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 1.255 2010/03/05 06:50:35 jmc Exp $
38 .Dd $Mdocdate: March 5 2010 $
43 .Nd OpenSSH SSH daemon
49 .Op Fl C Ar connection_spec
50 .Op Fl c Ar host_certificate_file
51 .Op Fl f Ar config_file
52 .Op Fl g Ar login_grace_time
53 .Op Fl h Ar host_key_file
54 .Op Fl k Ar key_gen_time
61 (OpenSSH Daemon) is the daemon program for
63 Together these programs replace
67 and provide secure encrypted communications between two untrusted hosts
68 over an insecure network.
71 listens for connections from clients.
72 It is normally started at boot from
75 daemon for each incoming connection.
76 The forked daemons handle
77 key exchange, encryption, authentication, command execution,
81 can be configured using command-line options or a configuration file
84 command-line options override values specified in the
87 rereads its configuration file when it receives a hangup signal,
89 by executing itself with the name and options it was started with, e.g.\&
92 The options are as follows:
97 to use IPv4 addresses only.
101 to use IPv6 addresses only.
103 Specifies the number of bits in the ephemeral protocol version 1
104 server key (default 1024).
105 .It Fl C Ar connection_spec
106 Specify the connection parameters to use for the
111 directives in the configuration file
112 that would apply to the specified user, host, and address will be set before
113 the configuration is written to standard output.
114 The connection parameters are supplied as keyword=value pairs.
120 All are required and may be supplied in any order, either with multiple
122 options or as a comma-separated list.
123 .It Fl c Ar host_certificate_file
124 Specifies a path to a certificate file to identify
127 The certificate file must match a host key file specified using the
131 configuration directive.
133 When this option is specified,
135 will not detach and does not become a daemon.
136 This allows easy monitoring of
140 The server sends verbose debug output to standard error,
141 and does not put itself in the background.
142 The server also will not fork and will only process one connection.
143 This option is only intended for debugging for the server.
146 options increase the debugging level.
149 When this option is specified,
151 will send the output to the standard error instead of the system log.
152 .It Fl f Ar config_file
153 Specifies the name of the configuration file.
155 .Pa /etc/ssh/sshd_config .
157 refuses to start if there is no configuration file.
158 .It Fl g Ar login_grace_time
159 Gives the grace time for clients to authenticate themselves (default
161 If the client fails to authenticate the user within
162 this many seconds, the server disconnects and exits.
163 A value of zero indicates no limit.
164 .It Fl h Ar host_key_file
165 Specifies a file from which a host key is read.
166 This option must be given if
168 is not run as root (as the normal
169 host key files are normally not readable by anyone but root).
171 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key
172 for protocol version 1, and
173 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
175 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
176 for protocol version 2.
177 It is possible to have multiple host key files for
178 the different protocol versions and host key algorithms.
186 from inetd because it needs to generate the server key before it can
187 respond to the client, and this may take tens of seconds.
188 Clients would have to wait too long if the key was regenerated every time.
189 However, with small key sizes (e.g. 512) using
193 .It Fl k Ar key_gen_time
194 Specifies how often the ephemeral protocol version 1 server key is
195 regenerated (default 3600 seconds, or one hour).
196 The motivation for regenerating the key fairly
197 often is that the key is not stored anywhere, and after about an hour
198 it becomes impossible to recover the key for decrypting intercepted
199 communications even if the machine is cracked into or physically
201 A value of zero indicates that the key will never be regenerated.
203 Can be used to give options in the format used in the configuration file.
204 This is useful for specifying options for which there is no separate
206 For full details of the options, and their values, see
209 Specifies the port on which the server listens for connections
211 Multiple port options are permitted.
212 Ports specified in the configuration file with the
214 option are ignored when a command-line port is specified.
215 Ports specified using the
217 option override command-line ports.
220 Nothing is sent to the system log.
221 Normally the beginning,
222 authentication, and termination of each connection is logged.
225 Check the validity of the configuration file, output the effective configuration
226 to stdout and then exit.
229 rules may be applied by specifying the connection parameters using one or more
234 Only check the validity of the configuration file and sanity of the keys.
235 This is useful for updating
237 reliably as configuration options may change.
239 This option is used to specify the size of the field
242 structure that holds the remote host name.
243 If the resolved host name is longer than
245 the dotted decimal value will be used instead.
246 This allows hosts with very long host names that
247 overflow this field to still be uniquely identified.
