ssh(1) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | AUTHENTICATION | ESCAPE CHARACTERS | TCP FORWARDING | X11 FORWARDING | VERIFYING HOST KEYS | SSH-BASED VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORKS | ENVIRONMENT | FILES | EXIT STATUS | SEE ALSO | STANDARDS | AUTHORS | COLOPHON

SSH(1)                   General Commands Manual                  SSH(1)

NAME         top

       ssh — OpenSSH remote login client

SYNOPSIS         top

       ssh [-46AaCfGgKkMNnqsTtVvXxYy] [-B bind_interface] [-b
       bind_address] [-c cipher_spec] [-D [bind_address:]port] [-E
       log_file] [-e escape_char] [-F configfile] [-I pkcs11] [-i
       identity_file] [-J destination] [-L address] [-l login_name] [-m
       mac_spec] [-O ctl_cmd] [-o option] [-P tag] [-p port] [-R
       address] [-S ctl_path] [-W host:port] [-w local_tun[:remote_tun]]
       destination [command [argument ...]] ssh [-Q query_option]

DESCRIPTION         top

       ssh (SSH client) is a program for logging into a remote machine
       and for executing commands on a remote machine.  It is intended
       to provide secure encrypted communications between two untrusted
       hosts over an insecure network.  X11 connections, arbitrary TCP
       ports and Unix-domain sockets can also be forwarded over the
       secure channel.

       ssh connects and logs into the specified destination, which may
       be specified as either [user@]hostname or a URI of the form
       ssh://[user@]hostname[:port].  The user must prove their identity
       to the remote machine using one of several methods (see below).

       If a command is specified, it will be executed on the remote host
       instead of a login shell.  A complete command line may be
       specified as command, or it may have additional arguments.  If
       supplied, the arguments will be appended to the command,
       separated by spaces, before it is sent to the server to be
       executed.

       The options are as follows:

       -4      Forces ssh to use IPv4 addresses only.

       -6      Forces ssh to use IPv6 addresses only.

       -A      Enables forwarding of connections from an authentication
               agent such as ssh-agent(1).  This can also be specified
               on a per-host basis in a configuration file.

               Agent forwarding should be enabled with caution.  Users
               with the ability to bypass file permissions on the remote
               host (for the agent's Unix-domain socket) can access the
               local agent through the forwarded connection.  An
               attacker cannot obtain key material from the agent,
               however they can perform operations on the keys that
               enable them to authenticate using the identities loaded
               into the agent.  A safer alternative may be to use a jump
               host (see -J).

       -a      Disables forwarding of the authentication agent
               connection.

       -B bind_interface
               Bind to the address of bind_interface before attempting
               to connect to the destination host.  This is only useful
               on systems with more than one address.

       -b bind_address
               Use bind_address on the local machine as the source
               address of the connection.  Only useful on systems with
               more than one address.

       -C      Requests compression of all data (including stdin,
               stdout, stderr, and data for forwarded X11, TCP and
               Unix-domain connections).  The compression algorithm is
               the same used by gzip(1).  Compression is desirable on
               modem lines and other slow connections, but will only
               slow down things on fast networks.  The default value can
               be set on a host-by-host basis in the configuration
               files; see the Compression option in ssh_config(5).

       -c cipher_spec
               Selects the cipher specification for encrypting the
               session.  cipher_spec is a comma-separated list of
               ciphers listed in order of preference.  See the Ciphers
               keyword in ssh_config(5) for more information.

       -D [bind_address:]port
               Specifies a local “dynamic” application-level port
               forwarding.  This works by allocating a socket to listen
               to port on the local side, optionally bound to the
               specified bind_address.  Whenever a connection is made to
               this port, the connection is forwarded over the secure
               channel, and the application protocol is then used to
               determine where to connect to from the remote machine.
               Currently the SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 protocols are supported,
               and ssh will act as a SOCKS server.  Only root can
               forward privileged ports.  Dynamic port forwardings can
               also be specified in the configuration file.

               IPv6 addresses can be specified by enclosing the address
               in square brackets.  Only the superuser can forward
               privileged ports.  By default, the local port is bound in
               accordance with the GatewayPorts setting.  However, an
               explicit bind_address may be used to bind the connection
               to a specific address.  The bind_address of “localhost”
               indicates that the listening port be bound for local use
               only, while an empty address or ‘*’ indicates that the
               port should be available from all interfaces.

       -E log_file
               Append debug logs to log_file instead of standard error.

