2 .\" Author: Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>
3 .\" Copyright (c) 1995 Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>, Espoo, Finland
4 .\" All rights reserved
6 .\" As far as I am concerned, the code I have written for this software
7 .\" can be used freely for any purpose. Any derived versions of this
8 .\" software must be clearly marked as such, and if the derived work is
9 .\" incompatible with the protocol description in the RFC file, it must be
10 .\" called by a name other than "ssh" or "Secure Shell".
12 .\" Copyright (c) 1999,2000 Markus Friedl. All rights reserved.
13 .\" Copyright (c) 1999 Aaron Campbell. All rights reserved.
14 .\" Copyright (c) 1999 Theo de Raadt. All rights reserved.
16 .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
17 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
19 .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
20 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
21 .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
22 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
23 .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
25 .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
26 .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
27 .\" OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
28 .\" IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
29 .\" INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
30 .\" NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
31 .\" DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
32 .\" THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
33 .\" (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
34 .\" THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
36 .\" $OpenBSD: sshd.8,v 1.291 2017/06/24 06:28:50 jmc Exp $
37 .Dd $Mdocdate: June 24 2017 $
42 .Nd OpenSSH SSH daemon
47 .Op Fl C Ar connection_spec
48 .Op Fl c Ar host_certificate_file
50 .Op Fl f Ar config_file
51 .Op Fl g Ar login_grace_time
52 .Op Fl h Ar host_key_file
59 (OpenSSH Daemon) is the daemon program for
61 Together these programs replace rlogin and rsh,
62 and 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.
97 .It Fl C Ar connection_spec
98 Specify the connection parameters to use for the
103 directives in the configuration file
104 that would apply to the specified user, host, and address will be set before
105 the configuration is written to standard output.
106 The connection parameters are supplied as keyword=value pairs.
114 All are required and may be supplied in any order, either with multiple
116 options or as a comma-separated list.
117 .It Fl c Ar host_certificate_file
118 Specifies a path to a certificate file to identify
121 The certificate file must match a host key file specified using the
125 configuration directive.
127 When this option is specified,
129 will not detach and does not become a daemon.
130 This allows easy monitoring of
134 The server sends verbose debug output to standard error,
135 and does not put itself in the background.
136 The server also will not fork and will only process one connection.
137 This option is only intended for debugging for the server.
140 options increase the debugging level.
145 instead of the system log.
147 Write debug logs to standard error instead of the system log.
148 .It Fl f Ar config_file
149 Specifies the name of the configuration file.
151 .Pa /etc/ssh/sshd_config .
153 refuses to start if there is no configuration file.
154 .It Fl g Ar login_grace_time
155 Gives the grace time for clients to authenticate themselves (default
157 If the client fails to authenticate the user within
158 this many seconds, the server disconnects and exits.
159 A value of zero indicates no limit.
160 .It Fl h Ar host_key_file
161 Specifies a file from which a host key is read.
162 This option must be given if
164 is not run as root (as the normal
165 host key files are normally not readable by anyone but root).
167 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key ,
168 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ecdsa_key ,
169 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key
171 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key .
172 It is possible to have multiple host key files for
173 the different host key algorithms.
180 Can be used to give options in the format used in the configuration file.
181 This is useful for specifying options for which there is no separate
183 For full details of the options, and their values, see
186 Specifies the port on which the server listens for connections
188 Multiple port options are permitted.
189 Ports specified in the configuration file with the
191 option are ignored when a command-line port is specified.
192 Ports specified using the
194 option override command-line ports.
197 Nothing is sent to the system log.
198 Normally the beginning,
199 authentication, and termination of each connection is logged.
202 Check the validity of the configuration file, output the effective configuration
203 to stdout and then exit.
206 rules may be applied by specifying the connection parameters using one or more
211 Only check the validity of the configuration file and sanity of the keys.
212 This is useful for updating
214 reliably as configuration options may change.
216 This option is used to specify the size of the field
219 structure that holds the remote host name.
220 If the resolved host name is longer than
222 the dotted decimal value will be used instead.
223 This allows hosts with very long host names that
224 overflow this field to still be uniquely identified.
227 indicates that only dotted decimal addresses
228 should be put into the
232 may also be used to prevent
234 from making DNS requests unless the authentication
235 mechanism or configuration requires it.
