1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
|
SSH(1) OpenBSD Reference Manual SSH(1)
NAME
ssh - OpenSSH SSH client (remote login program)
SYNOPSIS
ssh [-1246AaCfgkMNnqsTtVvXxY] [-b bind_address] [-c cipher_spec]
[-D port] [-e escape_char] [-F configfile] [-i identity_file]
[-L [bind_address:]port:host:hostport] [-l login_name] [-m mac_spec]
[-O ctl_cmd] [-o option] [-p port]
[-R [bind_address:]port:host:hostport] [-S ctl_path] [user@]hostname
[command]
DESCRIPTION
ssh (SSH client) is a program for logging into a remote machine and for
executing commands on a remote machine. It is intended to replace rlogin
and rsh, and provide secure encrypted communications between two untrust-
ed hosts over an insecure network. X11 connections and arbitrary TCP/IP
ports can also be forwarded over the secure channel.
ssh connects and logs into the specified hostname (with optional user
name). The user must prove his/her identity to the remote machine using
one of several methods depending on the protocol version used.
If command is specified, command is executed on the remote host instead
of a login shell.
SSH protocol version 1
The first authentication method is the rhosts or hosts.equiv method com-
bined with RSA-based host authentication. If the machine the user logs
in from is listed in /etc/hosts.equiv or /etc/shosts.equiv on the remote
machine, and the user names are the same on both sides, or if the files
$HOME/.rhosts or $HOME/.shosts exist in the user's home directory on the
remote machine and contain a line containing the name of the client ma-
chine and the name of the user on that machine, the user is considered
for log in. Additionally, if the server can verify the client's host key
(see /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts and $HOME/.ssh/known_hosts in the FILES
section), only then is login permitted. This authentication method clos-
es security holes due to IP spoofing, DNS spoofing and routing spoofing.
[Note to the administrator: /etc/hosts.equiv, $HOME/.rhosts, and the
rlogin/rsh protocol in general, are inherently insecure and should be
disabled if security is desired.]
As a second authentication method, ssh supports RSA based authentication.
The scheme is based on public-key cryptography: there are cryptosystems
where encryption and decryption are done using separate keys, and it is
not possible to derive the decryption key from the encryption key. RSA
is one such system. The idea is that each user creates a public/private
key pair for authentication purposes. The server knows the public key,
and only the user knows the private key.
The file $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys lists the public keys that are per-
mitted for logging in. When the user logs in, the ssh program tells the
server which key pair it would like to use for authentication. The serv-
er checks if this key is permitted, and if so, sends the user (actually
the ssh program running on behalf of the user) a challenge, a random num-
ber, encrypted by the user's public key. The challenge can only be de-
crypted using the proper private key. The user's client then decrypts
the challenge using the private key, proving that he/she knows the pri-
vate key but without disclosing it to the server.
ssh implements the RSA authentication protocol automatically. The user
creates his/her RSA key pair by running ssh-keygen(1). This stores the
private key in $HOME/.ssh/identity and stores the public key in
$HOME/.ssh/identity.pub in the user's home directory. The user should
then copy the identity.pub to $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys in his/her home
directory on the remote machine (the authorized_keys file corresponds to
the conventional $HOME/.rhosts file, and has one key per line, though the
lines can be very long). After this, the user can log in without giving
the password.
The most convenient way to use RSA authentication may be with an authen-
tication agent. See ssh-agent(1) for more information.
If other authentication methods fail, ssh prompts the user for a pass-
word. The password is sent to the remote host for checking; however,
since all communications are encrypted, the password cannot be seen by
someone listening on the network.
SSH protocol version 2
When a user connects using protocol version 2, similar authentication
methods are available. Using the default values for
PreferredAuthentications, the client will try to authenticate first using
the hostbased method; if this method fails, public key authentication is
attempted, and finally if this method fails, keyboard-interactive and
password authentication are tried.
