3 .\" Author: Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>
4 .\" Copyright (c) 1995 Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>, Espoo, Finland
5 .\" All rights reserved
7 .\" As far as I am concerned, the code I have written for this software
8 .\" can be used freely for any purpose. Any derived versions of this
9 .\" software must be clearly marked as such, and if the derived work is
10 .\" incompatible with the protocol description in the RFC file, it must be
11 .\" called by a name other than "ssh" or "Secure Shell".
13 .\" Copyright (c) 1999,2000 Markus Friedl. All rights reserved.
14 .\" Copyright (c) 1999 Aaron Campbell. All rights reserved.
15 .\" Copyright (c) 1999 Theo de Raadt. All rights reserved.
17 .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
18 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
20 .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
21 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
22 .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
23 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
24 .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
26 .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
27 .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
28 .\" OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
29 .\" IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
30 .\" INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
31 .\" NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
32 .\" DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
33 .\" THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
34 .\" (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
35 .\" THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
37 .\" $OpenBSD: sshd.8,v 1.232 2006/07/10 16:04:21 jmc Exp $
38 .Dd September 25, 1999
43 .Nd OpenSSH SSH daemon
49 .Op Fl f Ar config_file
50 .Op Fl g Ar login_grace_time
51 .Op Fl h Ar host_key_file
52 .Op Fl k Ar key_gen_time
59 (OpenSSH Daemon) is the daemon program for
61 Together these programs replace rlogin and rsh, and
62 provide secure encrypted communications between two untrusted hosts
63 over an insecure network.
66 listens for connections from clients.
67 It is normally started at boot from
70 daemon for each incoming connection.
71 The forked daemons handle
72 key exchange, encryption, authentication, command execution,
76 can be configured using command-line options or a configuration file
79 command-line options override values specified in the
82 rereads its configuration file when it receives a hangup signal,
84 by executing itself with the name and options it was started with, e.g.\&
87 The options are as follows:
92 to use IPv4 addresses only.
96 to use IPv6 addresses only.
98 Specifies the number of bits in the ephemeral protocol version 1
99 server key (default 768).
101 When this option is specified,
103 will not detach and does not become a daemon.
104 This allows easy monitoring of
108 The server sends verbose debug output to the system
109 log, and does not put itself in the background.
110 The server also will not fork and will only process one connection.
111 This option is only intended for debugging for the server.
114 options increase the debugging level.
117 When this option is specified,
119 will send the output to the standard error instead of the system log.
120 .It Fl f Ar configuration_file
121 Specifies the name of the configuration file.
123 .Pa /etc/ssh/sshd_config .
125 refuses to start if there is no configuration file.
126 .It Fl g Ar login_grace_time
127 Gives the grace time for clients to authenticate themselves (default
129 If the client fails to authenticate the user within
130 this many seconds, the server disconnects and exits.
131 A value of zero indicates no limit.
132 .It Fl h Ar host_key_file
133 Specifies a file from which a host key is read.
134 This option must be given if
136 is not run as root (as the normal
137 host key files are normally not readable by anyone but root).
139 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key
140 for protocol version 1, and
141 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
143 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
144 for protocol version 2.
145 It is possible to have multiple host key files for
146 the different protocol versions and host key algorithms.
154 from inetd because it needs to generate the server key before it can
155 respond to the client, and this may take tens of seconds.
156 Clients would have to wait too long if the key was regenerated every time.
157 However, with small key sizes (e.g. 512) using
161 .It Fl k Ar key_gen_time
162 Specifies how often the ephemeral protocol version 1 server key is
163 regenerated (default 3600 seconds, or one hour).
164 The motivation for regenerating the key fairly
165 often is that the key is not stored anywhere, and after about an hour
166 it becomes impossible to recover the key for decrypting intercepted
167 communications even if the machine is cracked into or physically
169 A value of zero indicates that the key will never be regenerated.
171 Can be used to give options in the format used in the configuration file.
172 This is useful for specifying options for which there is no separate
174 For full details of the options, and their values, see
177 Specifies the port on which the server listens for connections
179 Multiple port options are permitted.
180 Ports specified in the configuration file with the
182 option are ignored when a command-line port is specified.