       -e escape_char
               Sets the escape character for sessions with a pty
               (default: ‘~’).  The escape character is only recognized
               at the beginning of a line.  The escape character
               followed by a dot (‘.’) closes the connection; followed
               by control-Z suspends the connection; and followed by
               itself sends the escape character once.  Setting the
               character to “none” disables any escapes and makes the
               session fully transparent.

       -F configfile
               Specifies an alternative per-user configuration file.  If
               a configuration file is given on the command line, the
               system-wide configuration file (/etc/ssh/ssh_config) will
               be ignored.  The default for the per-user configuration
               file is ~/.ssh/config.  If set to “none”, no
               configuration files will be read.

       -f      Requests ssh to go to background just before command
               execution.  This is useful if ssh is going to ask for
               passwords or passphrases, but the user wants it in the
               background.  This implies -n.  The recommended way to
               start X11 programs at a remote site is with something
               like ssh -f host xterm.

               If the ExitOnForwardFailure configuration option is set
               to “yes”, then a client started with -f will wait for all
               remote port forwards to be successfully established
               before placing itself in the background.  Refer to the
               description of ForkAfterAuthentication in ssh_config(5)
               for details.

       -G      Causes ssh to print its configuration after evaluating
               Host and Match blocks and exit.

       -g      Allows remote hosts to connect to local forwarded ports.
               If used on a multiplexed connection, then this option
               must be specified on the master process.

       -I pkcs11
               Specify the PKCS#11 shared library ssh should use to
               communicate with a PKCS#11 token providing keys for user
               authentication.

       -i identity_file
               Selects a file from which the identity (private key) for
               public key authentication is read.  You can also specify
               a public key file to use the corresponding private key
               that is loaded in ssh-agent(1) when the private key file
               is not present locally.  The default is ~/.ssh/id_rsa,
               ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa, ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk, ~/.ssh/id_ed25519,
               ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk and ~/.ssh/id_dsa.  Identity files
               may also be specified on a per-host basis in the
               configuration file.  It is possible to have multiple -i
               options (and multiple identities specified in
               configuration files).  If no certificates have been
               explicitly specified by the CertificateFile directive,
               ssh will also try to load certificate information from
               the filename obtained by appending -cert.pub to identity
               filenames.

       -J destination
               Connect to the target host by first making an ssh
               connection to the jump host described by destination and
               then establishing a TCP forwarding to the ultimate
               destination from there.  Multiple jump hops may be
               specified separated by comma characters.  This is a
               shortcut to specify a ProxyJump configuration directive.
               Note that configuration directives supplied on the
               command-line generally apply to the destination host and
               not any specified jump hosts.  Use ~/.ssh/config to
               specify configuration for jump hosts.

       -K      Enables GSSAPI-based authentication and forwarding
               (delegation) of GSSAPI credentials to the server.

       -k      Disables forwarding (delegation) of GSSAPI credentials to
               the server.

       -L [bind_address:]port:host:hostport
       -L [bind_address:]port:remote_socket
       -L local_socket:host:hostport
       -L local_socket:remote_socket
               Specifies that connections to the given TCP port or Unix
               socket on the local (client) host are to be forwarded to
               the given host and port, or Unix socket, on the remote
               side.  This works by allocating a socket to listen to
               either a TCP port on the local side, optionally bound to
               the specified bind_address, or to a Unix socket.
               Whenever a connection is made to the local port or
               socket, the connection is forwarded over the secure
               channel, and a connection is made to either host port
               hostport, or the Unix socket remote_socket, from the
               remote machine.

               Port forwardings can also be specified in the
               configuration file.  Only the superuser can forward
               privileged ports.  IPv6 addresses can be specified by
               enclosing the address in square brackets.

               By default, the local port is bound in accordance with
               the GatewayPorts setting.  However, an explicit
               bind_address may be used to bind the connection to a
               specific address.  The bind_address of “localhost”
               indicates that the listening port be bound for local use
               only, while an empty address or ‘*’ indicates that the
               port should be available from all interfaces.

       -l login_name
               Specifies the user to log in as on the remote machine.
               This also may be specified on a per-host basis in the
               configuration file.

       -M      Places the ssh client into “master” mode for connection
               sharing.  Multiple -M options places ssh into “master”
               mode but with confirmation required using ssh-askpass(1)
               before each operation that changes the multiplexing state
               (e.g. opening a new session).  Refer to the description
               of ControlMaster in ssh_config(5) for details.

       -m mac_spec
               A comma-separated list of MAC (message authentication
               code) algorithms, specified in order of preference.  See
               the MACs keyword in ssh_config(5) for more information.

