ssh.0 revision 197670
1SSH(1)                     OpenBSD Reference Manual                     SSH(1)
2
3NAME
4     ssh - OpenSSH SSH client (remote login program)
5
6SYNOPSIS
7     ssh [-1246AaCfgKkMNnqsTtVvXxYy] [-b bind_address] [-c cipher_spec]
8         [-D [bind_address:]port] [-e escape_char] [-F configfile]
9         [-i identity_file] [-L [bind_address:]port:host:hostport]
10         [-l login_name] [-m mac_spec] [-O ctl_cmd] [-o option] [-p port]
11         [-R [bind_address:]port:host:hostport] [-S ctl_path]
12         [-w local_tun[:remote_tun]] [user@]hostname [command]
13
14DESCRIPTION
15     ssh (SSH client) is a program for logging into a remote machine and for
16     executing commands on a remote machine.  It is intended to replace rlogin
17     and rsh, and provide secure encrypted communications between two untrust-
18     ed hosts over an insecure network.  X11 connections and arbitrary TCP
19     ports can also be forwarded over the secure channel.
20
21     ssh connects and logs into the specified hostname (with optional user
22     name).  The user must prove his/her identity to the remote machine using
23     one of several methods depending on the protocol version used (see be-
24     low).
25
26     If command is specified, it is executed on the remote host instead of a
27     login shell.
28
29     The options are as follows:
30
31     -1      Forces ssh to try protocol version 1 only.
32
33     -2      Forces ssh to try protocol version 2 only.
34
35     -4      Forces ssh to use IPv4 addresses only.
36
37     -6      Forces ssh to use IPv6 addresses only.
38
39     -A      Enables forwarding of the authentication agent connection.  This
40             can also be specified on a per-host basis in a configuration
41             file.
42
43             Agent forwarding should be enabled with caution.  Users with the
44             ability to bypass file permissions on the remote host (for the
45             agent's Unix-domain socket) can access the local agent through
46             the forwarded connection.  An attacker cannot obtain key material
47             from the agent, however they can perform operations on the keys
48             that enable them to authenticate using the identities loaded into
49             the agent.
50
51     -a      Disables forwarding of the authentication agent connection.
52
53     -b bind_address
54             Use bind_address on the local machine as the source address of
55             the connection.  Only useful on systems with more than one ad-
56             dress.
57
58     -C      Requests compression of all data (including stdin, stdout,
59             stderr, and data for forwarded X11 and TCP connections).  The
60             compression algorithm is the same used by gzip(1), and the
61             ``level'' can be controlled by the CompressionLevel option for
62             protocol version 1.  Compression is desirable on modem lines and
63             other slow connections, but will only slow down things on fast
64             networks.  The default value can be set on a host-by-host basis
65             in the configuration files; see the Compression option.
66
67     -c cipher_spec
68             Selects the cipher specification for encrypting the session.
69
70             Protocol version 1 allows specification of a single cipher.  The
71             supported values are ``3des'', ``blowfish'', and ``des''.  3des
72             (triple-des) is an encrypt-decrypt-encrypt triple with three dif-
73             ferent keys.  It is believed to be secure.  blowfish is a fast
74             block cipher; it appears very secure and is much faster than
75             3des.  des is only supported in the ssh client for interoperabil-
76             ity with legacy protocol 1 implementations that do not support
77             the 3des cipher.  Its use is strongly discouraged due to crypto-
78             graphic weaknesses.  The default is ``3des''.
79
80             For protocol version 2, cipher_spec is a comma-separated list of
81             ciphers listed in order of preference.  See the Ciphers keyword
82             for more information.
83
84     -D [bind_address:]port
85             Specifies a local ``dynamic'' application-level port forwarding.
86             This works by allocating a socket to listen to port on the local
87             side, optionally bound to the specified bind_address.  Whenever a
88             connection is made to this port, the connection is forwarded over
89             the secure channel, and the application protocol is then used to
90             determine where to connect to from the remote machine.  Currently
91             the SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 protocols are supported, and ssh will act
92             as a SOCKS server.  Only root can forward privileged ports.  Dy-
93             namic port forwardings can also be specified in the configuration
94             file.
95
96             IPv6 addresses can be specified with an alternative syntax:
97             [bind_address/]port or by enclosing the address in square brack-
98             ets.  Only the superuser can forward privileged ports.  By de-
99             fault, the local port is bound in accordance with the
100             GatewayPorts setting.  However, an explicit bind_address may be
101             used to bind the connection to a specific address.  The
102             bind_address of ``localhost'' indicates that the listening port
103             be bound for local use only, while an empty address or `*' indi-
104             cates that the port should be available from all interfaces.