183 Ports specified using the
185 option override command-line ports.
188 Nothing is sent to the system log.
189 Normally the beginning,
190 authentication, and termination of each connection is logged.
193 Only check the validity of the configuration file and sanity of the keys.
194 This is useful for updating
196 reliably as configuration options may change.
198 This option is used to specify the size of the field
201 structure that holds the remote host name.
202 If the resolved host name is longer than
204 the dotted decimal value will be used instead.
205 This allows hosts with very long host names that
206 overflow this field to still be uniquely identified.
209 indicates that only dotted decimal addresses
210 should be put into the
214 may also be used to prevent
216 from making DNS requests unless the authentication
217 mechanism or configuration requires it.
218 Authentication mechanisms that may require DNS include
219 .Cm RhostsRSAAuthentication ,
220 .Cm HostbasedAuthentication ,
222 .Cm from="pattern-list"
223 option in a key file.
224 Configuration options that require DNS include using a
231 The OpenSSH SSH daemon supports SSH protocols 1 and 2.
232 Both protocols are supported by default,
233 though this can be changed via the
237 Protocol 2 supports both RSA and DSA keys;
238 protocol 1 only supports RSA keys.
240 each host has a host-specific key,
242 used to identify the host.
244 Forward security for protocol 1 is provided through
245 an additional server key,
247 generated when the server starts.
248 This key is normally regenerated every hour if it has been used, and
249 is never stored on disk.
250 Whenever a client connects, the daemon responds with its public
251 host and server keys.
252 The client compares the
253 RSA host key against its own database to verify that it has not changed.
254 The client then generates a 256-bit random number.
256 random number using both the host key and the server key, and sends
257 the encrypted number to the server.
258 Both sides then use this
259 random number as a session key which is used to encrypt all further
260 communications in the session.
261 The rest of the session is encrypted
262 using a conventional cipher, currently Blowfish or 3DES, with 3DES
263 being used by default.
264 The client selects the encryption algorithm
265 to use from those offered by the server.
268 forward security is provided through a Diffie-Hellman key agreement.
269 This key agreement results in a shared session key.
270 The rest of the session is encrypted using a symmetric cipher, currently
271 128-bit AES, Blowfish, 3DES, CAST128, Arcfour, 192-bit AES, or 256-bit AES.
272 The client selects the encryption algorithm
273 to use from those offered by the server.
274 Additionally, session integrity is provided
275 through a cryptographic message authentication code
276 (hmac-sha1 or hmac-md5).
278 Finally, the server and the client enter an authentication dialog.
279 The client tries to authenticate itself using
280 host-based authentication,
281 public key authentication,
282 challenge-response authentication,
283 or password authentication.
285 Regardless of the authentication type, the account is checked to
286 ensure that it is accessible. An account is not accessible if it is
289 or its group is listed in
291 \&. The definition of a locked account is system dependant. Some platforms
292 have their own account database (eg AIX) and some modify the passwd field (
294 on Solaris and UnixWare,
301 on FreeBSD and a leading
303 on Linux). If there is a requirement to disable password authentication
304 for the account while allowing still public-key, then the passwd field
305 should be set to something other than these values (eg
311 If the client successfully authenticates itself, a dialog for
312 preparing the session is entered.
313 At this time the client may request
314 things like allocating a pseudo-tty, forwarding X11 connections,
315 forwarding TCP connections, or forwarding the authentication agent
316 connection over the secure channel.
318 After this, the client either requests a shell or execution of a command.
319 The sides then enter session mode.
320 In this mode, either side may send
321 data at any time, and such data is forwarded to/from the shell or
322 command on the server side, and the user terminal in the client side.
324 When the user program terminates and all forwarded X11 and other
325 connections have been closed, the server sends command exit status to
326 the client, and both sides exit.
