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 1.248 2009/03/26 08:38:39 sobrado Exp $
38 .Dd $Mdocdate: March 26 2009 $
43 .Nd OpenSSH SSH daemon
49 .Op Fl C Ar connection_spec
50 .Op Fl f Ar config_file
51 .Op Fl g Ar login_grace_time
52 .Op Fl h Ar host_key_file
53 .Op Fl k Ar key_gen_time
60 (OpenSSH Daemon) is the daemon program for
62 Together these programs replace
66 and provide secure encrypted communications between two untrusted hosts
67 over an insecure network.
70 listens for connections from clients.
71 It is normally started at boot from
74 daemon for each incoming connection.
75 The forked daemons handle
76 key exchange, encryption, authentication, command execution,
80 can be configured using command-line options or a configuration file
83 command-line options override values specified in the
86 rereads its configuration file when it receives a hangup signal,
88 by executing itself with the name and options it was started with, e.g.\&
91 The options are as follows:
96 to use IPv4 addresses only.
100 to use IPv6 addresses only.
102 Specifies the number of bits in the ephemeral protocol version 1
103 server key (default 1024).
104 .It Fl C Ar connection_spec
105 Specify the connection parameters to use for the
110 directives in the configuration file
111 that would apply to the specified user, host, and address will be set before
112 the configuration is written to standard output.
113 The connection parameters are supplied as keyword=value pairs.
119 All are required and may be supplied in any order, either with multiple
121 options or as a comma-separated list.
123 When this option is specified,
125 will not detach and does not become a daemon.
126 This allows easy monitoring of
130 The server sends verbose debug output to the system
131 log, and does not put itself in the background.
132 The server also will not fork and will only process one connection.
133 This option is only intended for debugging for the server.
136 options increase the debugging level.
139 When this option is specified,
141 will send the output to the standard error instead of the system log.
142 .It Fl f Ar config_file
143 Specifies the name of the configuration file.
145 .Pa /etc/ssh/sshd_config .
147 refuses to start if there is no configuration file.
148 .It Fl g Ar login_grace_time
149 Gives the grace time for clients to authenticate themselves (default
151 If the client fails to authenticate the user within
152 this many seconds, the server disconnects and exits.
153 A value of zero indicates no limit.
154 .It Fl h Ar host_key_file
155 Specifies a file from which a host key is read.
156 This option must be given if
158 is not run as root (as the normal
159 host key files are normally not readable by anyone but root).
161 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key
162 for protocol version 1, and
163 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
165 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
166 for protocol version 2.
167 It is possible to have multiple host key files for
168 the different protocol versions and host key algorithms.
176 from inetd because it needs to generate the server key before it can
177 respond to the client, and this may take tens of seconds.
178 Clients would have to wait too long if the key was regenerated every time.
179 However, with small key sizes (e.g. 512) using
183 .It Fl k Ar key_gen_time
184 Specifies how often the ephemeral protocol version 1 server key is
185 regenerated (default 3600 seconds, or one hour).
186 The motivation for regenerating the key fairly
187 often is that the key is not stored anywhere, and after about an hour
188 it becomes impossible to recover the key for decrypting intercepted
189 communications even if the machine is cracked into or physically
191 A value of zero indicates that the key will never be regenerated.
193 Can be used to give options in the format used in the configuration file.
194 This is useful for specifying options for which there is no separate
196 For full details of the options, and their values, see
199 Specifies the port on which the server listens for connections
201 Multiple port options are permitted.
202 Ports specified in the configuration file with the
204 option are ignored when a command-line port is specified.
205 Ports specified using the
207 option override command-line ports.
210 Nothing is sent to the system log.
211 Normally the beginning,
212 authentication, and termination of each connection is logged.
215 Check the validity of the configuration file, output the effective configuration
216 to stdout and then exit.
219 rules may be applied by specifying the connection parameters using one or more
224 Only check the validity of the configuration file and sanity of the keys.
225 This is useful for updating
227 reliably as configuration options may change.
229 This option is used to specify the size of the field
232 structure that holds the remote host name.