The public key method is similar to RSA authentication described in the
previous section and allows the RSA or DSA algorithm to be used: The
client uses his private key, $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa or $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa, to
sign the session identifier and sends the result to the server. The
server checks whether the matching public key is listed in
$HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys and grants access if both the key is found and
the signature is correct. The session identifier is derived from a
shared Diffie-Hellman value and is only known to the client and the serv-
er.
If public key authentication fails or is not available, a password can be
sent encrypted to the remote host to prove the user's identity.
Additionally, ssh supports hostbased or challenge response authentica-
tion.
Protocol 2 provides additional mechanisms for confidentiality (the traf-
fic is encrypted using AES, 3DES, Blowfish, CAST128 or Arcfour) and in-
tegrity (hmac-md5, hmac-sha1, hmac-ripemd160). Note that protocol 1
lacks a strong mechanism for ensuring the integrity of the connection.
Login session and remote execution
When the user's identity has been accepted by the server, the server ei-
ther executes the given command, or logs into the machine and gives the
user a normal shell on the remote machine. All communication with the
remote command or shell will be automatically encrypted.
If a pseudo-terminal has been allocated (normal login session), the user
may use the escape characters noted below.
If no pseudo-tty has been allocated, the session is transparent and can
be used to reliably transfer binary data. On most systems, setting the
escape character to ``none'' will also make the session transparent even
if a tty is used.
The session terminates when the command or shell on the remote machine
exits and all X11 and TCP/IP connections have been closed. The exit sta-
tus of the remote program is returned as the exit status of ssh.
Escape Characters
When a pseudo-terminal has been requested, ssh supports a number of func-
tions through the use of an escape character.
A single tilde character can be sent as ~~ or by following the tilde by a
character other than those described below. The escape character must
always follow a newline to be interpreted as special. The escape charac-
ter can be changed in configuration files using the EscapeChar configura-
tion directive or on the command line by the -e option.
The supported escapes (assuming the default `~') are:
~. Disconnect.
~^Z Background ssh.
~# List forwarded connections.
~& Background ssh at logout when waiting for forwarded connection /
X11 sessions to terminate.
~? Display a list of escape characters.
~B Send a BREAK to the remote system (only useful for SSH protocol
version 2 and if the peer supports it).
~C Open command line. Currently this allows the addition of port
forwardings using the -L and -R options (see below). It also al-
lows the cancellation of existing remote port-forwardings using
-KR hostport. Basic help is available, using the -h option.
~R Request rekeying of the connection (only useful for SSH protocol
version 2 and if the peer supports it).
X11 and TCP forwarding
If the ForwardX11 variable is set to ``yes'' (or see the description of
the -X and -x options described later) and the user is using X11 (the
DISPLAY environment variable is set), the connection to the X11 display
is automatically forwarded to the remote side in such a way that any X11
programs started from the shell (or command) will go through the encrypt-
ed channel, and the connection to the real X server will be made from the
local machine. The user should not manually set DISPLAY. Forwarding of
X11 connections can be configured on the command line or in configuration
files.
The DISPLAY value set by ssh will point to the server machine, but with a
display number greater than zero. This is normal, and happens because
ssh creates a ``proxy'' X server on the server machine for forwarding the
connections over the encrypted channel.
ssh will also automatically set up Xauthority data on the server machine.
For this purpose, it will generate a random authorization cookie, store
it in Xauthority on the server, and verify that any forwarded connections
carry this cookie and replace it by the real cookie when the connection
is opened. The real authentication cookie is never sent to the server
machine (and no cookies are sent in the plain).
If the ForwardAgent variable is set to ``yes'' (or see the description of
the -A and -a options described later) and the user is using an authenti-
cation agent, the connection to the agent is automatically forwarded to
the remote side.
Forwarding of arbitrary TCP/IP connections over the secure channel can be
specified either on the command line or in a configuration file. One
possible application of TCP/IP forwarding is a secure connection to an
electronic purse; another is going through firewalls.