328 When a user successfully logs in,
331 .Bl -enum -offset indent
333 If the login is on a tty, and no command has been specified,
334 prints last login time and
336 (unless prevented in the configuration file or by
342 If the login is on a tty, records login time.
346 if it exists, prints contents and quits
349 Changes to run with normal user privileges.
351 Sets up basic environment.
354 .Pa ~/.ssh/environment ,
355 if it exists, and users are allowed to change their environment.
357 .Cm PermitUserEnvironment
361 Changes to user's home directory.
365 exists, runs it; else if
368 it; otherwise runs xauth.
371 files are given the X11
372 authentication protocol and cookie in standard input.
377 Runs user's shell or command.
384 runs it after reading the
385 environment files but before starting the user's shell or command.
386 It must not produce any output on stdout; stderr must be used
388 If X11 forwarding is in use, it will receive the "proto cookie" pair in
389 its standard input (and
396 will not run xauth automatically to add X11 cookies.
398 The primary purpose of this file is to run any initialization routines
399 which may be needed before the user's home directory becomes
400 accessible; AFS is a particular example of such an environment.
402 This file will probably contain some initialization code followed by
403 something similar to:
404 .Bd -literal -offset 3n
405 if read proto cookie && [ -n "$DISPLAY" ]; then
406 if [ `echo $DISPLAY | cut -c1-10` = 'localhost:' ]; then
407 # X11UseLocalhost=yes
408 echo add unix:`echo $DISPLAY |
409 cut -c11-` $proto $cookie
412 echo add $DISPLAY $proto $cookie
417 If this file does not exist,
420 does not exist either, xauth is used to add the cookie.
421 .Sh AUTHORIZED_KEYS FILE FORMAT
422 .Cm AuthorizedKeysFile
423 specifies the file containing public keys for
424 public key authentication;
425 if none is specified, the default is
426 .Pa ~/.ssh/authorized_keys .
427 Each line of the file contains one
428 key (empty lines and lines starting with a
432 Protocol 1 public keys consist of the following space-separated fields:
433 options, bits, exponent, modulus, comment.
434 Protocol 2 public key consist of:
435 options, keytype, base64-encoded key, comment.
436 The options field is optional;
437 its presence is determined by whether the line starts
438 with a number or not (the options field never starts with a number).
439 The bits, exponent, modulus, and comment fields give the RSA key for
440 protocol version 1; the
441 comment field is not used for anything (but may be convenient for the
442 user to identify the key).
443 For protocol version 2 the keytype is
448 Note that lines in this file are usually several hundred bytes long
449 (because of the size of the public key encoding) up to a limit of
450 8 kilobytes, which permits DSA keys up to 8 kilobits and RSA
451 keys up to 16 kilobits.
452 You don't want to type them in; instead, copy the
460 enforces a minimum RSA key modulus size for protocol 1
461 and protocol 2 keys of 768 bits.
463 The options (if present) consist of comma-separated option
465 No spaces are permitted, except within double quotes.
466 The following option specifications are supported (note
467 that option keywords are case-insensitive):
469 .It Cm command="command"
470 Specifies that the command is executed whenever this key is used for
472 The command supplied by the user (if any) is ignored.
473 The command is run on a pty if the client requests a pty;
474 otherwise it is run without a tty.
475 If an 8-bit clean channel is required,
476 one must not request a pty or should specify
478 A quote may be included in the command by quoting it with a backslash.
479 This option might be useful
480 to restrict certain public keys to perform just a specific operation.
481 An example might be a key that permits remote backups but nothing else.
482 Note that the client may specify TCP and/or X11
483 forwarding unless they are explicitly prohibited.
484 Note that this option applies to shell, command or subsystem execution.
485 .It Cm environment="NAME=value"
486 Specifies that the string is to be added to the environment when
487 logging in using this key.
488 Environment variables set this way
489 override other default environment values.
490 Multiple options of this type are permitted.
491 Environment processing is disabled by default and is
493 .Cm PermitUserEnvironment
495 This option is automatically disabled if
498 .It Cm from="pattern-list"
499 Specifies that in addition to public key authentication, the canonical name
500 of the remote host must be present in the comma-separated list of
503 of this option is to optionally increase security: public key authentication
504 by itself does not trust the network or name servers or anything (but
505 the key); however, if somebody somehow steals the key, the key
506 permits an intruder to log in from anywhere in the world.