236 Authentication mechanisms that may require DNS include
237 .Cm HostbasedAuthentication
239 .Cm from="pattern-list"
240 option in a key file.
241 Configuration options that require DNS include using a
248 The OpenSSH SSH daemon supports SSH protocol 2 only.
249 Each host has a host-specific key,
250 used to identify the host.
251 Whenever a client connects, the daemon responds with its public
253 The client compares the
254 host key against its own database to verify that it has not changed.
255 Forward security is provided through a Diffie-Hellman key agreement.
256 This key agreement results in a shared session key.
257 The rest of the session is encrypted using a symmetric cipher, currently
258 128-bit AES, Blowfish, 3DES, CAST128, Arcfour, 192-bit AES, or 256-bit AES.
259 The client selects the encryption algorithm
260 to use from those offered by the server.
261 Additionally, session integrity is provided
262 through a cryptographic message authentication code
263 (hmac-md5, hmac-sha1, umac-64, umac-128,
264 hmac-sha2-256 or hmac-sha2-512).
266 Finally, the server and the client enter an authentication dialog.
267 The client tries to authenticate itself using
268 host-based authentication,
269 public key authentication,
270 challenge-response authentication,
271 or password authentication.
273 Regardless of the authentication type, the account is checked to
274 ensure that it is accessible. An account is not accessible if it is
277 or its group is listed in
279 \&. The definition of a locked account is system dependant. Some platforms
280 have their own account database (eg AIX) and some modify the passwd field (
282 on Solaris and UnixWare,
289 on FreeBSD and a leading
292 If there is a requirement to disable password authentication
293 for the account while allowing still public-key, then the passwd field
294 should be set to something other than these values (eg
300 If the client successfully authenticates itself, a dialog for
301 preparing the session is entered.
302 At this time the client may request
303 things like allocating a pseudo-tty, forwarding X11 connections,
304 forwarding TCP connections, or forwarding the authentication agent
305 connection over the secure channel.
307 After this, the client either requests a shell or execution of a command.
308 The sides then enter session mode.
309 In this mode, either side may send
310 data at any time, and such data is forwarded to/from the shell or
311 command on the server side, and the user terminal in the client side.
313 When the user program terminates and all forwarded X11 and other
314 connections have been closed, the server sends command exit status to
315 the client, and both sides exit.
317 When a user successfully logs in,
320 .Bl -enum -offset indent
322 If the login is on a tty, and no command has been specified,
323 prints last login time and
325 (unless prevented in the configuration file or by
331 If the login is on a tty, records login time.
335 if it exists, prints contents and quits
338 Changes to run with normal user privileges.
340 Sets up basic environment.
343 .Pa ~/.ssh/environment ,
344 if it exists, and users are allowed to change their environment.
346 .Cm PermitUserEnvironment
350 Changes to user's home directory.
357 option is set, runs it; else if
360 it; otherwise runs xauth.
363 files are given the X11
364 authentication protocol and cookie in standard input.
369 Runs user's shell or command.
370 All commands are run under the user's login shell as specified in the
371 system password database.
378 runs it after reading the
379 environment files but before starting the user's shell or command.
380 It must not produce any output on stdout; stderr must be used
382 If X11 forwarding is in use, it will receive the "proto cookie" pair in
383 its standard input (and
390 will not run xauth automatically to add X11 cookies.
392 The primary purpose of this file is to run any initialization routines
393 which may be needed before the user's home directory becomes
394 accessible; AFS is a particular example of such an environment.
396 This file will probably contain some initialization code followed by
397 something similar to:
398 .Bd -literal -offset 3n
399 if read proto cookie && [ -n "$DISPLAY" ]; then
400 if [ `echo $DISPLAY | cut -c1-10` = 'localhost:' ]; then
401 # X11UseLocalhost=yes
402 echo add unix:`echo $DISPLAY |
403 cut -c11-` $proto $cookie
406 echo add $DISPLAY $proto $cookie
411 If this file does not exist,
414 does not exist either, xauth is used to add the cookie.
415 .Sh AUTHORIZED_KEYS FILE FORMAT
416 .Cm AuthorizedKeysFile
417 specifies the files containing public keys for
418 public key authentication;
419 if this option is not specified, the default is
420 .Pa ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
422 .Pa ~/.ssh/authorized_keys2 .