105
106     -e escape_char
107             Sets the escape character for sessions with a pty (default: `~').
108             The escape character is only recognized at the beginning of a
109             line.  The escape character followed by a dot (`.') closes the
110             connection; followed by control-Z suspends the connection; and
111             followed by itself sends the escape character once.  Setting the
112             character to ``none'' disables any escapes and makes the session
113             fully transparent.
114
115     -F configfile
116             Specifies an alternative per-user configuration file.  If a con-
117             figuration file is given on the command line, the system-wide
118             configuration file (/etc/ssh/ssh_config) will be ignored.  The
119             default for the per-user configuration file is ~/.ssh/config.
120
121     -f      Requests ssh to go to background just before command execution.
122             This is useful if ssh is going to ask for passwords or passphras-
123             es, but the user wants it in the background.  This implies -n.
124             The recommended way to start X11 programs at a remote site is
125             with something like ssh -f host xterm.
126
127             If the ExitOnForwardFailure configuration option is set to
128             ``yes'', then a client started with -f will wait for all remote
129             port forwards to be successfully established before placing it-
130             self in the background.
131
132     -g      Allows remote hosts to connect to local forwarded ports.
133
134     -I smartcard_device
135             Specify the device ssh should use to communicate with a smartcard
136             used for storing the user's private RSA key.  This option is only
137             available if support for smartcard devices is compiled in (de-
138             fault is no support).
139
140     -i identity_file
141             Selects a file from which the identity (private key) for RSA or
142             DSA authentication is read.  The default is ~/.ssh/identity for
143             protocol version 1, and ~/.ssh/id_rsa and ~/.ssh/id_dsa for pro-
144             tocol version 2.  Identity files may also be specified on a per-
145             host basis in the configuration file.  It is possible to have
146             multiple -i options (and multiple identities specified in config-
147             uration files).
148
149     -K      Enables GSSAPI-based authentication and forwarding (delegation)
150             of GSSAPI credentials to the server.
151
152     -k      Disables forwarding (delegation) of GSSAPI credentials to the
153             server.
154
155     -L [bind_address:]port:host:hostport
156             Specifies that the given port on the local (client) host is to be
157             forwarded to the given host and port on the remote side.  This
158             works by allocating a socket to listen to port on the local side,
159             optionally bound to the specified bind_address.  Whenever a con-
160             nection is made to this port, the connection is forwarded over
161             the secure channel, and a connection is made to host port
162             hostport from the remote machine.  Port forwardings can also be
163             specified in the configuration file.  IPv6 addresses can be spec-
164             ified with an alternative syntax: [bind_address/]port/host/host-
165             port or by enclosing the address in square brackets.  Only the
166             superuser can forward privileged ports.  By default, the local
167             port is bound in accordance with the GatewayPorts setting.  How-
168             ever, an explicit bind_address may be used to bind the connection
169             to a specific address.  The bind_address of ``localhost'' indi-
170             cates that the listening port be bound for local use only, while
171             an empty address or `*' indicates that the port should be avail-
172             able from all interfaces.
173
174     -l login_name
175             Specifies the user to log in as on the remote machine.  This also
176             may be specified on a per-host basis in the configuration file.
177
178     -M      Places the ssh client into ``master'' mode for connection shar-
179             ing.  Multiple -M options places ssh into ``master'' mode with
180             confirmation required before slave connections are accepted.  Re-
181             fer to the description of ControlMaster in ssh_config(5) for de-
182             tails.
183
184     -m mac_spec
185             Additionally, for protocol version 2 a comma-separated list of
186             MAC (message authentication code) algorithms can be specified in
187             order of preference.  See the MACs keyword for more information.
188
189     -N      Do not execute a remote command.  This is useful for just for-
190             warding ports (protocol version 2 only).
191
192     -n      Redirects stdin from /dev/null (actually, prevents reading from
193             stdin).  This must be used when ssh is run in the background.  A
194             common trick is to use this to run X11 programs on a remote ma-
195             chine.  For example, ssh -n shadows.cs.hut.fi emacs & will start
196             an emacs on shadows.cs.hut.fi, and the X11 connection will be au-
197             tomatically forwarded over an encrypted channel.  The ssh program
198             will be put in the background.  (This does not work if ssh needs
199             to ask for a password or passphrase; see also the -f option.)
200
201     -O ctl_cmd
202             Control an active connection multiplexing master process.  When
203             the -O option is specified, the ctl_cmd argument is interpreted
204             and passed to the master process.  Valid commands are: ``check''
205             (check that the master process is running) and ``exit'' (request
206             the master to exit).
207
208     -o option
209             Can be used to give options in the format used in the configura-
210             tion file.  This is useful for specifying options for which there
211             is no separate command-line flag.  For full details of the op-
212             tions listed below, and their possible values, see ssh_config(5).