507 This additional option makes using a stolen key more difficult (name
508 servers and/or routers would have to be compromised in addition to
515 for more information on patterns.
516 .It Cm no-agent-forwarding
517 Forbids authentication agent forwarding when this key is used for
519 .It Cm no-port-forwarding
520 Forbids TCP forwarding when this key is used for authentication.
521 Any port forward requests by the client will return an error.
522 This might be used, e.g. in connection with the
526 Prevents tty allocation (a request to allocate a pty will fail).
527 .It Cm no-X11-forwarding
528 Forbids X11 forwarding when this key is used for authentication.
529 Any X11 forward requests by the client will return an error.
530 .It Cm permitopen="host:port"
533 port forwarding such that it may only connect to the specified host and
535 IPv6 addresses can be specified with an alternative syntax:
536 .Ar host Ns / Ns Ar port .
539 options may be applied separated by commas.
540 No pattern matching is performed on the specified hostnames,
541 they must be literal domains or addresses.
545 device on the server.
546 Without this option, the next available device will be used if
547 the client requests a tunnel.
550 An example authorized_keys file:
551 .Bd -literal -offset 3n
552 # Comments allowed at start of line
553 ssh-rsa AAAAB3Nza...LiPk== user@example.net
554 from="*.sales.example.net,!pc.sales.example.net" ssh-rsa
555 AAAAB2...19Q== john@example.net
556 command="dump /home",no-pty,no-port-forwarding ssh-dss
557 AAAAC3...51R== example.net
558 permitopen="192.0.2.1:80",permitopen="192.0.2.2:25" ssh-dss
560 tunnel="0",command="sh /etc/netstart tun0" ssh-rsa AAAA...==
563 .Sh SSH_KNOWN_HOSTS FILE FORMAT
565 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts
567 .Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts
568 files contain host public keys for all known hosts.
569 The global file should
570 be prepared by the administrator (optional), and the per-user file is
571 maintained automatically: whenever the user connects from an unknown host,
572 its key is added to the per-user file.
574 Each line in these files contains the following fields: hostnames,
575 bits, exponent, modulus, comment.
576 The fields are separated by spaces.
578 Hostnames is a comma-separated list of patterns
583 wildcards); each pattern in turn is matched against the canonical host
584 name (when authenticating a client) or against the user-supplied
585 name (when authenticating a server).
586 A pattern may also be preceded by
588 to indicate negation: if the host name matches a negated
589 pattern, it is not accepted (by that line) even if it matched another
591 A hostname or address may optionally be enclosed within
595 brackets then followed by
597 and a non-standard port number.
599 Alternately, hostnames may be stored in a hashed form which hides host names
600 and addresses should the file's contents be disclosed.
601 Hashed hostnames start with a
604 Only one hashed hostname may appear on a single line and none of the above
605 negation or wildcard operators may be applied.
607 Bits, exponent, and modulus are taken directly from the RSA host key; they
608 can be obtained, for example, from
609 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub .
610 The optional comment field continues to the end of the line, and is not used.
614 and empty lines are ignored as comments.
616 When performing host authentication, authentication is accepted if any
617 matching line has the proper key.
618 It is thus permissible (but not
619 recommended) to have several lines or different host keys for the same
621 This will inevitably happen when short forms of host names
622 from different domains are put in the file.
624 that the files contain conflicting information; authentication is
625 accepted if valid information can be found from either file.
627 Note that the lines in these files are typically hundreds of characters
628 long, and you definitely don't want to type in the host keys by hand.
629 Rather, generate them by a script
631 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub
632 and adding the host names at the front.
