bandit0-bandit7 walk through

These levels can be solved using just 5 commands:
ls, cat, file, cd, and find.

Command Breakdown

1. ls

   • Lists files in the current directory.

   • Useful flags:

     • -l → Long format (shows permissions, owner, size).

     • -a → Shows hidden files (e.g., .filename).

2. cat

   • Reads and prints the contents of a file.

   • Example: cat password.txt.

3. file

   • Checks a file’s type/properties (e.g., file mystery reveals if it’s a text file, binary, etc.).

4. cd

   • Changes the current directory.

   • Example: cd /path/to/directory.

5. find

   • Searches for files with specific criteria.

   • Common flags:

     • -name → Search by filename.

     • -size → Filter by size.

     • -executable / ! -executable → Find executable/non-executable files.

     • -type → Filter by type (e.g., f for files, d for directories).

bandit0-bandit1

bandit1-bandit2

The filename uses special characters, so we can’t read it directly with cat filename. Instead, use one of these methods:

• "" or '' → Wrap the name in quotes (e.g., cat "--file" or cat '-f').

• ./ → Prefix with the current directory path (e.g., cat ./-file).

• /full/path/ → Use the absolute path (e.g., cat /path/to/-file).

• -- → Tell the command to stop parsing options (e.g., cat -- -file).

• find -inum → If the filename is corrupted, use ls -i to find its inode, then find . -inum 1234 -exec cat {} \;.

bandit2-bandit3

bandit3-bandit4

bandit4-bandit5

The password is stored in the only human-readable (ASCII) file in this directory. While you could check each file's type manually using the file command, there are many files to examine. To save time, I automated this check with a simple bash script that tests all files at once: for i in {1..9}; do file ./-file0$i; done

bandit5-bandit6

bandit6-bandit7

If you run the find command without the 2>/dev/null filter, you'll see many permission errors in the output. While you can still spot the correct file (the one with bandit7:bandit6 ownership and 33 bytes size) among all the noise, adding 2>/dev/null makes it much faster and easier by hiding all the error messages.

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