250 indicates that only dotted decimal addresses
251 should be put into the
255 may also be used to prevent
257 from making DNS requests unless the authentication
258 mechanism or configuration requires it.
259 Authentication mechanisms that may require DNS include
260 .Cm RhostsRSAAuthentication ,
261 .Cm HostbasedAuthentication ,
263 .Cm from="pattern-list"
264 option in a key file.
265 Configuration options that require DNS include using a
272 The OpenSSH SSH daemon supports SSH protocols 1 and 2.
273 The default is to use protocol 2 only,
274 though this can be changed via the
278 Protocol 2 supports both RSA and DSA keys;
279 protocol 1 only supports RSA keys.
281 each host has a host-specific key,
283 used to identify the host.
285 Forward security for protocol 1 is provided through
286 an additional server key,
288 generated when the server starts.
289 This key is normally regenerated every hour if it has been used, and
290 is never stored on disk.
291 Whenever a client connects, the daemon responds with its public
292 host and server keys.
293 The client compares the
294 RSA host key against its own database to verify that it has not changed.
295 The client then generates a 256-bit random number.
297 random number using both the host key and the server key, and sends
298 the encrypted number to the server.
299 Both sides then use this
300 random number as a session key which is used to encrypt all further
301 communications in the session.
302 The rest of the session is encrypted
303 using a conventional cipher, currently Blowfish or 3DES, with 3DES
304 being used by default.
305 The client selects the encryption algorithm
306 to use from those offered by the server.
309 forward security is provided through a Diffie-Hellman key agreement.
310 This key agreement results in a shared session key.
311 The rest of the session is encrypted using a symmetric cipher, currently
312 128-bit AES, Blowfish, 3DES, CAST128, Arcfour, 192-bit AES, or 256-bit AES.
313 The client selects the encryption algorithm
314 to use from those offered by the server.
315 Additionally, session integrity is provided
316 through a cryptographic message authentication code
317 (hmac-md5, hmac-sha1, umac-64 or hmac-ripemd160).
319 Finally, the server and the client enter an authentication dialog.
320 The client tries to authenticate itself using
321 host-based authentication,
322 public key authentication,
323 challenge-response authentication,
324 or password authentication.
326 Regardless of the authentication type, the account is checked to
327 ensure that it is accessible. An account is not accessible if it is
330 or its group is listed in
332 \&. The definition of a locked account is system dependant. Some platforms
333 have their own account database (eg AIX) and some modify the passwd field (
335 on Solaris and UnixWare,
342 on FreeBSD and a leading
345 If there is a requirement to disable password authentication
346 for the account while allowing still public-key, then the passwd field
347 should be set to something other than these values (eg
353 If the client successfully authenticates itself, a dialog for
354 preparing the session is entered.
355 At this time the client may request
356 things like allocating a pseudo-tty, forwarding X11 connections,
357 forwarding TCP connections, or forwarding the authentication agent
358 connection over the secure channel.
360 After this, the client either requests a shell or execution of a command.
361 The sides then enter session mode.
362 In this mode, either side may send
363 data at any time, and such data is forwarded to/from the shell or
364 command on the server side, and the user terminal in the client side.
366 When the user program terminates and all forwarded X11 and other
367 connections have been closed, the server sends command exit status to
368 the client, and both sides exit.
370 When a user successfully logs in,
373 .Bl -enum -offset indent
375 If the login is on a tty, and no command has been specified,
376 prints last login time and
378 (unless prevented in the configuration file or by
384 If the login is on a tty, records login time.
388 if it exists, prints contents and quits
391 Changes to run with normal user privileges.
393 Sets up basic environment.
396 .Pa ~/.ssh/environment ,
397 if it exists, and users are allowed to change their environment.
399 .Cm PermitUserEnvironment
403 Changes to user's home directory.
407 exists, runs it; else if
410 it; otherwise runs xauth.
413 files are given the X11
414 authentication protocol and cookie in standard input.
419 Runs user's shell or command.
426 runs it after reading the
427 environment files but before starting the user's shell or command.
428 It must not produce any output on stdout; stderr must be used
430 If X11 forwarding is in use, it will receive the "proto cookie" pair in
431 its standard input (and
438 will not run xauth automatically to add X11 cookies.
440 The primary purpose of this file is to run any initialization routines
441 which may be needed before the user's home directory becomes
442 accessible; AFS is a particular example of such an environment.