634 An example ssh_known_hosts file:
635 .Bd -literal -offset 3n
636 # Comments allowed at start of line
637 closenet,...,192.0.2.53 1024 37 159...93 closenet.example.net
638 cvs.example.net,192.0.2.10 ssh-rsa AAAA1234.....=
640 |1|JfKTdBh7rNbXkVAQCRp4OQoPfmI=|USECr3SWf1JUPsms5AqfD5QfxkM= ssh-rsa
644 .Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
646 This file is used to suppress printing the last login time and
654 It does not suppress printing of the banner specified by
658 This file is used for host-based authentication (see
660 for more information).
661 On some machines this file may need to be
662 world-readable if the user's home directory is on an NFS partition,
666 Additionally, this file must be owned by the user,
667 and must not have write permissions for anyone else.
669 permission for most machines is read/write for the user, and not
670 accessible by others.
673 This file is used in exactly the same way as
675 but allows host-based authentication without permitting login with
678 .It ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
679 Lists the public keys (RSA/DSA) that can be used for logging in as this user.
680 The format of this file is described above.
681 This file is not highly sensitive, but the recommended
682 permissions are read/write for the user, and not accessible by others.
684 .It ~/.ssh/environment
685 This file is read into the environment at login (if it exists).
686 It can only contain empty lines, comment lines (that start with
688 and assignment lines of the form name=value.
689 The file should be writable
690 only by the user; it need not be readable by anyone else.
691 Environment processing is disabled by default and is
693 .Cm PermitUserEnvironment
696 .It ~/.ssh/known_hosts
697 Contains a list of host keys for all hosts the user has logged into
698 that are not already in the systemwide list of known host keys.
699 The format of this file is described above.
700 This file should be writable only by root/the owner and
701 can, but need not be, world-readable.
704 Contains initialization routines to be run before
705 the user's home directory becomes accessible.
706 This file should be writable only by the user, and need not be
707 readable by anyone else.
711 Access controls that should be enforced by tcp-wrappers are defined here.
712 Further details are described in
716 This file is for host-based authentication (see
718 It should only be writable by root.
721 Contains Diffie-Hellman groups used for the "Diffie-Hellman Group Exchange".
722 The file format is described in
732 refuses to let anyone except root log in.
733 The contents of the file
734 are displayed to anyone trying to log in, and non-root connections are
736 The file should be world-readable.
738 .It /etc/shosts.equiv
739 This file is used in exactly the same way as
741 but allows host-based authentication without permitting login with
744 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts
745 Systemwide list of known host keys.
746 This file should be prepared by the
747 system administrator to contain the public host keys of all machines in the
749 The format of this file is described above.
750 This file should be writable only by root/the owner and
751 should be world-readable.
753 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key
754 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
755 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
756 These three files contain the private parts of the host keys.
757 These files should only be owned by root, readable only by root, and not
758 accessible to others.
761 does not start if these files are group/world-accessible.
763 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub
764 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key.pub
765 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub
766 These three files contain the public parts of the host keys.
767 These files should be world-readable but writable only by
769 Their contents should match the respective private parts.
771 really used for anything; they are provided for the convenience of
772 the user so their contents can be copied to known hosts files.
773 These files are created using
776 .It /etc/ssh/sshd_config
777 Contains configuration data for
779 The file format and configuration options are described in
785 it can be used to specify
786 machine-specific login-time initializations globally.
787 This file should be writable only by root, and should be world-readable.
793 during privilege separation in the pre-authentication phase.
794 The directory should not contain any files and must be owned by root
795 and not group or world-writable.
797 .It /var/run/sshd.pid
798 Contains the process ID of the
800 listening for connections (if there are several daemons running
801 concurrently for different ports, this contains the process ID of the one
803 The content of this file is not sensitive; it can be world-readable.
820 OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free
821 ssh 1.2.12 release by Tatu Ylonen.
822 Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus Friedl, Niels Provos,
823 Theo de Raadt and Dug Song
824 removed many bugs, re-added newer features and
826 Markus Friedl contributed the support for SSH
827 protocol versions 1.5 and 2.0.
828 Niels Provos and Markus Friedl contributed support
829 for privilege separation.
831 System security is not improved unless
836 are disabled (thus completely disabling