233 If the resolved host name is longer than
235 the dotted decimal value will be used instead.
236 This allows hosts with very long host names that
237 overflow this field to still be uniquely identified.
240 indicates that only dotted decimal addresses
241 should be put into the
245 may also be used to prevent
247 from making DNS requests unless the authentication
248 mechanism or configuration requires it.
249 Authentication mechanisms that may require DNS include
250 .Cm RhostsRSAAuthentication ,
251 .Cm HostbasedAuthentication ,
253 .Cm from="pattern-list"
254 option in a key file.
255 Configuration options that require DNS include using a
262 The OpenSSH SSH daemon supports SSH protocols 1 and 2.
263 Both protocols are supported by default,
264 though this can be changed via the
268 Protocol 2 supports both RSA and DSA keys;
269 protocol 1 only supports RSA keys.
271 each host has a host-specific key,
273 used to identify the host.
275 Forward security for protocol 1 is provided through
276 an additional server key,
278 generated when the server starts.
279 This key is normally regenerated every hour if it has been used, and
280 is never stored on disk.
281 Whenever a client connects, the daemon responds with its public
282 host and server keys.
283 The client compares the
284 RSA host key against its own database to verify that it has not changed.
285 The client then generates a 256-bit random number.
287 random number using both the host key and the server key, and sends
288 the encrypted number to the server.
289 Both sides then use this
290 random number as a session key which is used to encrypt all further
291 communications in the session.
292 The rest of the session is encrypted
293 using a conventional cipher, currently Blowfish or 3DES, with 3DES
294 being used by default.
295 The client selects the encryption algorithm
296 to use from those offered by the server.
299 forward security is provided through a Diffie-Hellman key agreement.
300 This key agreement results in a shared session key.
301 The rest of the session is encrypted using a symmetric cipher, currently
302 128-bit AES, Blowfish, 3DES, CAST128, Arcfour, 192-bit AES, or 256-bit AES.
303 The client selects the encryption algorithm
304 to use from those offered by the server.
305 Additionally, session integrity is provided
306 through a cryptographic message authentication code
307 (hmac-md5, hmac-sha1, umac-64 or hmac-ripemd160).
309 Finally, the server and the client enter an authentication dialog.
310 The client tries to authenticate itself using
311 host-based authentication,
312 public key authentication,
313 challenge-response authentication,
314 or password authentication.
316 Regardless of the authentication type, the account is checked to
317 ensure that it is accessible. An account is not accessible if it is
320 or its group is listed in
322 \&. The definition of a locked account is system dependant. Some platforms
323 have their own account database (eg AIX) and some modify the passwd field (
325 on Solaris and UnixWare,
332 on FreeBSD and a leading
335 If there is a requirement to disable password authentication
336 for the account while allowing still public-key, then the passwd field
337 should be set to something other than these values (eg
343 If the client successfully authenticates itself, a dialog for
344 preparing the session is entered.
345 At this time the client may request
346 things like allocating a pseudo-tty, forwarding X11 connections,
347 forwarding TCP connections, or forwarding the authentication agent
348 connection over the secure channel.
350 After this, the client either requests a shell or execution of a command.
351 The sides then enter session mode.
352 In this mode, either side may send
353 data at any time, and such data is forwarded to/from the shell or
354 command on the server side, and the user terminal in the client side.
356 When the user program terminates and all forwarded X11 and other
357 connections have been closed, the server sends command exit status to
358 the client, and both sides exit.
360 When a user successfully logs in,
363 .Bl -enum -offset indent
365 If the login is on a tty, and no command has been specified,
366 prints last login time and
368 (unless prevented in the configuration file or by
374 If the login is on a tty, records login time.
378 if it exists, prints contents and quits
381 Changes to run with normal user privileges.
383 Sets up basic environment.
386 .Pa ~/.ssh/environment ,
387 if it exists, and users are allowed to change their environment.
389 .Cm PermitUserEnvironment
393 Changes to user's home directory.
397 exists, runs it; else if
400 it; otherwise runs xauth.
403 files are given the X11
404 authentication protocol and cookie in standard input.
