.
2. Step 2 – Type cat ./- to see the password.
3. Step 3 – Take the password to the next level.

Next Level Password 263JGJPfgU6LtdEvgfWU1XP5yac29mFx

Bandit Level 2 → Level 3

(Updated: 29 July 2025)

Credentials

• Username: bandit2
• Password: 263JGJPfgU6LtdEvgfWU1XP5yac29mFx

Connection

ssh bandit2@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

Hints & Commands Learned

• ls -a
• cat

Steps to Solve

1. Step 1 – Use ssh to get access to OverTheWire labs.
2. Step 2 - Use ls -a to see the hidden file –spaces in this filename–
3. Step 3 – Use cat ./--spaces\ in\ this\ filename– to get the password
4. Step 4 – Take the password to the next level.

Next Level Password MNk8KNH3Usiio41PRUEoDFPqfxLPlSmx

Bandit Level 3 → Level 4

(Updated: 29 July 2025)

Credentials

• Username: bandit3
• Password: MNk8KNH3Usiio41PRUEoDFPqfxLPlSmx

Connection

ssh bandit3@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

Hints & Commands Learned

• cd
• ls -a
• cat

Steps to Solve

1. Step 1 – Use ssh to get access to OverTheWire labs.
2. Step 2 - Use cd inhere to get to the directory containing password file.
3. Step 3 - Use ls -a to see the hidden file …Hiding-From-You
4. Step 4 – Use cat …Hiding-From-You to get the password
5. Step 5 – Take the password to the next level.

Next Level Password 2WmrDFRmJIq3IPxneAaMGhap0pFhF3NJ

Bandit Level 4 → Level 5

(Updated: 29 July 2025)

Credentials

• Username: bandit4
• Password: 2WmrDFRmJIq3IPxneAaMGhap0pFhF3NJ

Connection

ssh bandit4@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

Hints & Commands Learned

• Human-Readable File: text file, .log, ASCII,…
• file
• cat

Steps to Solve

1. Step 1 – Use ssh to get access to OverTheWire labs.
2. Step 2 - Use cd inhere to get to the directory containing password file.
3. Step 3 - Use file ./* to see the Human-Readable File (ASCII Text)
4. Step 4 – Use cat ./-file07 to get the password
5. Step 5 – Take the password to the next level.

Next Level Password 4oQYVPkxZOOEOO5pTW81FB8j8lxXGUQw

Bandit Level 5 → Level 6

(Updated: 29 July 2025)

Credentials

• Username: bandit5
• Password: 4oQYVPkxZOOEOO5pTW81FB8j8lxXGUQw

Connection

ssh bandit5@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

Hints & Commands Learned

• find
• cd
• cat

Steps to Solve

1. Step 1 – Use ssh to get access to OverTheWire labs.
2. Step 2 - Use cd inhere to get to the directory containing password file.
3. Step 3 - Use find . -type f -size 1033c -not -executable to get the file containing the password

Explain: Find under this directory, type is file, size is 1033 bytes, not-executable

4. Step 4 – Use cat ./maybehere07/.file2 to get the password
5. Step 5 – Take the password to the next level.

Next Level Password HWasnPhtq9AVKe0dmk45nxy20cvUa6EG

Bandit Level 6 → Level 7

(Updated: 29 July 2025)

Credentials

• Username: bandit6
• Password: HWasnPhtq9AVKe0dmk45nxy20cvUa6EG

Connection

ssh bandit6@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

Hints & Commands Learned

• find
• cat

Steps to Solve

1. Step 1 – Use ssh to get access to OverTheWire labs.
2. Step 2 - Use find / -type f -user bandit7 -group bandit6 -size 33c to find the files matching the requirements

However, there are lots of files with Permission Denied

3. Step 3 – Add 2>/dev/null to the find command => find / -type f -user bandit7 -group bandit6 -size 33c 2>/dev/null to get the correct file
4. Step 4 – Use cat /var/lib/dpkg/info/bandit7.password to get the password
5. Step 5 - Take the password to the next level.

Next Level Password morbNTDkSW6jIlUc0ymOdMaLnOlFVAaj

Bandit Level 7 → Level 8

(Updated: 29 July 2025)

Credentials

• Username: bandit7
• Password: morbNTDkSW6jIlUc0ymOdMaLnOlFVAaj

Connection

ssh bandit7@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

Hints & Commands Learned

• cat

Steps to Solve

1. Step 1 – Use ssh to get access to OverTheWire labs.
2. Step 2 - Use cat data.txt to find the password.

However, there are lots of random passwords and texts

3. Step 3 – Add | grep –color=always “millionth” to the cat command => cat data.txt | grep –color=always “millionth” to get the correct password based on the requirement.
4. Step 4 - Take the password to the next level.

Next Level Password dfwvzFQi4mU0wfNbFOe9RoWskMLg7eEc

Bandit Level 8 → Level 9

(Updated: 30 July 2025)

Credentials

• Username: bandit8
• Password: dfwvzFQi4mU0wfNbFOe9RoWskMLg7eEc

Connection

ssh bandit8@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

Hints & Commands Learned

• sort
• uniq

Steps to Solve

1. Step 1 – Use ssh to get access to OverTheWire labs.
2. Step 2 - Use cat data.txt to find the password.

However, there are lots of random passwords and texts in order to find password only exists once.

3. Step 3 – Use sort and uniq => sort data.txt | uniq -u to get the correct password based on the requirement.
4. Step 4 - Take the password to the next level.