213
214                   AddressFamily
215                   BatchMode
216                   BindAddress
217                   ChallengeResponseAuthentication
218                   CheckHostIP
219                   Cipher
220                   Ciphers
221                   ClearAllForwardings
222                   Compression
223                   CompressionLevel
224                   ConnectionAttempts
225                   ConnectTimeout
226                   ControlMaster
227                   ControlPath
228                   DynamicForward
229                   EscapeChar
230                   ExitOnForwardFailure
231                   ForwardAgent
232                   ForwardX11
233                   ForwardX11Trusted
234                   GatewayPorts
235                   GlobalKnownHostsFile
236                   GSSAPIAuthentication
237                   GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
238                   HashKnownHosts
239                   Host
240                   HostbasedAuthentication
241                   HostKeyAlgorithms
242                   HostKeyAlias
243                   HostName
244                   IdentityFile
245                   IdentitiesOnly
246                   KbdInteractiveDevices
247                   LocalCommand
248                   LocalForward
249                   LogLevel
250                   MACs
251                   NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
252                   NumberOfPasswordPrompts
253                   PasswordAuthentication
254                   PermitLocalCommand
255                   Port
256                   PreferredAuthentications
257                   Protocol
258                   ProxyCommand
259                   PubkeyAuthentication
260                   RekeyLimit
261                   RemoteForward
262                   RhostsRSAAuthentication
263                   RSAAuthentication
264                   SendEnv
265                   ServerAliveInterval
266                   ServerAliveCountMax
267                   SmartcardDevice
268                   StrictHostKeyChecking
269                   TCPKeepAlive
270                   Tunnel
271                   TunnelDevice
272                   UsePrivilegedPort
273                   User
274                   UserKnownHostsFile
275                   VerifyHostKeyDNS
276                   VisualHostKey
277                   XAuthLocation
278
279     -p port
280             Port to connect to on the remote host.  This can be specified on
281             a per-host basis in the configuration file.
282
283     -q      Quiet mode.  Causes most warning and diagnostic messages to be
284             suppressed.
285
286     -R [bind_address:]port:host:hostport
287             Specifies that the given port on the remote (server) host is to
288             be forwarded to the given host and port on the local side.  This
289             works by allocating a socket to listen to port on the remote
290             side, and whenever a connection is made to this port, the connec-
291             tion is forwarded over the secure channel, and a connection is
292             made to host port hostport from the local machine.
293
294             Port forwardings can also be specified in the configuration file.
295             Privileged ports can be forwarded only when logging in as root on
296             the remote machine.  IPv6 addresses can be specified by enclosing
297             the address in square braces or using an alternative syntax:
298             [bind_address/]host/port/hostport.
299
300             By default, the listening socket on the server will be bound to
301             the loopback interface only.  This may be overridden by specify-
302             ing a bind_address.  An empty bind_address, or the address `*',
303             indicates that the remote socket should listen on all interfaces.
304             Specifying a remote bind_address will only succeed if the serv-
305             er's GatewayPorts option is enabled (see sshd_config(5)).
306
307             If the port argument is `0', the listen port will be dynamically
308             allocated on the server and reported to the client at run time.
309
310     -S ctl_path
311             Specifies the location of a control socket for connection shar-
312             ing.  Refer to the description of ControlPath and ControlMaster
313             in ssh_config(5) for details.
314
315     -s      May be used to request invocation of a subsystem on the remote
316             system.  Subsystems are a feature of the SSH2 protocol which fa-
317             cilitate the use of SSH as a secure transport for other applica-
318             tions (eg. sftp(1)).  The subsystem is specified as the remote
319             command.
320
321     -T      Disable pseudo-tty allocation.
322
323     -t      Force pseudo-tty allocation.  This can be used to execute arbi-
324             trary screen-based programs on a remote machine, which can be
325             very useful, e.g. when implementing menu services.  Multiple -t
326             options force tty allocation, even if ssh has no local tty.
327
328     -V      Display the version number and exit.
329
330     -v      Verbose mode.  Causes ssh to print debugging messages about its
331             progress.  This is helpful in debugging connection, authentica-
332             tion, and configuration problems.  Multiple -v options increase
333             the verbosity.  The maximum is 3.
334
335     -w local_tun[:remote_tun]
336             Requests tunnel device forwarding with the specified tun(4) de-
337             vices between the client (local_tun) and the server (remote_tun).
338
339             The devices may be specified by numerical ID or the keyword
340             ``any'', which uses the next available tunnel device.  If
341             remote_tun is not specified, it defaults to ``any''.  See also
342             the Tunnel and TunnelDevice directives in ssh_config(5).  If the
343             Tunnel directive is unset, it is set to the default tunnel mode,
344             which is ``point-to-point''.