Server authentication
ssh automatically maintains and checks a database containing identifica-
tions for all hosts it has ever been used with. Host keys are stored in
$HOME/.ssh/known_hosts in the user's home directory. Additionally, the
file /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts is automatically checked for known hosts.
Any new hosts are automatically added to the user's file. If a host's
identification ever changes, ssh warns about this and disables password
authentication to prevent a trojan horse from getting the user's pass-
word. Another purpose of this mechanism is to prevent man-in-the-middle
attacks which could otherwise be used to circumvent the encryption. The
StrictHostKeyChecking option can be used to prevent logins to machines
whose host key is not known or has changed.
ssh can be configured to verify host identification using fingerprint re-
source records (SSHFP) published in DNS. The VerifyHostKeyDNS option can
be used to control how DNS lookups are performed. SSHFP resource records
can be generated using ssh-keygen(1).
The options are as follows:
-1 Forces ssh to try protocol version 1 only.
-2 Forces ssh to try protocol version 2 only.
-4 Forces ssh to use IPv4 addresses only.
-6 Forces ssh to use IPv6 addresses only.
-A Enables forwarding of the authentication agent connection. This
can also be specified on a per-host basis in a configuration
file.
Agent forwarding should be enabled with caution. Users with the
ability to bypass file permissions on the remote host (for the
agent's Unix-domain socket) can access the local agent through
the forwarded connection. An attacker cannot obtain key material
from the agent, however they can perform operations on the keys
that enable them to authenticate using the identities loaded into
the agent.
-a Disables forwarding of the authentication agent connection.
-b bind_address
Specify the interface to transmit from on machines with multiple
interfaces or aliased addresses.
-C Requests compression of all data (including stdin, stdout,
stderr, and data for forwarded X11 and TCP/IP connections). The
compression algorithm is the same used by gzip(1), and the
``level'' can be controlled by the CompressionLevel option for
protocol version 1. Compression is desirable on modem lines and
other slow connections, but will only slow down things on fast
networks. The default value can be set on a host-by-host basis
in the configuration files; see the Compression option.
-c cipher_spec
Selects the cipher specification for encrypting the session.
Protocol version 1 allows specification of a single cipher. The
suported values are ``3des'', ``blowfish'' and ``des''. 3des
(triple-des) is an encrypt-decrypt-encrypt triple with three dif-
ferent keys. It is believed to be secure. blowfish is a fast
block cipher; it appears very secure and is much faster than
3des. des is only supported in the ssh client for interoperabil-
ity with legacy protocol 1 implementations that do not support
the 3des cipher. Its use is strongly discouraged due to crypto-
graphic weaknesses. The default is ``3des''.
For protocol version 2 cipher_spec is a comma-separated list of
ciphers listed in order of preference. The supported ciphers are
``3des-cbc'', ``aes128-cbc'', ``aes192-cbc'', ``aes256-cbc'',
``aes128-ctr'', ``aes192-ctr'', ``aes256-ctr'', ``arcfour'',
``blowfish-cbc'', and ``cast128-cbc''. The default is
``aes128-cbc,3des-cbc,blowfish-cbc,cast128-cbc,arcfour,
aes192-cbc,aes256-cbc''
-D port
Specifies a local ``dynamic'' application-level port forwarding.
This works by allocating a socket to listen to port on the local
side, and whenever a connection is made to this port, the connec-
tion is forwarded over the secure channel, and the application
protocol is then used to determine where to connect to from the
remote machine. Currently the SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 protocols are
supported, and ssh will act as a SOCKS server. Only root can
forward privileged ports. Dynamic port forwardings can also be
specified in the configuration file.
-e ch | ^ch | none
Sets the escape character for sessions with a pty (default: `~').
The escape character is only recognized at the beginning of a
line. The escape character followed by a dot (`.') closes the
connection; followed by control-Z suspends the connection; and
followed by itself sends the escape character once. Setting the
character to ``none'' disables any escapes and makes the session
fully transparent.
