1 .\" $OpenBSD: ssh-keygen.1,v 1.88 2010/03/08 00:28:55 djm Exp $
5 .\" Author: Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>
6 .\" Copyright (c) 1995 Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>, Espoo, Finland
7 .\" All rights reserved
9 .\" As far as I am concerned, the code I have written for this software
10 .\" can be used freely for any purpose. Any derived versions of this
11 .\" software must be clearly marked as such, and if the derived work is
12 .\" incompatible with the protocol description in the RFC file, it must be
13 .\" called by a name other than "ssh" or "Secure Shell".
16 .\" Copyright (c) 1999,2000 Markus Friedl. All rights reserved.
17 .\" Copyright (c) 1999 Aaron Campbell. All rights reserved.
18 .\" Copyright (c) 1999 Theo de Raadt. All rights reserved.
20 .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
21 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
23 .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
24 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
25 .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
26 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
27 .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
29 .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
30 .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
31 .\" OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
32 .\" IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
33 .\" INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
34 .\" NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
35 .\" DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
36 .\" THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
37 .\" (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
38 .\" THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
40 .Dd $Mdocdate: March 8 2010 $
45 .Nd authentication key generation, management and conversion
52 .Op Fl N Ar new_passphrase
54 .Op Fl f Ar output_keyfile
57 .Op Fl P Ar old_passphrase
58 .Op Fl N Ar new_passphrase
62 .Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
65 .Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
68 .Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
71 .Op Fl P Ar passphrase
76 .Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
79 .Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
84 .Op Fl f Ar known_hosts_file
88 .Op Fl f Ar known_hosts_file
91 .Op Fl f Ar known_hosts_file
94 .Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
101 .Op Fl S Ar start_point
106 .Op Fl a Ar num_trials
107 .Op Fl W Ar generator
110 .Fl I Ar certificate_identity
112 .Op Fl n Ar principals
113 .Op Fl O Ar constraint
114 .Op Fl V Ar validity_interval
118 .Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
122 generates, manages and converts authentication keys for
125 can create RSA keys for use by SSH protocol version 1 and RSA or DSA
126 keys for use by SSH protocol version 2.
127 The type of key to be generated is specified with the
130 If invoked without any arguments,
132 will generate an RSA key for use in SSH protocol 2 connections.
135 is also used to generate groups for use in Diffie-Hellman group
138 .Sx MODULI GENERATION
141 Normally each user wishing to use SSH
142 with RSA or DSA authentication runs this once to create the authentication
144 .Pa ~/.ssh/identity ,
148 Additionally, the system administrator may use this to generate host keys,
152 Normally this program generates the key and asks for a file in which
153 to store the private key.
154 The public key is stored in a file with the same name but
157 The program also asks for a passphrase.
158 The passphrase may be empty to indicate no passphrase
159 (host keys must have an empty passphrase), or it may be a string of
161 A passphrase is similar to a password, except it can be a phrase with a
162 series of words, punctuation, numbers, whitespace, or any string of
164 Good passphrases are 10-30 characters long, are
165 not simple sentences or otherwise easily guessable (English
166 prose has only 1-2 bits of entropy per character, and provides very bad
167 passphrases), and contain a mix of upper and lowercase letters,
168 numbers, and non-alphanumeric characters.
169 The passphrase can be changed later by using the
173 There is no way to recover a lost passphrase.
175 lost or forgotten, a new key must be generated and copied to the
176 corresponding public key to other machines.
179 there is also a comment field in the key file that is only for
180 convenience to the user to help identify the key.
181 The comment can tell what the key is for, or whatever is useful.
182 The comment is initialized to
184 when the key is created, but can be changed using the
188 After a key is generated, instructions below detail where the keys
189 should be placed to be activated.
191 The options are as follows:
194 Specifies the number of primality tests to perform when screening DH-GEX
199 Show the bubblebabble digest of specified private or public key file.
201 Specifies the number of bits in the key to create.
202 For RSA keys, the minimum size is 768 bits and the default is 2048 bits.
203 Generally, 2048 bits is considered sufficient.
204 DSA keys must be exactly 1024 bits as specified by FIPS 186-2.
206 Provides a new comment.
208 Requests changing the comment in the private and public key files.
209 This operation is only supported for RSA1 keys.
210 The program will prompt for the file containing the private keys, for
211 the passphrase if the key has one, and for the new comment.
213 Download the RSA public keys provided by the PKCS#11 shared library
216 This option will read a private or public OpenSSH key file and
218 RFC 4716 SSH Public Key File Format
220 This option allows exporting keys for use by several commercial
223 Search for the specified
227 file, listing any occurrences found.
228 This option is useful to find hashed host names or addresses and may also be
229 used in conjunction with the
231 option to print found keys in a hashed format.
233 Specifies the filename of the key file.
234 .It Fl G Ar output_file
235 Generate candidate primes for DH-GEX.
236 These primes must be screened for
241 Use generic DNS format when printing fingerprint resource records using the
248 This replaces all hostnames and addresses with hashed representations
249 within the specified file; the original content is moved to a file with
251 These hashes may be used normally by
255 but they do not reveal identifying information should the file's contents
257 This option will not modify existing hashed hostnames and is therefore safe
258 to use on files that mix hashed and non-hashed names.