345
346     -X      Enables X11 forwarding.  This can also be specified on a per-host
347             basis in a configuration file.
348
349             X11 forwarding should be enabled with caution.  Users with the
350             ability to bypass file permissions on the remote host (for the
351             user's X authorization database) can access the local X11 display
352             through the forwarded connection.  An attacker may then be able
353             to perform activities such as keystroke monitoring.
354
355             For this reason, X11 forwarding is subjected to X11 SECURITY ex-
356             tension restrictions by default.  Please refer to the ssh -Y op-
357             tion and the ForwardX11Trusted directive in ssh_config(5) for
358             more information.
359
360     -x      Disables X11 forwarding.
361
362     -Y      Enables trusted X11 forwarding.  Trusted X11 forwardings are not
363             subjected to the X11 SECURITY extension controls.
364
365     -y      Send log information using the syslog(3) system module.  By de-
366             fault this information is sent to stderr.
367
368     ssh may additionally obtain configuration data from a per-user configura-
369     tion file and a system-wide configuration file.  The file format and con-
370     figuration options are described in ssh_config(5).
371
372     ssh exits with the exit status of the remote command or with 255 if an
373     error occurred.
374
375AUTHENTICATION
376     The OpenSSH SSH client supports SSH protocols 1 and 2.  Protocol 2 is the
377     default, with ssh falling back to protocol 1 if it detects protocol 2 is
378     unsupported.  These settings may be altered using the Protocol option in
379     ssh_config(5), or enforced using the -1 and -2 options (see above).  Both
380     protocols support similar authentication methods, but protocol 2 is pre-
381     ferred since it provides additional mechanisms for confidentiality (the
382     traffic is encrypted using AES, 3DES, Blowfish, CAST128, or Arcfour) and
383     integrity (hmac-md5, hmac-sha1, umac-64, hmac-ripemd160).  Protocol 1
384     lacks a strong mechanism for ensuring the integrity of the connection.
385
386     The methods available for authentication are: GSSAPI-based authentica-
387     tion, host-based authentication, public key authentication, challenge-re-
388     sponse authentication, and password authentication.  Authentication meth-
389     ods are tried in the order specified above, though protocol 2 has a con-
390     figuration option to change the default order: PreferredAuthentications.
391
392     Host-based authentication works as follows: If the machine the user logs
393     in from is listed in /etc/hosts.equiv or /etc/shosts.equiv on the remote
394     machine, and the user names are the same on both sides, or if the files
395     ~/.rhosts or ~/.shosts exist in the user's home directory on the remote
396     machine and contain a line containing the name of the client machine and
397     the name of the user on that machine, the user is considered for login.
398     Additionally, the server must be able to verify the client's host key
399     (see the description of /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts and ~/.ssh/known_hosts,
400     below) for login to be permitted.  This authentication method closes se-
401     curity holes due to IP spoofing, DNS spoofing, and routing spoofing.
402     [Note to the administrator: /etc/hosts.equiv, ~/.rhosts, and the
403     rlogin/rsh protocol in general, are inherently insecure and should be
404     disabled if security is desired.]
405
406     Public key authentication works as follows: The scheme is based on pub-
407     lic-key cryptography, using cryptosystems where encryption and decryption
408     are done using separate keys, and it is unfeasible to derive the decryp-
409     tion key from the encryption key.  The idea is that each user creates a
410     public/private key pair for authentication purposes.  The server knows
411     the public key, and only the user knows the private key.  ssh implements
412     public key authentication protocol automatically, using either the RSA or
413     DSA algorithms.  Protocol 1 is restricted to using only RSA keys, but
414     protocol 2 may use either.  The HISTORY section of ssl(8) contains a
415     brief discussion of the two algorithms.
416
417     The file ~/.ssh/authorized_keys lists the public keys that are permitted
418     for logging in.  When the user logs in, the ssh program tells the server
419     which key pair it would like to use for authentication.  The client
420     proves that it has access to the private key and the server checks that
421     the corresponding public key is authorized to accept the account.
422
423     The user creates his/her key pair by running ssh-keygen(1).  This stores
424     the private key in ~/.ssh/identity (protocol 1), ~/.ssh/id_dsa (protocol
425     2 DSA), or ~/.ssh/id_rsa (protocol 2 RSA) and stores the public key in
426     ~/.ssh/identity.pub (protocol 1), ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub (protocol 2 DSA), or
427     ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub (protocol 2 RSA) in the user's home directory.  The us-
428     er should then copy the public key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys in his/her
429     home directory on the remote machine.  The authorized_keys file corre-
430     sponds to the conventional ~/.rhosts file, and has one key per line,
431     though the lines can be very long.  After this, the user can log in with-
432     out giving the password.