-F configfile
Specifies an alternative per-user configuration file. If a con-
figuration file is given on the command line, the system-wide
configuration file (/etc/ssh/ssh_config) will be ignored. The
default for the per-user configuration file is $HOME/.ssh/config.
-f Requests ssh to go to background just before command execution.
This is useful if ssh is going to ask for passwords or passphras-
es, but the user wants it in the background. This implies -n.
The recommended way to start X11 programs at a remote site is
with something like ssh -f host xterm.
-g Allows remote hosts to connect to local forwarded ports.
-I smartcard_device
Specifies which smartcard device to use. The argument is the de-
vice ssh should use to communicate with a smartcard used for
storing the user's private RSA key.
-i identity_file
Selects a file from which the identity (private key) for RSA or
DSA authentication is read. The default is $HOME/.ssh/identity
for protocol version 1, and $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa and
$HOME/.ssh/id_dsa for protocol version 2. Identity files may al-
so be specified on a per-host basis in the configuration file.
It is possible to have multiple -i options (and multiple identi-
ties specified in configuration files).
-k Disables forwarding (delegation) of GSSAPI credentials to the
server.
-L [bind_address:]port:host:hostport
Specifies that the given port on the local (client) host is to be
forwarded to the given host and port on the remote side. This
works by allocating a socket to listen to port on the local side,
optionally bound to the specified bind_address. Whenever a con-
nection is made to this port, the connection is forwarded over
the secure channel, and a connection is made to host port
hostport from the remote machine. Port forwardings can also be
specified in the configuration file. IPv6 addresses can be spec-
ified with an alternative syntax: [bind_address/]port/host/host-
port or by enclosing the address in square brackets. Only the
superuser can forward privileged ports. By default, the local
port is bound in accordance with the GatewayPorts setting. How-
ever, an explicit bind_address may be used to bind the connection
to a specific address. The bind_address of ``localhost'' indi-
cates that the listening port be bound for local use only, while
an empty address or `*' indicates that the port should be avail-
able from all interfaces.
-l login_name
Specifies the user to log in as on the remote machine. This also
may be specified on a per-host basis in the configuration file.
-M Places the ssh client into ``master'' mode for connection shar-
ing. Refer to the description of ControlMaster in ssh_config(5)
for details.
-m mac_spec
Additionally, for protocol version 2 a comma-separated list of
MAC (message authentication code) algorithms can be specified in
order of preference. See the MACs keyword for more information.
-N Do not execute a remote command. This is useful for just for-
warding ports (protocol version 2 only).
-n Redirects stdin from /dev/null (actually, prevents reading from
stdin). This must be used when ssh is run in the background. A
common trick is to use this to run X11 programs on a remote ma-
chine. For example, ssh -n shadows.cs.hut.fi emacs & will start
an emacs on shadows.cs.hut.fi, and the X11 connection will be au-
tomatically forwarded over an encrypted channel. The ssh program
will be put in the background. (This does not work if ssh needs
to ask for a password or passphrase; see also the -f option.)
-O ctl_cmd
Control an active connection multiplexing master process. When
the -O option is specified, the ctl_cmd argument is interpreted
and passed to the master process. Valid commands are: ``check''
(check that the master process is running) and ``exit'' (request
the master to exit).
-o option
Can be used to give options in the format used in the configura-
tion file. This is useful for specifying options for which there
is no separate command-line flag. For full details of the op-
tions listed below, and their possible values, see ssh_config(5).