444 This file will probably contain some initialization code followed by
445 something similar to:
446 .Bd -literal -offset 3n
447 if read proto cookie && [ -n "$DISPLAY" ]; then
448 if [ `echo $DISPLAY | cut -c1-10` = 'localhost:' ]; then
449 # X11UseLocalhost=yes
450 echo add unix:`echo $DISPLAY |
451 cut -c11-` $proto $cookie
454 echo add $DISPLAY $proto $cookie
459 If this file does not exist,
462 does not exist either, xauth is used to add the cookie.
463 .Sh AUTHORIZED_KEYS FILE FORMAT
464 .Cm AuthorizedKeysFile
465 specifies the file containing public keys for
466 public key authentication;
467 if none is specified, the default is
468 .Pa ~/.ssh/authorized_keys .
469 Each line of the file contains one
470 key (empty lines and lines starting with a
474 Protocol 1 public keys consist of the following space-separated fields:
475 options, bits, exponent, modulus, comment.
476 Protocol 2 public key consist of:
477 options, keytype, base64-encoded key, comment.
478 The options field is optional;
479 its presence is determined by whether the line starts
480 with a number or not (the options field never starts with a number).
481 The bits, exponent, modulus, and comment fields give the RSA key for
482 protocol version 1; the
483 comment field is not used for anything (but may be convenient for the
484 user to identify the key).
485 For protocol version 2 the keytype is
490 Note that lines in this file are usually several hundred bytes long
491 (because of the size of the public key encoding) up to a limit of
492 8 kilobytes, which permits DSA keys up to 8 kilobits and RSA
493 keys up to 16 kilobits.
494 You don't want to type them in; instead, copy the
502 enforces a minimum RSA key modulus size for protocol 1
503 and protocol 2 keys of 768 bits.
505 The options (if present) consist of comma-separated option
507 No spaces are permitted, except within double quotes.
508 The following option specifications are supported (note
509 that option keywords are case-insensitive):
511 .It Cm cert-authority
512 Specifies that the listed key is a certification authority (CA) that is
513 trusted to validate signed certificates for user authentication.
515 Certificates may encode access restrictions similar to these key options.
516 If both certificate restrictions and key options are present, the most
517 restrictive union of the two is applied.
518 .It Cm command="command"
519 Specifies that the command is executed whenever this key is used for
521 The command supplied by the user (if any) is ignored.
522 The command is run on a pty if the client requests a pty;
523 otherwise it is run without a tty.
524 If an 8-bit clean channel is required,
525 one must not request a pty or should specify
527 A quote may be included in the command by quoting it with a backslash.
528 This option might be useful
529 to restrict certain public keys to perform just a specific operation.
530 An example might be a key that permits remote backups but nothing else.
531 Note that the client may specify TCP and/or X11
532 forwarding unless they are explicitly prohibited.
533 The command originally supplied by the client is available in the
534 .Ev SSH_ORIGINAL_COMMAND
535 environment variable.
536 Note that this option applies to shell, command or subsystem execution.
537 Also note that this command may be superseded by either a
540 directive or a command embedded in a certificate.
541 .It Cm environment="NAME=value"
542 Specifies that the string is to be added to the environment when
543 logging in using this key.
544 Environment variables set this way
545 override other default environment values.
546 Multiple options of this type are permitted.
547 Environment processing is disabled by default and is
549 .Cm PermitUserEnvironment
551 This option is automatically disabled if
554 .It Cm from="pattern-list"
555 Specifies that in addition to public key authentication, either the canonical
556 name of the remote host or its IP address must be present in the
557 comma-separated list of patterns.
562 for more information on patterns.
564 In addition to the wildcard matching that may be applied to hostnames or
567 stanza may match IP addresses using CIDR address/masklen notation.
569 The purpose of this option is to optionally increase security: public key
570 authentication by itself does not trust the network or name servers or
571 anything (but the key); however, if somebody somehow steals the key, the key
572 permits an intruder to log in from anywhere in the world.
573 This additional option makes using a stolen key more difficult (name
574 servers and/or routers would have to be compromised in addition to
576 .It Cm no-agent-forwarding
577 Forbids authentication agent forwarding when this key is used for
579 .It Cm no-port-forwarding
580 Forbids TCP forwarding when this key is used for authentication.
581 Any port forward requests by the client will return an error.
582 This might be used, e.g. in connection with the
586 Prevents tty allocation (a request to allocate a pty will fail).
588 Disables execution of
590 .It Cm no-X11-forwarding
591 Forbids X11 forwarding when this key is used for authentication.
592 Any X11 forward requests by the client will return an error.
593 .It Cm permitopen="host:port"
596 port forwarding such that it may only connect to the specified host and
598 IPv6 addresses can be specified with an alternative syntax:
599 .Ar host Ns / Ns Ar port .