433
434     The most convenient way to use public key authentication may be with an
435     authentication agent.  See ssh-agent(1) for more information.
436
437     Challenge-response authentication works as follows: The server sends an
438     arbitrary "challenge" text, and prompts for a response.  Protocol 2 al-
439     lows multiple challenges and responses; protocol 1 is restricted to just
440     one challenge/response.  Examples of challenge-response authentication
441     include BSD Authentication (see login.conf(5)) and PAM (some non-OpenBSD
442     systems).
443
444     Finally, if other authentication methods fail, ssh prompts the user for a
445     password.  The password is sent to the remote host for checking; however,
446     since all communications are encrypted, the password cannot be seen by
447     someone listening on the network.
448
449     ssh automatically maintains and checks a database containing identifica-
450     tion for all hosts it has ever been used with.  Host keys are stored in
451     ~/.ssh/known_hosts in the user's home directory.  Additionally, the file
452     /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts is automatically checked for known hosts.  Any
453     new hosts are automatically added to the user's file.  If a host's iden-
454     tification ever changes, ssh warns about this and disables password au-
455     thentication to prevent server spoofing or man-in-the-middle attacks,
456     which could otherwise be used to circumvent the encryption.  The
457     StrictHostKeyChecking option can be used to control logins to machines
458     whose host key is not known or has changed.
459
460     When the user's identity has been accepted by the server, the server ei-
461     ther executes the given command, or logs into the machine and gives the
462     user a normal shell on the remote machine.  All communication with the
463     remote command or shell will be automatically encrypted.
464
465     If a pseudo-terminal has been allocated (normal login session), the user
466     may use the escape characters noted below.
467
468     If no pseudo-tty has been allocated, the session is transparent and can
469     be used to reliably transfer binary data.  On most systems, setting the
470     escape character to ``none'' will also make the session transparent even
471     if a tty is used.
472
473     The session terminates when the command or shell on the remote machine
474     exits and all X11 and TCP connections have been closed.
475
476ESCAPE CHARACTERS
477     When a pseudo-terminal has been requested, ssh supports a number of func-
478     tions through the use of an escape character.
479
480     A single tilde character can be sent as ~~ or by following the tilde by a
481     character other than those described below.  The escape character must
482     always follow a newline to be interpreted as special.  The escape charac-
483     ter can be changed in configuration files using the EscapeChar configura-
484     tion directive or on the command line by the -e option.
485
486     The supported escapes (assuming the default `~') are:
487
488     ~.      Disconnect.
489
490     ~^Z     Background ssh.
491
492     ~#      List forwarded connections.
493
494     ~&      Background ssh at logout when waiting for forwarded connection /
495             X11 sessions to terminate.
496
497     ~?      Display a list of escape characters.
498
499     ~B      Send a BREAK to the remote system (only useful for SSH protocol
500             version 2 and if the peer supports it).
501
502     ~C      Open command line.  Currently this allows the addition of port
503             forwardings using the -L, -R and -D options (see above).  It also
504             allows the cancellation of existing remote port-forwardings using
505             -KR[bind_address:]port.  !command allows the user to execute a
506             local command if the PermitLocalCommand option is enabled in
507             ssh_config(5).  Basic help is available, using the -h option.
508
509     ~R      Request rekeying of the connection (only useful for SSH protocol
510             version 2 and if the peer supports it).
511
512TCP FORWARDING
513     Forwarding of arbitrary TCP connections over the secure channel can be
514     specified either on the command line or in a configuration file.  One
515     possible application of TCP forwarding is a secure connection to a mail
516     server; another is going through firewalls.
517
518     In the example below, we look at encrypting communication between an IRC
519     client and server, even though the IRC server does not directly support
520     encrypted communications.  This works as follows: the user connects to
521     the remote host using ssh, specifying a port to be used to forward con-
522     nections to the remote server.  After that it is possible to start the
523     service which is to be encrypted on the client machine, connecting to the
524     same local port, and ssh will encrypt and forward the connection.
525
526     The following example tunnels an IRC session from client machine
527     ``127.0.0.1'' (localhost) to remote server ``server.example.com'':
528
529         $ ssh -f -L 1234:localhost:6667 server.example.com sleep 10
530         $ irc -c '#users' -p 1234 pinky 127.0.0.1
531
532     This tunnels a connection to IRC server ``server.example.com'', joining
533     channel ``#users'', nickname ``pinky'', using port 1234.  It doesn't mat-
534     ter which port is used, as long as it's greater than 1023 (remember, only
535     root can open sockets on privileged ports) and doesn't conflict with any
536     ports already in use.  The connection is forwarded to port 6667 on the
537     remote server, since that's the standard port for IRC services.