409 Runs user's shell or command.
416 runs it after reading the
417 environment files but before starting the user's shell or command.
418 It must not produce any output on stdout; stderr must be used
420 If X11 forwarding is in use, it will receive the "proto cookie" pair in
421 its standard input (and
428 will not run xauth automatically to add X11 cookies.
430 The primary purpose of this file is to run any initialization routines
431 which may be needed before the user's home directory becomes
432 accessible; AFS is a particular example of such an environment.
434 This file will probably contain some initialization code followed by
435 something similar to:
436 .Bd -literal -offset 3n
437 if read proto cookie && [ -n "$DISPLAY" ]; then
438 if [ `echo $DISPLAY | cut -c1-10` = 'localhost:' ]; then
439 # X11UseLocalhost=yes
440 echo add unix:`echo $DISPLAY |
441 cut -c11-` $proto $cookie
444 echo add $DISPLAY $proto $cookie
449 If this file does not exist,
452 does not exist either, xauth is used to add the cookie.
453 .Sh AUTHORIZED_KEYS FILE FORMAT
454 .Cm AuthorizedKeysFile
455 specifies the file containing public keys for
456 public key authentication;
457 if none is specified, the default is
458 .Pa ~/.ssh/authorized_keys .
459 Each line of the file contains one
460 key (empty lines and lines starting with a
464 Protocol 1 public keys consist of the following space-separated fields:
465 options, bits, exponent, modulus, comment.
466 Protocol 2 public key consist of:
467 options, keytype, base64-encoded key, comment.
468 The options field is optional;
469 its presence is determined by whether the line starts
470 with a number or not (the options field never starts with a number).
471 The bits, exponent, modulus, and comment fields give the RSA key for
472 protocol version 1; the
473 comment field is not used for anything (but may be convenient for the
474 user to identify the key).
475 For protocol version 2 the keytype is
480 Note that lines in this file are usually several hundred bytes long
481 (because of the size of the public key encoding) up to a limit of
482 8 kilobytes, which permits DSA keys up to 8 kilobits and RSA
483 keys up to 16 kilobits.
484 You don't want to type them in; instead, copy the
492 enforces a minimum RSA key modulus size for protocol 1
493 and protocol 2 keys of 768 bits.
495 The options (if present) consist of comma-separated option
497 No spaces are permitted, except within double quotes.
498 The following option specifications are supported (note
499 that option keywords are case-insensitive):
501 .It Cm command="command"
502 Specifies that the command is executed whenever this key is used for
504 The command supplied by the user (if any) is ignored.
505 The command is run on a pty if the client requests a pty;
506 otherwise it is run without a tty.
507 If an 8-bit clean channel is required,
508 one must not request a pty or should specify
510 A quote may be included in the command by quoting it with a backslash.
511 This option might be useful
512 to restrict certain public keys to perform just a specific operation.
513 An example might be a key that permits remote backups but nothing else.
514 Note that the client may specify TCP and/or X11
515 forwarding unless they are explicitly prohibited.
516 The command originally supplied by the client is available in the
517 .Ev SSH_ORIGINAL_COMMAND
518 environment variable.
519 Note that this option applies to shell, command or subsystem execution.
520 .It Cm environment="NAME=value"
521 Specifies that the string is to be added to the environment when
522 logging in using this key.
523 Environment variables set this way
524 override other default environment values.
525 Multiple options of this type are permitted.
526 Environment processing is disabled by default and is
528 .Cm PermitUserEnvironment
530 This option is automatically disabled if
533 .It Cm from="pattern-list"
534 Specifies that in addition to public key authentication, either the canonical
535 name of the remote host or its IP address must be present in the
536 comma-separated list of patterns.
541 for more information on patterns.
543 In addition to the wildcard matching that may be applied to hostnames or
546 stanza may match IP addresses using CIDR address/masklen notation.
548 The purpose of this option is to optionally increase security: public key
549 authentication by itself does not trust the network or name servers or
550 anything (but the key); however, if somebody somehow steals the key, the key
551 permits an intruder to log in from anywhere in the world.