AddressFamily
BatchMode
BindAddress
ChallengeResponseAuthentication
CheckHostIP
Cipher
Ciphers
ClearAllForwardings
Compression
CompressionLevel
ConnectionAttempts
ConnectTimeout
ControlMaster
ControlPath
DynamicForward
EscapeChar
ForwardAgent
ForwardX11
ForwardX11Trusted
GatewayPorts
GlobalKnownHostsFile
GSSAPIAuthentication
GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
HashKnownHosts
Host
HostbasedAuthentication
HostKeyAlgorithms
HostKeyAlias
HostName
IdentityFile
IdentitiesOnly
KbdInteractiveDevices
LocalForward
LogLevel
MACs
NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
NumberOfPasswordPrompts
PasswordAuthentication
Port
PreferredAuthentications
Protocol
ProxyCommand
PubkeyAuthentication
RemoteForward
RhostsRSAAuthentication
RSAAuthentication
SendEnv
ServerAliveInterval
ServerAliveCountMax
SmartcardDevice
StrictHostKeyChecking
TCPKeepAlive
UsePrivilegedPort
User
UserKnownHostsFile
VerifyHostKeyDNS
XAuthLocation
-p port
Port to connect to on the remote host. This can be specified on
a per-host basis in the configuration file.
-q Quiet mode. Causes all warning and diagnostic messages to be
suppressed.
-R [bind_address:]port:host:hostport
Specifies that the given port on the remote (server) host is to
be forwarded to the given host and port on the local side. This
works by allocating a socket to listen to port on the remote
side, and whenever a connection is made to this port, the connec-
tion is forwarded over the secure channel, and a connection is
made to host port hostport from the local machine.
Port forwardings can also be specified in the configuration file.
Privileged ports can be forwarded only when logging in as root on
the remote machine. IPv6 addresses can be specified by enclosing
the address in square braces or using an alternative syntax:
[bind_address/]host/port/hostport.
By default, the listening socket on the server will be bound to
the loopback interface only. This may be overriden by specifying
a bind_address. An empty bind_address, or the address `*', indi-
cates that the remote socket should listen on all interfaces.
Specifying a remote bind_address will only succeed if the serv-
er's GatewayPorts option is enabled (see sshd_config(5)).
-S ctl_path
Specifies the location of a control socket for connection shar-
ing. Refer to the description of ControlPath and ControlMaster
in ssh_config(5) for details.
-s May be used to request invocation of a subsystem on the remote
system. Subsystems are a feature of the SSH2 protocol which fa-
cilitate the use of SSH as a secure transport for other applica-
tions (eg. sftp(1)). The subsystem is specified as the remote
command.
-T Disable pseudo-tty allocation.
-t Force pseudo-tty allocation. This can be used to execute arbi-
trary screen-based programs on a remote machine, which can be
very useful, e.g., when implementing menu services. Multiple -t
options force tty allocation, even if ssh has no local tty.
-V Display the version number and exit.
-v Verbose mode. Causes ssh to print debugging messages about its
progress. This is helpful in debugging connection, authentica-
tion, and configuration problems. Multiple -v options increase
the verbosity. The maximum is 3.
-X Enables X11 forwarding. This can also be specified on a per-host
basis in a configuration file.
X11 forwarding should be enabled with caution. Users with the
ability to bypass file permissions on the remote host (for the
user's X authorization database) can access the local X11 display
through the forwarded connection. An attacker may then be able
to perform activities such as keystroke monitoring.
For this reason, X11 forwarding is subjected to X11 SECURITY ex-
tension restrictions by default. Please refer to the ssh -Y op-
tion and the ForwardX11Trusted directive in ssh_config(5) for
more information.
-x Disables X11 forwarding.
-Y Enables trusted X11 forwarding. Trusted X11 forwardings are not
subjected to the X11 SECURITY extension controls.
CONFIGURATION FILES
ssh may additionally obtain configuration data from a per-user configura-
tion file and a system-wide configuration file. The file format and con-
figuration options are described in ssh_config(5).
ENVIRONMENT
ssh will normally set the following environment variables:
DISPLAY The DISPLAY variable indicates the location of the X11 server.