538
539     The -f option backgrounds ssh and the remote command ``sleep 10'' is
540     specified to allow an amount of time (10 seconds, in the example) to
541     start the service which is to be tunnelled.  If no connections are made
542     within the time specified, ssh will exit.
543
544X11 FORWARDING
545     If the ForwardX11 variable is set to ``yes'' (or see the description of
546     the -X, -x, and -Y options above) and the user is using X11 (the DISPLAY
547     environment variable is set), the connection to the X11 display is auto-
548     matically forwarded to the remote side in such a way that any X11 pro-
549     grams started from the shell (or command) will go through the encrypted
550     channel, and the connection to the real X server will be made from the
551     local machine.  The user should not manually set DISPLAY.  Forwarding of
552     X11 connections can be configured on the command line or in configuration
553     files.
554
555     The DISPLAY value set by ssh will point to the server machine, but with a
556     display number greater than zero.  This is normal, and happens because
557     ssh creates a ``proxy'' X server on the server machine for forwarding the
558     connections over the encrypted channel.
559
560     ssh will also automatically set up Xauthority data on the server machine.
561     For this purpose, it will generate a random authorization cookie, store
562     it in Xauthority on the server, and verify that any forwarded connections
563     carry this cookie and replace it by the real cookie when the connection
564     is opened.  The real authentication cookie is never sent to the server
565     machine (and no cookies are sent in the plain).
566
567     If the ForwardAgent variable is set to ``yes'' (or see the description of
568     the -A and -a options above) and the user is using an authentication
569     agent, the connection to the agent is automatically forwarded to the re-
570     mote side.
571
572VERIFYING HOST KEYS
573     When connecting to a server for the first time, a fingerprint of the
574     server's public key is presented to the user (unless the option
575     StrictHostKeyChecking has been disabled).  Fingerprints can be determined
576     using ssh-keygen(1):
577
578           $ ssh-keygen -l -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
579
580     If the fingerprint is already known, it can be matched and the key can be
581     accepted or rejected.  Because of the difficulty of comparing host keys
582     just by looking at hex strings, there is also support to compare host
583     keys visually, using random art.  By setting the VisualHostKey option to
584     ``yes'', a small ASCII graphic gets displayed on every login to a server,
585     no matter if the session itself is interactive or not.  By learning the
586     pattern a known server produces, a user can easily find out that the host
587     key has changed when a completely different pattern is displayed.  Be-
588     cause these patterns are not unambiguous however, a pattern that looks
589     similar to the pattern remembered only gives a good probability that the
590     host key is the same, not guaranteed proof.
591
592     To get a listing of the fingerprints along with their random art for all
593     known hosts, the following command line can be used:
594
595           $ ssh-keygen -lv -f ~/.ssh/known_hosts
596
597     If the fingerprint is unknown, an alternative method of verification is
598     available: SSH fingerprints verified by DNS.  An additional resource
599     record (RR), SSHFP, is added to a zonefile and the connecting client is
600     able to match the fingerprint with that of the key presented.
601
602     In this example, we are connecting a client to a server,
603     ``host.example.com''.  The SSHFP resource records should first be added
604     to the zonefile for host.example.com:
605
606           $ ssh-keygen -r host.example.com.
607
608     The output lines will have to be added to the zonefile.  To check that
609     the zone is answering fingerprint queries:
610
611           $ dig -t SSHFP host.example.com
612
613     Finally the client connects:
614
615           $ ssh -o "VerifyHostKeyDNS ask" host.example.com
616           [...]
617           Matching host key fingerprint found in DNS.
618           Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?
619
620     See the VerifyHostKeyDNS option in ssh_config(5) for more information.
621
622SSH-BASED VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORKS
623     ssh contains support for Virtual Private Network (VPN) tunnelling using
624     the tun(4) network pseudo-device, allowing two networks to be joined se-
625     curely.  The sshd_config(5) configuration option PermitTunnel controls
626     whether the server supports this, and at what level (layer 2 or 3 traf-
627     fic).
628
629     The following example would connect client network 10.0.50.0/24 with re-
630     mote network 10.0.99.0/24 using a point-to-point connection from 10.1.1.1
631     to 10.1.1.2, provided that the SSH server running on the gateway to the
632     remote network, at 192.168.1.15, allows it.