552 This additional option makes using a stolen key more difficult (name
553 servers and/or routers would have to be compromised in addition to
555 .It Cm no-agent-forwarding
556 Forbids authentication agent forwarding when this key is used for
558 .It Cm no-port-forwarding
559 Forbids TCP forwarding when this key is used for authentication.
560 Any port forward requests by the client will return an error.
561 This might be used, e.g. in connection with the
565 Prevents tty allocation (a request to allocate a pty will fail).
567 Disables execution of
569 .It Cm no-X11-forwarding
570 Forbids X11 forwarding when this key is used for authentication.
571 Any X11 forward requests by the client will return an error.
572 .It Cm permitopen="host:port"
575 port forwarding such that it may only connect to the specified host and
577 IPv6 addresses can be specified with an alternative syntax:
578 .Ar host Ns / Ns Ar port .
581 options may be applied separated by commas.
582 No pattern matching is performed on the specified hostnames,
583 they must be literal domains or addresses.
587 device on the server.
588 Without this option, the next available device will be used if
589 the client requests a tunnel.
592 An example authorized_keys file:
593 .Bd -literal -offset 3n
594 # Comments allowed at start of line
595 ssh-rsa AAAAB3Nza...LiPk== user@example.net
596 from="*.sales.example.net,!pc.sales.example.net" ssh-rsa
597 AAAAB2...19Q== john@example.net
598 command="dump /home",no-pty,no-port-forwarding ssh-dss
599 AAAAC3...51R== example.net
600 permitopen="192.0.2.1:80",permitopen="192.0.2.2:25" ssh-dss
602 tunnel="0",command="sh /etc/netstart tun0" ssh-rsa AAAA...==
605 .Sh SSH_KNOWN_HOSTS FILE FORMAT
607 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts
609 .Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts
610 files contain host public keys for all known hosts.
611 The global file should
612 be prepared by the administrator (optional), and the per-user file is
613 maintained automatically: whenever the user connects from an unknown host,
614 its key is added to the per-user file.
616 Each line in these files contains the following fields: hostnames,
617 bits, exponent, modulus, comment.
618 The fields are separated by spaces.
620 Hostnames is a comma-separated list of patterns
625 wildcards); each pattern in turn is matched against the canonical host
626 name (when authenticating a client) or against the user-supplied
627 name (when authenticating a server).
628 A pattern may also be preceded by
630 to indicate negation: if the host name matches a negated
631 pattern, it is not accepted (by that line) even if it matched another
633 A hostname or address may optionally be enclosed within
637 brackets then followed by
639 and a non-standard port number.
641 Alternately, hostnames may be stored in a hashed form which hides host names
642 and addresses should the file's contents be disclosed.
643 Hashed hostnames start with a
646 Only one hashed hostname may appear on a single line and none of the above
647 negation or wildcard operators may be applied.
649 Bits, exponent, and modulus are taken directly from the RSA host key; they
650 can be obtained, for example, from
651 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub .
652 The optional comment field continues to the end of the line, and is not used.
656 and empty lines are ignored as comments.
658 When performing host authentication, authentication is accepted if any
659 matching line has the proper key.
660 It is thus permissible (but not
661 recommended) to have several lines or different host keys for the same
663 This will inevitably happen when short forms of host names
664 from different domains are put in the file.
666 that the files contain conflicting information; authentication is
667 accepted if valid information can be found from either file.
669 Note that the lines in these files are typically hundreds of characters
670 long, and you definitely don't want to type in the host keys by hand.
671 Rather, generate them by a script
673 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub
674 and adding the host names at the front.
676 An example ssh_known_hosts file:
677 .Bd -literal -offset 3n
678 # Comments allowed at start of line
679 closenet,...,192.0.2.53 1024 37 159...93 closenet.example.net
680 cvs.example.net,192.0.2.10 ssh-rsa AAAA1234.....=
682 |1|JfKTdBh7rNbXkVAQCRp4OQoPfmI=|USECr3SWf1JUPsms5AqfD5QfxkM= ssh-rsa
686 .Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
688 This file is used to suppress printing the last login time and
696 It does not suppress printing of the banner specified by
700 This file is used for host-based authentication (see
702 for more information).