602 options may be applied separated by commas.
603 No pattern matching is performed on the specified hostnames,
604 they must be literal domains or addresses.
608 device on the server.
609 Without this option, the next available device will be used if
610 the client requests a tunnel.
613 An example authorized_keys file:
614 .Bd -literal -offset 3n
615 # Comments allowed at start of line
616 ssh-rsa AAAAB3Nza...LiPk== user@example.net
617 from="*.sales.example.net,!pc.sales.example.net" ssh-rsa
618 AAAAB2...19Q== john@example.net
619 command="dump /home",no-pty,no-port-forwarding ssh-dss
620 AAAAC3...51R== example.net
621 permitopen="192.0.2.1:80",permitopen="192.0.2.2:25" ssh-dss
623 tunnel="0",command="sh /etc/netstart tun0" ssh-rsa AAAA...==
626 .Sh SSH_KNOWN_HOSTS FILE FORMAT
628 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts
630 .Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts
631 files contain host public keys for all known hosts.
632 The global file should
633 be prepared by the administrator (optional), and the per-user file is
634 maintained automatically: whenever the user connects from an unknown host,
635 its key is added to the per-user file.
637 Each line in these files contains the following fields: markers (optional),
638 hostnames, bits, exponent, modulus, comment.
639 The fields are separated by spaces.
641 The marker is optional, but if it is present then it must be one of
642 .Dq @cert-authority ,
643 to indicate that the line contains a certification authority (CA) key,
646 to indicate that the key contained on the line is revoked and must not ever
648 Only one marker should be used on a key line.
650 Hostnames is a comma-separated list of patterns
655 wildcards); each pattern in turn is matched against the canonical host
656 name (when authenticating a client) or against the user-supplied
657 name (when authenticating a server).
658 A pattern may also be preceded by
660 to indicate negation: if the host name matches a negated
661 pattern, it is not accepted (by that line) even if it matched another
663 A hostname or address may optionally be enclosed within
667 brackets then followed by
669 and a non-standard port number.
671 Alternately, hostnames may be stored in a hashed form which hides host names
672 and addresses should the file's contents be disclosed.
673 Hashed hostnames start with a
676 Only one hashed hostname may appear on a single line and none of the above
677 negation or wildcard operators may be applied.
679 Bits, exponent, and modulus are taken directly from the RSA host key; they
680 can be obtained, for example, from
681 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub .
682 The optional comment field continues to the end of the line, and is not used.
686 and empty lines are ignored as comments.
688 When performing host authentication, authentication is accepted if any
689 matching line has the proper key; either one that matches exactly or,
690 if the server has presented a certificate for authentication, the key
691 of the certification authority that signed the certificate.
692 For a key to be trusted as a certification authority, it must use the
694 marker described above.
696 The known hosts file also provides a facility to mark keys as revoked,
697 for example when it is known that the associated private key has been
699 Revoked keys are specified by including the
701 marker at the beginning of the key line, and are never accepted for
702 authentication or as certification authorities, but instead will
703 produce a warning from
705 when they are encountered.
707 It is permissible (but not
708 recommended) to have several lines or different host keys for the same
710 This will inevitably happen when short forms of host names
711 from different domains are put in the file.
713 that the files contain conflicting information; authentication is
714 accepted if valid information can be found from either file.
716 Note that the lines in these files are typically hundreds of characters
717 long, and you definitely don't want to type in the host keys by hand.
718 Rather, generate them by a script,
721 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub
722 and adding the host names at the front.
724 also offers some basic automated editing for
725 .Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts
726 including removing hosts matching a host name and converting all host
727 names to their hashed representations.
729 An example ssh_known_hosts file:
730 .Bd -literal -offset 3n
731 # Comments allowed at start of line
732 closenet,...,192.0.2.53 1024 37 159...93 closenet.example.net
733 cvs.example.net,192.0.2.10 ssh-rsa AAAA1234.....=
735 |1|JfKTdBh7rNbXkVAQCRp4OQoPfmI=|USECr3SWf1JUPsms5AqfD5QfxkM= ssh-rsa
738 @revoked * ssh-rsa AAAAB5W...