633
634     On the client:
635
636           # ssh -f -w 0:1 192.168.1.15 true
637           # ifconfig tun0 10.1.1.1 10.1.1.2 netmask 255.255.255.252
638           # route add 10.0.99.0/24 10.1.1.2
639
640     On the server:
641
642           # ifconfig tun1 10.1.1.2 10.1.1.1 netmask 255.255.255.252
643           # route add 10.0.50.0/24 10.1.1.1
644
645     Client access may be more finely tuned via the /root/.ssh/authorized_keys
646     file (see below) and the PermitRootLogin server option.  The following
647     entry would permit connections on tun(4) device 1 from user ``jane'' and
648     on tun device 2 from user ``john'', if PermitRootLogin is set to
649     ``forced-commands-only'':
650
651       tunnel="1",command="sh /etc/netstart tun1" ssh-rsa ... jane
652       tunnel="2",command="sh /etc/netstart tun2" ssh-rsa ... john
653
654     Since an SSH-based setup entails a fair amount of overhead, it may be
655     more suited to temporary setups, such as for wireless VPNs.  More perma-
656     nent VPNs are better provided by tools such as ipsecctl(8) and
657     isakmpd(8).
658
659ENVIRONMENT
660     ssh will normally set the following environment variables:
661
662     DISPLAY               The DISPLAY variable indicates the location of the
663                           X11 server.  It is automatically set by ssh to
664                           point to a value of the form ``hostname:n'', where
665                           ``hostname'' indicates the host where the shell
666                           runs, and `n' is an integer >= 1.  ssh uses this
667                           special value to forward X11 connections over the
668                           secure channel.  The user should normally not set
669                           DISPLAY explicitly, as that will render the X11
670                           connection insecure (and will require the user to
671                           manually copy any required authorization cookies).
672
673     HOME                  Set to the path of the user's home directory.
674
675     LOGNAME               Synonym for USER; set for compatibility with sys-
676                           tems that use this variable.
677
678     MAIL                  Set to the path of the user's mailbox.
679
680     PATH                  Set to the default PATH, as specified when compil-
681                           ing ssh.
682
683     SSH_ASKPASS           If ssh needs a passphrase, it will read the
684                           passphrase from the current terminal if it was run
685                           from a terminal.  If ssh does not have a terminal
686                           associated with it but DISPLAY and SSH_ASKPASS are
687                           set, it will execute the program specified by
688                           SSH_ASKPASS and open an X11 window to read the
689                           passphrase.  This is particularly useful when call-
690                           ing ssh from a .xsession or related script.  (Note
691                           that on some machines it may be necessary to redi-
692                           rect the input from /dev/null to make this work.)
693
694     SSH_AUTH_SOCK         Identifies the path of a UNIX-domain socket used to
695                           communicate with the agent.
696
697     SSH_CONNECTION        Identifies the client and server ends of the con-
698                           nection.  The variable contains four space-separat-
699                           ed values: client IP address, client port number,
700                           server IP address, and server port number.
701
702     SSH_ORIGINAL_COMMAND  This variable contains the original command line if
703                           a forced command is executed.  It can be used to
704                           extract the original arguments.
705
706     SSH_TTY               This is set to the name of the tty (path to the de-
707                           vice) associated with the current shell or command.
708                           If the current session has no tty, this variable is
709                           not set.
710
711     TZ                    This variable is set to indicate the present time
712                           zone if it was set when the daemon was started
713                           (i.e. the daemon passes the value on to new connec-
714                           tions).
715
716     USER                  Set to the name of the user logging in.
717
718     Additionally, ssh reads ~/.ssh/environment, and adds lines of the format
719     ``VARNAME=value'' to the environment if the file exists and users are al-
720     lowed to change their environment.  For more information, see the
721     PermitUserEnvironment option in sshd_config(5).
722
723FILES
724     ~/.rhosts
725             This file is used for host-based authentication (see above).  On
726             some machines this file may need to be world-readable if the us-
727             er's home directory is on an NFS partition, because sshd(8) reads
728             it as root.  Additionally, this file must be owned by the user,
729             and must not have write permissions for anyone else.  The recom-
730             mended permission for most machines is read/write for the user,
731             and not accessible by others.
732
733     ~/.shosts
734             This file is used in exactly the same way as .rhosts, but allows
735             host-based authentication without permitting login with
736             rlogin/rsh.
737
738     ~/.ssh/
739             This directory is the default location for all user-specific con-
740             figuration and authentication information.  There is no general
741             requirement to keep the entire contents of this directory secret,
742             but the recommended permissions are read/write/execute for the
743             user, and not accessible by others.
744
745     ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
746             Lists the public keys (RSA/DSA) that can be used for logging in
747             as this user.  The format of this file is described in the
748             sshd(8) manual page.  This file is not highly sensitive, but the
749             recommended permissions are read/write for the user, and not ac-
750             cessible by others.