423 Each line of the file contains one
424 key (empty lines and lines starting with a
428 Public keys consist of the following space-separated fields:
429 options, keytype, base64-encoded key, comment.
430 The options field is optional.
432 .Dq ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 ,
433 .Dq ecdsa-sha2-nistp384 ,
434 .Dq ecdsa-sha2-nistp521 ,
439 the comment field is not used for anything (but may be convenient for the
440 user to identify the key).
442 Note that lines in this file can be several hundred bytes long
443 (because of the size of the public key encoding) up to a limit of
444 8 kilobytes, which permits DSA keys up to 8 kilobits and RSA
445 keys up to 16 kilobits.
446 You don't want to type them in; instead, copy the
455 enforces a minimum RSA key modulus size of 768 bits.
457 The options (if present) consist of comma-separated option
459 No spaces are permitted, except within double quotes.
460 The following option specifications are supported (note
461 that option keywords are case-insensitive):
463 .It Cm agent-forwarding
464 Enable authentication agent forwarding previously disabled by the
467 .It Cm cert-authority
468 Specifies that the listed key is a certification authority (CA) that is
469 trusted to validate signed certificates for user authentication.
471 Certificates may encode access restrictions similar to these key options.
472 If both certificate restrictions and key options are present, the most
473 restrictive union of the two is applied.
474 .It Cm command="command"
475 Specifies that the command is executed whenever this key is used for
477 The command supplied by the user (if any) is ignored.
478 The command is run on a pty if the client requests a pty;
479 otherwise it is run without a tty.
480 If an 8-bit clean channel is required,
481 one must not request a pty or should specify
483 A quote may be included in the command by quoting it with a backslash.
485 This option might be useful
486 to restrict certain public keys to perform just a specific operation.
487 An example might be a key that permits remote backups but nothing else.
488 Note that the client may specify TCP and/or X11
489 forwarding unless they are explicitly prohibited, e.g. using the
493 The command originally supplied by the client is available in the
494 .Ev SSH_ORIGINAL_COMMAND
495 environment variable.
496 Note that this option applies to shell, command or subsystem execution.
497 Also note that this command may be superseded by a
502 If a command is specified and a forced-command is embedded in a certificate
503 used for authentication, then the certificate will be accepted only if the
504 two commands are identical.
505 .It Cm environment="NAME=value"
506 Specifies that the string is to be added to the environment when
507 logging in using this key.
508 Environment variables set this way
509 override other default environment values.
510 Multiple options of this type are permitted.
511 Environment processing is disabled by default and is
513 .Cm PermitUserEnvironment
515 .It Cm from="pattern-list"
516 Specifies that in addition to public key authentication, either the canonical
517 name of the remote host or its IP address must be present in the
518 comma-separated list of patterns.
521 for more information on patterns.
523 In addition to the wildcard matching that may be applied to hostnames or
526 stanza may match IP addresses using CIDR address/masklen notation.
528 The purpose of this option is to optionally increase security: public key
529 authentication by itself does not trust the network or name servers or
530 anything (but the key); however, if somebody somehow steals the key, the key
531 permits an intruder to log in from anywhere in the world.
532 This additional option makes using a stolen key more difficult (name
533 servers and/or routers would have to be compromised in addition to
535 .It Cm no-agent-forwarding
536 Forbids authentication agent forwarding when this key is used for
538 .It Cm no-port-forwarding
539 Forbids TCP forwarding when this key is used for authentication.
540 Any port forward requests by the client will return an error.
541 This might be used, e.g. in connection with the
545 Prevents tty allocation (a request to allocate a pty will fail).
547 Disables execution of
549 .It Cm no-X11-forwarding
550 Forbids X11 forwarding when this key is used for authentication.
551 Any X11 forward requests by the client will return an error.
552 .It Cm permitopen="host:port"
553 Limit local port forwarding with
556 such that it may only connect to the specified host and port.
557 IPv6 addresses can be specified by enclosing the address in square brackets.
560 options may be applied separated by commas.
561 No pattern matching is performed on the specified hostnames,
562 they must be literal domains or addresses.
563 A port specification of
566 .It Cm port-forwarding
567 Enable port forwarding previously disabled by the
569 .It Cm principals="principals"
572 line, specifies allowed principals for certificate authentication as a
573 comma-separated list.