739 # A CA key, accepted for any host in *.mydomain.com or *.mydomain.org
740 @cert-authority *.mydomain.org,*.mydomain.com ssh-rsa AAAAB5W...
743 .Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
745 This file is used to suppress printing the last login time and
753 It does not suppress printing of the banner specified by
757 This file is used for host-based authentication (see
759 for more information).
760 On some machines this file may need to be
761 world-readable if the user's home directory is on an NFS partition,
765 Additionally, this file must be owned by the user,
766 and must not have write permissions for anyone else.
768 permission for most machines is read/write for the user, and not
769 accessible by others.
772 This file is used in exactly the same way as
774 but allows host-based authentication without permitting login with
778 This directory is the default location for all user-specific configuration
779 and authentication information.
780 There is no general requirement to keep the entire contents of this directory
781 secret, but the recommended permissions are read/write/execute for the user,
782 and not accessible by others.
784 .It ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
785 Lists the public keys (RSA/DSA) that can be used for logging in as this user.
786 The format of this file is described above.
787 The content of the file is not highly sensitive, but the recommended
788 permissions are read/write for the user, and not accessible by others.
792 directory, or the user's home directory are writable
793 by other users, then the file could be modified or replaced by unauthorized
797 will not allow it to be used unless the
799 option has been set to
802 .It ~/.ssh/environment
803 This file is read into the environment at login (if it exists).
804 It can only contain empty lines, comment lines (that start with
806 and assignment lines of the form name=value.
807 The file should be writable
808 only by the user; it need not be readable by anyone else.
809 Environment processing is disabled by default and is
811 .Cm PermitUserEnvironment
814 .It ~/.ssh/known_hosts
815 Contains a list of host keys for all hosts the user has logged into
816 that are not already in the systemwide list of known host keys.
817 The format of this file is described above.
818 This file should be writable only by root/the owner and
819 can, but need not be, world-readable.
822 Contains initialization routines to be run before
823 the user's home directory becomes accessible.
824 This file should be writable only by the user, and need not be
825 readable by anyone else.
829 Access controls that should be enforced by tcp-wrappers are defined here.
830 Further details are described in
834 This file is for host-based authentication (see
836 It should only be writable by root.
839 Contains Diffie-Hellman groups used for the "Diffie-Hellman Group Exchange".
840 The file format is described in
850 refuses to let anyone except root log in.
851 The contents of the file
852 are displayed to anyone trying to log in, and non-root connections are
854 The file should be world-readable.
856 .It /etc/shosts.equiv
857 This file is used in exactly the same way as
859 but allows host-based authentication without permitting login with
862 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key
863 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
864 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
865 These three files contain the private parts of the host keys.
866 These files should only be owned by root, readable only by root, and not
867 accessible to others.
870 does not start if these files are group/world-accessible.
872 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub
873 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key.pub
874 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub
875 These three files contain the public parts of the host keys.
876 These files should be world-readable but writable only by
878 Their contents should match the respective private parts.
880 really used for anything; they are provided for the convenience of
881 the user so their contents can be copied to known hosts files.
882 These files are created using
885 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts
886 Systemwide list of known host keys.
887 This file should be prepared by the
888 system administrator to contain the public host keys of all machines in the
890 The format of this file is described above.
891 This file should be writable only by root/the owner and
892 should be world-readable.
894 .It /etc/ssh/sshd_config
895 Contains configuration data for
897 The file format and configuration options are described in
903 it can be used to specify
904 machine-specific login-time initializations globally.
905 This file should be writable only by root, and should be world-readable.
911 during privilege separation in the pre-authentication phase.
912 The directory should not contain any files and must be owned by root
913 and not group or world-writable.
915 .It /var/run/sshd.pid
916 Contains the process ID of the
918 listening for connections (if there are several daemons running
919 concurrently for different ports, this contains the process ID of the one
921 The content of this file is not sensitive; it can be world-readable.
939 OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free
940 ssh 1.2.12 release by Tatu Ylonen.
941 Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus Friedl, Niels Provos,
942 Theo de Raadt and Dug Song
943 removed many bugs, re-added newer features and
945 Markus Friedl contributed the support for SSH
946 protocol versions 1.5 and 2.0.
947 Niels Provos and Markus Friedl contributed support
948 for privilege separation.
950 System security is not improved unless
955 are disabled (thus completely disabling