751
752     ~/.ssh/config
753             This is the per-user configuration file.  The file format and
754             configuration options are described in ssh_config(5).  Because of
755             the potential for abuse, this file must have strict permissions:
756             read/write for the user, and not accessible by others.
757
758     ~/.ssh/environment
759             Contains additional definitions for environment variables; see
760             ENVIRONMENT, above.
761
762     ~/.ssh/identity
763     ~/.ssh/id_dsa
764     ~/.ssh/id_rsa
765             Contains the private key for authentication.  These files contain
766             sensitive data and should be readable by the user but not acces-
767             sible by others (read/write/execute).  ssh will simply ignore a
768             private key file if it is accessible by others.  It is possible
769             to specify a passphrase when generating the key which will be
770             used to encrypt the sensitive part of this file using 3DES.
771
772     ~/.ssh/identity.pub
773     ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub
774     ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
775             Contains the public key for authentication.  These files are not
776             sensitive and can (but need not) be readable by anyone.
777
778     ~/.ssh/known_hosts
779             Contains a list of host keys for all hosts the user has logged
780             into that are not already in the systemwide list of known host
781             keys.  See sshd(8) for further details of the format of this
782             file.
783
784     ~/.ssh/rc
785             Commands in this file are executed by ssh when the user logs in,
786             just before the user's shell (or command) is started.  See the
787             sshd(8) manual page for more information.
788
789     /etc/hosts.equiv
790             This file is for host-based authentication (see above).  It
791             should only be writable by root.
792
793     /etc/shosts.equiv
794             This file is used in exactly the same way as hosts.equiv, but al-
795             lows host-based authentication without permitting login with
796             rlogin/rsh.
797
798     /etc/ssh/ssh_config
799             Systemwide configuration file.  The file format and configuration
800             options are described in ssh_config(5).
801
802     /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key
803     /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
804     /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
805             These three files contain the private parts of the host keys and
806             are used for host-based authentication.  If protocol version 1 is
807             used, ssh must be setuid root, since the host key is readable on-
808             ly by root.  For protocol version 2, ssh uses ssh-keysign(8) to
809             access the host keys, eliminating the requirement that ssh be se-
810             tuid root when host-based authentication is used.  By default ssh
811             is not setuid root.
812
813     /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts
814             Systemwide list of known host keys.  This file should be prepared
815             by the system administrator to contain the public host keys of
816             all machines in the organization.  It should be world-readable.
817             See sshd(8) for further details of the format of this file.
818
819     /etc/ssh/sshrc
820             Commands in this file are executed by ssh when the user logs in,
821             just before the user's shell (or command) is started.  See the
822             sshd(8) manual page for more information.
823
824SEE ALSO
825     scp(1), sftp(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-agent(1), ssh-keygen(1), ssh-keyscan(1),
826     tun(4), hosts.equiv(5), ssh_config(5), ssh-keysign(8), sshd(8)
827
828     The Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol Assigned Numbers, RFC 4250, 2006.
829
830     The Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol Architecture, RFC 4251, 2006.
831
832     The Secure Shell (SSH) Authentication Protocol, RFC 4252, 2006.
833
834     The Secure Shell (SSH) Transport Layer Protocol, RFC 4253, 2006.
835
836     The Secure Shell (SSH) Connection Protocol, RFC 4254, 2006.
837
838     Using DNS to Securely Publish Secure Shell (SSH) Key Fingerprints, RFC
839     4255, 2006.
840
841     Generic Message Exchange Authentication for the Secure Shell Protocol
842     (SSH), RFC 4256, 2006.
843
844     The Secure Shell (SSH) Session Channel Break Extension, RFC 4335, 2006.
845
846     The Secure Shell (SSH) Transport Layer Encryption Modes, RFC 4344, 2006.
847
848     Improved Arcfour Modes for the Secure Shell (SSH) Transport Layer
849     Protocol, RFC 4345, 2006.
850
851     Diffie-Hellman Group Exchange for the Secure Shell (SSH) Transport Layer
852     Protocol, RFC 4419, 2006.
853
854     The Secure Shell (SSH) Public Key File Format, RFC 4716, 2006.
855
856     A. Perrig and D. Song, Hash Visualization: a New Technique to improve
857     Real-World Security, 1999, International Workshop on Cryptographic
858     Techniques and E-Commerce (CrypTEC '99).
859
860AUTHORS
861     OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free ssh 1.2.12 release by
862     Tatu Ylonen.  Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus Friedl, Niels Provos, Theo
863     de Raadt and Dug Song removed many bugs, re-added newer features and
864     created OpenSSH.  Markus Friedl contributed the support for SSH protocol
865     versions 1.5 and 2.0.
866
867OpenBSD 4.6                     March 19, 2009                              14
868