260 When signing a key, create a host certificate instead of a user
265 .It Fl I Ar certificate_identity
266 Specify the key identity when signing a public key.
271 This option will read an unencrypted private (or public) key file
272 in SSH2-compatible format and print an OpenSSH compatible private
273 (or public) key to stdout.
276 RFC 4716 SSH Public Key File Format.
277 This option allows importing keys from several commercial
280 Prints the contents of a certificate.
282 Show fingerprint of specified public key file.
283 Private RSA1 keys are also supported.
286 tries to find the matching public key file and prints its fingerprint.
289 an ASCII art representation of the key is supplied with the fingerprint.
291 Specify the amount of memory to use (in megabytes) when generating
292 candidate moduli for DH-GEX.
293 .It Fl N Ar new_passphrase
294 Provides the new passphrase.
295 .It Fl n Ar principals
296 Specify one or more principals (user or host names) to be included in
297 a certificate when signing a key.
298 Multiple principals may be specified, separated by commas.
302 .It Fl O Ar constraint
303 Specify a certificate constraint when signing a key.
304 This option may be specified multiple times.
308 The constraints that are valid for user certificates are:
310 .It Ic no-x11-forwarding
311 Disable X11 forwarding (permitted by default).
312 .It Ic no-agent-forwarding
315 forwarding (permitted by default).
316 .It Ic no-port-forwarding
317 Disable port forwarding (permitted by default).
319 Disable PTY allocation (permitted by default).
325 (permitted by default).
327 Clear all enabled permissions.
328 This is useful for clearing the default set of permissions so permissions may
329 be added individually.
330 .It Ic permit-x11-forwarding
331 Allows X11 forwarding.
332 .It Ic permit-agent-forwarding
336 .It Ic permit-port-forwarding
337 Allows port forwarding.
339 Allows PTY allocation.
340 .It Ic permit-user-rc
345 .It Ic force-command=command
346 Forces the execution of
348 instead of any shell or command specified by the user when
349 the certificate is used for authentication.
350 .It Ic source-address=address_list
351 Restrict the source addresses from which the certificate is considered valid
355 is a comma-separated list of one or more address/netmask pairs in CIDR
359 At present, no constraints are valid for host keys.
360 .It Fl P Ar passphrase
361 Provides the (old) passphrase.
363 Requests changing the passphrase of a private key file instead of
364 creating a new private key.
365 The program will prompt for the file
366 containing the private key, for the old passphrase, and twice for the
373 when creating a new key.
375 Removes all keys belonging to
380 This option is useful to delete hashed hosts (see the
384 Print the SSHFP fingerprint resource record named
386 for the specified public key file.
388 Specify start point (in hex) when generating candidate moduli for DH-GEX.
390 Certify (sign) a public key using the specified CA key.
394 .It Fl T Ar output_file
395 Test DH group exchange candidate primes (generated using the
399 Specifies the type of key to create.
400 The possible values are
402 for protocol version 1 and
406 for protocol version 2.
407 .It Fl V Ar validity_interval
408 Specify a validity interval when signing a certificate.
409 A validity interval may consist of a single time, indicating that the
410 certificate is valid beginning now and expiring at that time, or may consist
411 of two times separated by a colon to indicate an explicit time interval.
412 The start time may be specified as a date in YYYYMMDD format, a time
413 in YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format or a relative time (to the current time) consisting
414 of a minus sign followed by a relative time in the format described in the
418 The end time may be specified as a YYYYMMDD date, a YYYYMMDDHHMMSS time or
419 a relative time starting with a plus character.
423 (valid from now to 52 weeks and one day from now),
425 (valid from four weeks ago to four weeks from now),
426 .Dq 20100101123000:20110101123000
427 (valid from 12:30 PM, January 1st, 2010 to 12:30 PM, January 1st, 2011),
429 (valid from yesterday to midnight, January 1st, 2011).
434 to print debugging messages about its progress.
435 This is helpful for debugging moduli generation.
438 options increase the verbosity.
440 .It Fl W Ar generator
441 Specify desired generator when testing candidate moduli for DH-GEX.
443 This option will read a private
444 OpenSSH format file and print an OpenSSH public key to stdout.
446 .Sh MODULI GENERATION
448 may be used to generate groups for the Diffie-Hellman Group Exchange
450 Generating these groups is a two-step process: first, candidate
451 primes are generated using a fast, but memory intensive process.
452 These candidate primes are then tested for suitability (a CPU-intensive
455 Generation of primes is performed using the
458 The desired length of the primes may be specified by the
463 .Dl # ssh-keygen -G moduli-2048.candidates -b 2048
465 By default, the search for primes begins at a random point in the
466 desired length range.
467 This may be overridden using the
469 option, which specifies a different start point (in hex).