It is automatically set by ssh to point to a value of the form
``hostname:n'' where hostname indicates the host where the shell
runs, and n is an integer >= 1. ssh uses this special value to
forward X11 connections over the secure channel. The user
should normally not set DISPLAY explicitly, as that will render
the X11 connection insecure (and will require the user to manu-
ally copy any required authorization cookies).
HOME Set to the path of the user's home directory.
LOGNAME Synonym for USER; set for compatibility with systems that use
this variable.
MAIL Set to the path of the user's mailbox.
PATH Set to the default PATH, as specified when compiling ssh.
SSH_ASKPASS
If ssh needs a passphrase, it will read the passphrase from the
current terminal if it was run from a terminal. If ssh does not
have a terminal associated with it but DISPLAY and SSH_ASKPASS
are set, it will execute the program specified by SSH_ASKPASS
and open an X11 window to read the passphrase. This is particu-
larly useful when calling ssh from a .xsession or related
script. (Note that on some machines it may be necessary to
redirect the input from /dev/null to make this work.)
SSH_AUTH_SOCK
Identifies the path of a unix-domain socket used to communicate
with the agent.
SSH_CONNECTION
Identifies the client and server ends of the connection. The
variable contains four space-separated values: client ip-ad-
dress, client port number, server ip-address and server port
number.
SSH_ORIGINAL_COMMAND
The variable contains the original command line if a forced com-
mand is executed. It can be used to extract the original argu-
ments.
SSH_TTY This is set to the name of the tty (path to the device) associ-
ated with the current shell or command. If the current session
has no tty, this variable is not set.
TZ The timezone variable is set to indicate the present timezone if
it was set when the daemon was started (i.e., the daemon passes
the value on to new connections).
USER Set to the name of the user logging in.
Additionally, ssh reads $HOME/.ssh/environment, and adds lines of the
format ``VARNAME=value'' to the environment if the file exists and if
users are allowed to change their environment. For more information, see
the PermitUserEnvironment option in sshd_config(5).
FILES
$HOME/.ssh/known_hosts
Records host keys for all hosts the user has logged into that are
not in /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts. See sshd(8).
$HOME/.ssh/identity, $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa, $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa
Contains the authentication identity of the user. They are for
protocol 1 RSA, protocol 2 DSA, and protocol 2 RSA, respectively.
These files contain sensitive data and should be readable by the
user but not accessible by others (read/write/execute). Note
that ssh ignores a private key file if it is accessible by oth-
ers. It is possible to specify a passphrase when generating the
key; the passphrase will be used to encrypt the sensitive part of
this file using 3DES.
$HOME/.ssh/identity.pub, $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa.pub, $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
Contains the public key for authentication (public part of the
identity file in human-readable form). The contents of the
$HOME/.ssh/identity.pub file should be added to the file
$HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys on all machines where the user wishes
to log in using protocol version 1 RSA authentication. The con-
tents of the $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa.pub and $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa.pub file
should be added to $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys on all machines
where the user wishes to log in using protocol version 2 DSA/RSA
authentication. These files are not sensitive and can (but need
not) be readable by anyone. These files are never used automati-
cally and are not necessary; they are only provided for the con-
venience of the user.
$HOME/.ssh/config
This is the per-user configuration file. The file format and
configuration options are described in ssh_config(5). Because of
the potential for abuse, this file must have strict permissions:
read/write for the user, and not accessible by others.
$HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys
Lists the public keys (RSA/DSA) that can be used for logging in
as this user. The format of this file is described in the
sshd(8) manual page. In the simplest form the format is the same
as the .pub identity files. This file is not highly sensitive,
but the recommended permissions are read/write for the user, and
not accessible by others.
/etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts
Systemwide list of known host keys. This file should be prepared
by the system administrator to contain the public host keys of
all machines in the organization. This file should be world-
readable. This file contains public keys, one per line, in the
following format (fields separated by spaces): system name, pub-
lic key and optional comment field. When different names are
used for the same machine, all such names should be listed, sepa-
rated by commas. The format is described in the sshd(8) manual
page.