574 At least one name from the list must appear in the certificate's
575 list of principals for the certificate to be accepted.
576 This option is ignored for keys that are not marked as trusted certificate
581 Permits tty allocation previously disabled by the
585 Enable all restrictions, i.e. disable port, agent and X11 forwarding,
586 as well as disabling PTY allocation
589 If any future restriction capabilities are added to authorized_keys files
590 they will be included in this set.
594 device on the server.
595 Without this option, the next available device will be used if
596 the client requests a tunnel.
600 previously disabled by the
603 .It Cm X11-forwarding
604 Permits X11 forwarding previously disabled by the
609 An example authorized_keys file:
610 .Bd -literal -offset 3n
611 # Comments allowed at start of line
612 ssh-rsa AAAAB3Nza...LiPk== user@example.net
613 from="*.sales.example.net,!pc.sales.example.net" ssh-rsa
614 AAAAB2...19Q== john@example.net
615 command="dump /home",no-pty,no-port-forwarding ssh-dss
616 AAAAC3...51R== example.net
617 permitopen="192.0.2.1:80",permitopen="192.0.2.2:25" ssh-dss
619 tunnel="0",command="sh /etc/netstart tun0" ssh-rsa AAAA...==
621 restrict,command="uptime" ssh-rsa AAAA1C8...32Tv==
623 restrict,pty,command="nethack" ssh-rsa AAAA1f8...IrrC5==
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 to 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, keytype, base64-encoded key, 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 host name.
658 is authenticating a client, such as when using
659 .Cm HostbasedAuthentication ,
660 this will be the canonical client host name.
663 is authenticating a server, this will be the host name
664 given by the user, the value of the
667 if it was specified, or the canonical server hostname if the
669 .Cm CanonicalizeHostname
672 A pattern may also be preceded by
674 to indicate negation: if the host name matches a negated
675 pattern, it is not accepted (by that line) even if it matched another
677 A hostname or address may optionally be enclosed within
681 brackets then followed by
683 and a non-standard port number.
685 Alternately, hostnames may be stored in a hashed form which hides host names
686 and addresses should the file's contents be disclosed.
687 Hashed hostnames start with a
690 Only one hashed hostname may appear on a single line and none of the above
691 negation or wildcard operators may be applied.
693 The keytype and base64-encoded key are taken directly from the host key; they
694 can be obtained, for example, from
695 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub .
696 The optional comment field continues to the end of the line, and is not used.
700 and empty lines are ignored as comments.
702 When performing host authentication, authentication is accepted if any
703 matching line has the proper key; either one that matches exactly or,
704 if the server has presented a certificate for authentication, the key
705 of the certification authority that signed the certificate.
706 For a key to be trusted as a certification authority, it must use the
708 marker described above.
710 The known hosts file also provides a facility to mark keys as revoked,
711 for example when it is known that the associated private key has been
713 Revoked keys are specified by including the
715 marker at the beginning of the key line, and are never accepted for
716 authentication or as certification authorities, but instead will
717 produce a warning from
719 when they are encountered.
721 It is permissible (but not
722 recommended) to have several lines or different host keys for the same
724 This will inevitably happen when short forms of host names
725 from different domains are put in the file.
727 that the files contain conflicting information; authentication is
728 accepted if valid information can be found from either file.
730 Note that the lines in these files are typically hundreds of characters
731 long, and you definitely don't want to type in the host keys by hand.
732 Rather, generate them by a script,
734 or by taking, for example,
735 .Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub
736 and adding the host names at the front.
738 also offers some basic automated editing for
739 .Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts
740 including removing hosts matching a host name and converting all host
741 names to their hashed representations.
743 An example ssh_known_hosts file:
744 .Bd -literal -offset 3n
745 # Comments allowed at start of line
746 closenet,...,192.0.2.53 1024 37 159...93 closenet.example.net
747 cvs.example.net,192.0.2.10 ssh-rsa AAAA1234.....=
749 |1|JfKTdBh7rNbXkVAQCRp4OQoPfmI=|USECr3SWf1JUPsms5AqfD5QfxkM= ssh-rsa
752 @revoked * ssh-rsa AAAAB5W...
753 # A CA key, accepted for any host in *.mydomain.com or *.mydomain.org
754 @cert-authority *.mydomain.org,*.mydomain.com ssh-rsa AAAAB5W...