Next Level Password 4CKMh1JI91bUIZZPXDqGanal4xvAg0JM

Bandit Level 9 → Level 10

(Updated: 30 July 2025)

Credentials

• Username: bandit9
• Password: 4CKMh1JI91bUIZZPXDqGanal4xvAg0JM

Connection

ssh bandit9@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

Hints & Commands Learned

• grep
• strings

Steps to Solve

1. Step 1 – Use ssh to get access to OverTheWire labs.
2. Step 2 - Use cat data.txt to find the password.

However, there are lots of random passwords and texts which are non-human-readable.

3. Step 3 – Use strings -a data.txt to get format of text.
4. Step 4 – Add grep => strings -a data.txt | grep "===" to get the correct password based on the requirement.
5. Step 5 - Take the password to the next level.

Next Level Password FGUW5ilLVJrxX9kMYMmlN4MgbpfMiqey

Bandit Level 10 → Level 11

(Updated: 30 July 2025)

Credentials

• Username: bandit10
• Password: FGUW5ilLVJrxX9kMYMmlN4MgbpfMiqey

Connection

ssh bandit10@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

Hints & Commands Learned

• base64

Steps to Solve

1. Step 1 – Use ssh to get access to OverTheWire labs.
2. Step 2 - Use cat data.txt and you can see the content is encoded.
3. Step 3 – Use base64 -d data.txt to decode the data.
4. Step 4 - Take the password to the next level.

Next Level Password dtR173fZKb0RRsDFSGsg2RWnpNVj3qRr

Bandit Level 11 → Level 12

(Updated: 30 July 2025)

Credentials

• Username: bandit11
• Password: dtR173fZKb0RRsDFSGsg2RWnpNVj3qRr

Connection

ssh bandit11@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

Hints & Commands Learned

• cat
• tr

Steps to Solve

1. Step 1 – Use ssh to get access to OverTheWire labs.
2. Step 2 - Use cat data.txt and you can see the content is rotated.
3. Step 3 – Access Rot13 Decoder to decode the content or use cat data.txt | tr 'A-Za-z' 'N-ZA-Mn-za-m' to get the password.
4. Step 4 - Take the password to the next level.

Next Level Password 7x16WNeHIi5YkIhWsfFIqoognUTyj9Q4

Bandit Level 12 → Level 13

(Updated: 30 July 2025)

Credentials

• Username: bandit12
• Password: 7x16WNeHIi5YkIhWsfFIqoognUTyj9Q4

Connection

ssh bandit12@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

Hints & Commands Learned

• xxd
• tar
• gzip
• bzip2
• cat
• file

Steps to Solve

1. Step 1 – Use ssh to get access to OverTheWire labs.

2. Step 2 - Use cat data.txt and you can see the content is encoded.

3. Step 3 – Use xxd -r <filename> to decode the hexdump.

4. Step 4 - Based on the filetype decode it until get the password.

   • Tar achieve: tar xf <filename>
   • Gzip compressed data: gzip -d <filename>
   • Bzip2 compressed data: bzip2 -d <filename>

5. Step 5 - Take the password to the next level.

Next Level Password FO5dwFsc0cbaIiH0h8J2eUks2vdTDwAn

Bandit Level 13 → Level 14

(Updated: 31 July 2025)

Credentials

• Username: bandit13
• Password: FO5dwFsc0cbaIiH0h8J2eUks2vdTDwAn

Connection

ssh bandit13@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

Hints & Commands Learned

• cat
• ssh

Steps to Solve

1. Step 1 – Use ssh to get access to OverTheWire labs.
2. Step 2 - Use cat sshkey.private and you can get the RSA Key.
3. Step 3 - Use vim private_key.txt to create a private_key.txt in local machine.
4. Step 4 - chmod 700 private_key.txt to avoid Permissions 0640 error.
5. Step 5 - ssh -i private_key.txt bandit14@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220 to access to the next level.

Next Level Password MU4VWeTyJk8ROof1qqmcBPaLh7lDCPvS

Next Level RSA Key -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----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-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

Bandit Level 14 → Level 15

(Updated: 31 July 2025)

Credentials

• Username: bandit14
• Password: MU4VWeTyJk8ROof1qqmcBPaLh7lDCPvS

Connection

ssh bandit14@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

Hints & Commands Learned

• nc

Steps to Solve

1. Step 1 – Use ssh to get access to OverTheWire labs.
2. Step 2 - nc localhost 30000 to connect to localhost on port 30000.
3. Step 3 - Copy and paste the password of the current level, hit ENTER.
4. Step 4 - You can receive back the password for the next level.
5. Step 5 - Take the password to the next level.

Next Level Password 8xCjnmgoKbGLhHFAZlGE5Tmu4M2tKJQo

Bandit Level 15 → Level 16

(Updated: 31 July 2025)

Credentials

• Username: bandit15
• Password: 8xCjnmgoKbGLhHFAZlGE5Tmu4M2tKJQo

Connection

ssh bandit15@bandit.labs.overthewire.org -p 2220

Hints & Commands Learned

• ncat

Steps to Solve

1. Step 1 – Use ssh to get access to OverTheWire labs.
2. Step 2 - ncat --ssl localhost 30001 to connect to localhost on port 30001 with SSL/TLS.
3. Step 3 - Copy and paste the password of the current level, hit ENTER.
4. Step 4 - You can receive back the password for the next level.
5. Step 5 - Take the password to the next level.

Next Level Password kSkvUpMQ7lBYyCM4GBPvCvT1BfWRy0Dx