703 On some machines this file may need to be
704 world-readable if the user's home directory is on an NFS partition,
708 Additionally, this file must be owned by the user,
709 and must not have write permissions for anyone else.
711 permission for most machines is read/write for the user, and not
712 accessible by others.
715 This file is used in exactly the same way as
717 but allows host-based authentication without permitting login with
721 This directory is the default location for all user-specific configuration
722 and authentication information.
723 There is no general requirement to keep the entire contents of this directory
724 secret, but the recommended permissions are read/write/execute for the user,
725 and not accessible by others.
727 .It ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
728 Lists the public keys (RSA/DSA) that can be used for logging in as this user.
729 The format of this file is described above.
730 The content of the file is not highly sensitive, but the recommended
731 permissions are read/write for the user, and not accessible by others.
735 directory, or the user's home directory are writable
736 by other users, then the file could be modified or replaced by unauthorized
740 will not allow it to be used unless the
742 option has been set to
745 .It ~/.ssh/environment
746 This file is read into the environment at login (if it exists).
747 It can only contain empty lines, comment lines (that start with
749 and assignment lines of the form name=value.
750 The file should be writable
751 only by the user; it need not be readable by anyone else.
752 Environment processing is disabled by default and is
754 .Cm PermitUserEnvironment
757 .It ~/.ssh/known_hosts
758 Contains a list of host keys for all hosts the user has logged into
759 that are not already in the systemwide list of known host keys.
760 The format of this file is described above.
761 This file should be writable only by root/the owner and
762 can, but need not be, world-readable.
765 Contains initialization routines to be run before
766 the user's home directory becomes accessible.
767 This file should be writable only by the user, and need not be
768 readable by anyone else.
772 Access controls that should be enforced by tcp-wrappers are defined here.
773 Further details are described in
777 This file is for host-based authentication (see
779 It should only be writable by root.
782 Contains Diffie-Hellman groups used for the "Diffie-Hellman Group Exchange".
783 The file format is described in
793 refuses to let anyone except root log in.
794 The contents of the file
795 are displayed to anyone trying to log in, and non-root connections are
797 The file should be world-readable.
799 .It /etc/shosts.equiv
800 This file is used in exactly the same way as
802 but allows host-based authentication without permitting login with
805 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key
806 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
807 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
808 These three files contain the private parts of the host keys.
809 These files should only be owned by root, readable only by root, and not
810 accessible to others.
813 does not start if these files are group/world-accessible.
815 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub
816 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key.pub
817 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub
818 These three files contain the public parts of the host keys.
819 These files should be world-readable but writable only by
821 Their contents should match the respective private parts.
823 really used for anything; they are provided for the convenience of
824 the user so their contents can be copied to known hosts files.
825 These files are created using
828 .It /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts
829 Systemwide list of known host keys.
830 This file should be prepared by the
831 system administrator to contain the public host keys of all machines in the
833 The format of this file is described above.
834 This file should be writable only by root/the owner and
835 should be world-readable.
837 .It /etc/ssh/sshd_config
838 Contains configuration data for
840 The file format and configuration options are described in
846 it can be used to specify
847 machine-specific login-time initializations globally.
848 This file should be writable only by root, and should be world-readable.
854 during privilege separation in the pre-authentication phase.
855 The directory should not contain any files and must be owned by root
856 and not group or world-writable.
858 .It /var/run/sshd.pid
859 Contains the process ID of the
861 listening for connections (if there are several daemons running
862 concurrently for different ports, this contains the process ID of the one
864 The content of this file is not sensitive; it can be world-readable.
882 OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free
883 ssh 1.2.12 release by Tatu Ylonen.
884 Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus Friedl, Niels Provos,
885 Theo de Raadt and Dug Song
886 removed many bugs, re-added newer features and
888 Markus Friedl contributed the support for SSH
889 protocol versions 1.5 and 2.0.
890 Niels Provos and Markus Friedl contributed support
891 for privilege separation.
893 System security is not improved unless
898 are disabled (thus completely disabling