471 Once a set of candidates have been generated, they must be tested for
473 This may be performed using the
478 will read candidates from standard input (or a file specified using the
483 .Dl # ssh-keygen -T moduli-2048 -f moduli-2048.candidates
485 By default, each candidate will be subjected to 100 primality tests.
486 This may be overridden using the
489 The DH generator value will be chosen automatically for the
490 prime under consideration.
491 If a specific generator is desired, it may be requested using the
494 Valid generator values are 2, 3, and 5.
496 Screened DH groups may be installed in
498 It is important that this file contains moduli of a range of bit lengths and
499 that both ends of a connection share common moduli.
502 supports signing of keys to produce certificates that may be used for
503 user or host authentication.
504 Certificates consist of a public key, some identity information, zero or
505 more principal (user or host) names and an optional set of constraints that
506 are signed by a Certification Authority (CA) key.
507 Clients or servers may then trust only the CA key and verify its signature
508 on a certificate rather than trusting many user/host keys.
509 Note that OpenSSH certificates are a different, and much simpler, format to
510 the X.509 certificates used in
514 supports two types of certificates: user and host.
515 User certificates authenticate users to servers, whereas host certificates
516 authenticate server hosts to users.
517 To generate a user certificate:
519 .Dl $ ssh-keygen -s /path/to/ca_key -I key_id /path/to/user_key.pub
521 The resultant certificate will be placed in
522 .Pa /path/to/user_key_cert.pub .
523 A host certificate requires the
527 .Dl $ ssh-keygen -s /path/to/ca_key -I key_id -h /path/to/host_key.pub
529 The host certificate will be output to
530 .Pa /path/to/host_key_cert.pub .
533 is a "key identifier" that is logged by the server when the certificate
534 is used for authentication.
536 Certificates may be limited to be valid for a set of principal (user/host)
538 By default, generated certificates are valid for all users or hosts.
539 To generate a certificate for a specified set of principals:
541 .Dl $ ssh-keygen -s ca_key -I key_id -n user1,user2 user_key.pub
542 .Dl $ ssh-keygen -s ca_key -I key_id -h -n host.domain user_key.pub
544 Additional limitations on the validity and use of user certificates may
545 be specified through certificate constraints.
546 A constrained certificate may disable features of the SSH session, may be
547 valid only when presented from particular source addresses or may
548 force the use of a specific command.
549 For a list of valid certificate constraints, see the documentation for the
553 Finally, certificates may be defined with a validity lifetime.
556 option allows specification of certificate start and end times.
557 A certificate that is presented at a time outside this range will not be
559 By default, certificates have a maximum validity interval.
561 For certificates to be used for user or host authentication, the CA
562 public key must be trusted by
566 Please refer to those manual pages for details.
569 .It Pa ~/.ssh/identity
570 Contains the protocol version 1 RSA authentication identity of the user.
571 This file should not be readable by anyone but the user.
573 specify a passphrase when generating the key; that passphrase will be
574 used to encrypt the private part of this file using 128-bit AES.
575 This file is not automatically accessed by
577 but it is offered as the default file for the private key.
579 will read this file when a login attempt is made.
580 .It Pa ~/.ssh/identity.pub
581 Contains the protocol version 1 RSA public key for authentication.
582 The contents of this file should be added to
583 .Pa ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
585 where the user wishes to log in using RSA authentication.
586 There is no need to keep the contents of this file secret.
588 Contains the protocol version 2 DSA authentication identity of the user.
589 This file should not be readable by anyone but the user.
591 specify a passphrase when generating the key; that passphrase will be
592 used to encrypt the private part of this file using 128-bit AES.
593 This file is not automatically accessed by
595 but it is offered as the default file for the private key.
597 will read this file when a login attempt is made.
598 .It Pa ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub
599 Contains the protocol version 2 DSA public key for authentication.
600 The contents of this file should be added to
601 .Pa ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
603 where the user wishes to log in using public key authentication.
604 There is no need to keep the contents of this file secret.
606 Contains the protocol version 2 RSA authentication identity of the user.
607 This file should not be readable by anyone but the user.
609 specify a passphrase when generating the key; that passphrase will be
610 used to encrypt the private part of this file using 128-bit AES.
611 This file is not automatically accessed by
613 but it is offered as the default file for the private key.
615 will read this file when a login attempt is made.
616 .It Pa ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
617 Contains the protocol version 2 RSA public key for authentication.
618 The contents of this file should be added to
619 .Pa ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
621 where the user wishes to log in using public key authentication.
622 There is no need to keep the contents of this file secret.
624 Contains Diffie-Hellman groups used for DH-GEX.
625 The file format is described in
636 .%T "The Secure Shell (SSH) Public Key File Format"
640 OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free
641 ssh 1.2.12 release by Tatu Ylonen.
642 Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus Friedl, Niels Provos,
643 Theo de Raadt and Dug Song
644 removed many bugs, re-added newer features and
646 Markus Friedl contributed the support for SSH
647 protocol versions 1.5 and 2.0.