757 .Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
759 This file is used to suppress printing the last login time and
767 It does not suppress printing of the banner specified by
771 This file is used for host-based authentication (see
773 for more information).
774 On some machines this file may need to be
775 world-readable if the user's home directory is on an NFS partition,
779 Additionally, this file must be owned by the user,
780 and must not have write permissions for anyone else.
782 permission for most machines is read/write for the user, and not
783 accessible by others.
786 This file is used in exactly the same way as
788 but allows host-based authentication without permitting login with
792 This directory is the default location for all user-specific configuration
793 and authentication information.
794 There is no general requirement to keep the entire contents of this directory
795 secret, but the recommended permissions are read/write/execute for the user,
796 and not accessible by others.
798 .It Pa ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
799 Lists the public keys (DSA, ECDSA, Ed25519, RSA)
800 that can be used for logging in as this user.
801 The format of this file is described above.
802 The content of the file is not highly sensitive, but the recommended
803 permissions are read/write for the user, and not accessible by others.
807 directory, or the user's home directory are writable
808 by other users, then the file could be modified or replaced by unauthorized
812 will not allow it to be used unless the
814 option has been set to
817 .It Pa ~/.ssh/environment
818 This file is read into the environment at login (if it exists).
819 It can only contain empty lines, comment lines (that start with
821 and assignment lines of the form name=value.
822 The file should be writable
823 only by the user; it need not be readable by anyone else.
824 Environment processing is disabled by default and is
826 .Cm PermitUserEnvironment
829 .It Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts
830 Contains a list of host keys for all hosts the user has logged into
831 that are not already in the systemwide list of known host keys.
832 The format of this file is described above.
833 This file should be writable only by root/the owner and
834 can, but need not be, world-readable.
837 Contains initialization routines to be run before
838 the user's home directory becomes accessible.
839 This file should be writable only by the user, and need not be
840 readable by anyone else.
842 .It Pa /etc/hosts.equiv
843 This file is for host-based authentication (see
845 It should only be writable by root.
848 Contains Diffie-Hellman groups used for the "Diffie-Hellman Group Exchange"
850 The file format is described in
852 If no usable groups are found in this file then fixed internal groups will
862 refuses to let anyone except root log in.
863 The contents of the file
864 are displayed to anyone trying to log in, and non-root connections are
866 The file should be world-readable.
868 .It Pa /etc/shosts.equiv
869 This file is used in exactly the same way as
871 but allows host-based authentication without permitting login with
874 .It Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
875 .It Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ecdsa_key
876 .It Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key
877 .It Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
878 These files contain the private parts of the host keys.
879 These files should only be owned by root, readable only by root, and not
880 accessible to others.
883 does not start if these files are group/world-accessible.
885 .It Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key.pub
886 .It Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ecdsa_key.pub
887 .It Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub
888 .It Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub
889 These files contain the public parts of the host keys.
890 These files should be world-readable but writable only by
892 Their contents should match the respective private parts.
894 really used for anything; they are provided for the convenience of
895 the user so their contents can be copied to known hosts files.
896 These files are created using
899 .It Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts
900 Systemwide list of known host keys.
901 This file should be prepared by the
902 system administrator to contain the public host keys of all machines in the
904 The format of this file is described above.
905 This file should be writable only by root/the owner and
906 should be world-readable.
908 .It Pa /etc/ssh/sshd_config
909 Contains configuration data for
911 The file format and configuration options are described in
914 .It Pa /etc/ssh/sshrc
917 it can be used to specify
918 machine-specific login-time initializations globally.
919 This file should be writable only by root, and should be world-readable.
925 during privilege separation in the pre-authentication phase.
926 The directory should not contain any files and must be owned by root
927 and not group or world-writable.
929 .It Pa /var/run/sshd.pid
930 Contains the process ID of the
932 listening for connections (if there are several daemons running
933 concurrently for different ports, this contains the process ID of the one
935 The content of this file is not sensitive; it can be world-readable.
952 OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free
953 ssh 1.2.12 release by Tatu Ylonen.
954 Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus Friedl, Niels Provos,
955 Theo de Raadt and Dug Song
956 removed many bugs, re-added newer features and
958 Markus Friedl contributed the support for SSH
959 protocol versions 1.5 and 2.0.
960 Niels Provos and Markus Friedl contributed support
961 for privilege separation.