The canonical system name (as returned by name servers) is used
by sshd(8) to verify the client host when logging in; other names
are needed because ssh does not convert the user-supplied name to
a canonical name before checking the key, because someone with
access to the name servers would then be able to fool host au-
thentication.
/etc/ssh/ssh_config
Systemwide configuration file. The file format and configuration
options are described in ssh_config(5).
/etc/ssh/ssh_host_key, /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key,
/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
These three files contain the private parts of the host keys and
are used for RhostsRSAAuthentication and HostbasedAuthentication.
If the protocol version 1 RhostsRSAAuthentication method is used,
ssh must be setuid root, since the host key is readable only by
root. For protocol version 2, ssh uses ssh-keysign(8) to access
the host keys for HostbasedAuthentication. This eliminates the
requirement that ssh be setuid root when that authentication
method is used. By default ssh is not setuid root.
$HOME/.rhosts
This file is used in RhostsRSAAuthentication and
HostbasedAuthentication authentication to list the host/user
pairs that are permitted to log in. (Note that this file is also
used by rlogin and rsh, which makes using this file insecure.)
Each line of the file contains a host name (in the canonical form
returned by name servers), and then a user name on that host,
separated by a space. On some machines this file may need to be
world-readable if the user's home directory is on a NFS parti-
tion, because sshd(8) reads it as root. Additionally, this file
must be owned by the user, and must not have write permissions
for anyone else. The recommended permission for most machines is
read/write for the user, and not accessible by others.
Note that sshd(8) allows authentication only in combination with
client host key authentication before permitting log in. If the
server machine does not have the client's host key in
/etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts, it can be stored in
$HOME/.ssh/known_hosts. The easiest way to do this is to connect
back to the client from the server machine using ssh; this will
automatically add the host key to $HOME/.ssh/known_hosts.
$HOME/.shosts
This file is used exactly the same way as .rhosts. The purpose
for having this file is to be able to use RhostsRSAAuthentication
and HostbasedAuthentication authentication without permitting lo-
gin with rlogin or rsh(1).
/etc/hosts.equiv
This file is used during RhostsRSAAuthentication and
HostbasedAuthentication authentication. It contains canonical
hosts names, one per line (the full format is described in the
sshd(8) manual page). If the client host is found in this file,
login is automatically permitted provided client and server user
names are the same. Additionally, successful client host key au-
thentication is required. This file should only be writable by
root.
/etc/shosts.equiv
This file is processed exactly as /etc/hosts.equiv. This file
may be useful to permit logins using ssh but not using
rsh/rlogin.
/etc/ssh/sshrc
Commands in this file are executed by ssh when the user logs in
just before the user's shell (or command) is started. See the
sshd(8) manual page for more information.
$HOME/.ssh/rc
Commands in this file are executed by ssh when the user logs in
just before the user's shell (or command) is started. See the
sshd(8) manual page for more information.
$HOME/.ssh/environment
Contains additional definitions for environment variables, see
section ENVIRONMENT above.
DIAGNOSTICS
ssh exits with the exit status of the remote command or with 255 if an
error occurred.
SEE ALSO
gzip(1), rsh(1), scp(1), sftp(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-agent(1),
ssh-keygen(1), telnet(1), hosts.equiv(5), ssh_config(5), ssh-keysign(8),
sshd(8)
T. Ylonen, T. Kivinen, M. Saarinen, T. Rinne, and S. Lehtinen, SSH
Protocol Architecture, draft-ietf-secsh-architecture-12.txt, January
2002, work in progress material.
AUTHORS
OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free ssh 1.2.12 release by
Tatu Ylonen. Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus Friedl, Niels Provos, Theo
de Raadt and Dug Song removed many bugs, re-added newer features and
created OpenSSH. Markus Friedl contributed the support for SSH protocol
versions 1.5 and 2.0.
OpenBSD 3.7 September 25, 1999 11
|