       -N      Do not execute a remote command.  This is useful for just
               forwarding ports.  Refer to the description of
               SessionType in ssh_config(5) for details.

       -n      Redirects stdin from /dev/null (actually, prevents
               reading from stdin).  This must be used when ssh is run
               in the background.  A common trick is to use this to run
               X11 programs on a remote machine.  For example, ssh -n
               shadows.cs.hut.fi emacs & will start an emacs on
               shadows.cs.hut.fi, and the X11 connection will be
               automatically forwarded over an encrypted channel.  The
               ssh program will be put in the background.  (This does
               not work if ssh needs to ask for a password or
               passphrase; see also the -f option.)  Refer to the
               description of StdinNull in ssh_config(5) for details.

       -O ctl_cmd
               Control an active connection multiplexing master process.
               When the -O option is specified, the ctl_cmd argument is
               interpreted and passed to the master process.  Valid
               commands are: “check” (check that the master process is
               running), “forward” (request forwardings without command
               execution), “cancel” (cancel forwardings), “exit”
               (request the master to exit), and “stop” (request the
               master to stop accepting further multiplexing requests).

       -o option
               Can be used to give options in the format used in the
               configuration file.  This is useful for specifying
               options for which there is no separate command-line flag.
               For full details of the options listed below, and their
               possible values, see ssh_config(5).

                     AddKeysToAgent
                     AddressFamily
                     BatchMode
                     BindAddress
                     CanonicalDomains
                     CanonicalizeFallbackLocal
                     CanonicalizeHostname
                     CanonicalizeMaxDots
                     CanonicalizePermittedCNAMEs
                     CASignatureAlgorithms
                     CertificateFile
                     CheckHostIP
                     Ciphers
                     ClearAllForwardings
                     Compression
                     ConnectionAttempts
                     ConnectTimeout
                     ControlMaster
                     ControlPath
                     ControlPersist
                     DynamicForward
                     EnableEscapeCommandline
                     EscapeChar
                     ExitOnForwardFailure
                     FingerprintHash
                     ForkAfterAuthentication
                     ForwardAgent
                     ForwardX11
                     ForwardX11Timeout
                     ForwardX11Trusted
                     GatewayPorts
                     GlobalKnownHostsFile
                     GSSAPIAuthentication
                     GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
                     HashKnownHosts
                     Host
                     HostbasedAcceptedAlgorithms
                     HostbasedAuthentication
                     HostKeyAlgorithms
                     HostKeyAlias
                     Hostname
                     IdentitiesOnly
                     IdentityAgent
                     IdentityFile
                     IPQoS
                     KbdInteractiveAuthentication
                     KbdInteractiveDevices
                     KexAlgorithms
                     KnownHostsCommand
                     LocalCommand
                     LocalForward
                     LogLevel
                     MACs
                     Match
                     NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
                     NumberOfPasswordPrompts
                     PasswordAuthentication
                     PermitLocalCommand
                     PermitRemoteOpen
                     PKCS11Provider
                     Port
                     PreferredAuthentications
                     ProxyCommand
                     ProxyJump
                     ProxyUseFdpass
                     PubkeyAcceptedAlgorithms
                     PubkeyAuthentication
                     RekeyLimit
                     RemoteCommand
                     RemoteForward
                     RequestTTY
                     RequiredRSASize
                     SendEnv
                     ServerAliveInterval
                     ServerAliveCountMax
                     SessionType
                     SetEnv
                     StdinNull
                     StreamLocalBindMask
                     StreamLocalBindUnlink
                     StrictHostKeyChecking
                     TCPKeepAlive
                     Tunnel
                     TunnelDevice
                     UpdateHostKeys
                     User
                     UserKnownHostsFile
                     VerifyHostKeyDNS
                     VisualHostKey
                     XAuthLocation

       -P tag  Specify a tag name that may be used to select
               configuration in ssh_config(5).  Refer to the Tag and
               Match keywords in ssh_config(5) for more information.
       -p port
               Port to connect to on the remote host.  This can be
               specified on a per-host basis in the configuration file.

       -Q query_option
               Queries for the algorithms supported by one of the
               following features: cipher (supported symmetric ciphers),
               cipher-auth (supported symmetric ciphers that support
               authenticated encryption), help (supported query terms
               for use with the -Q flag), mac (supported message
               integrity codes), kex (key exchange algorithms), key (key
               types), key-ca-sign (valid CA signature algorithms for
               certificates), key-cert (certificate key types),
               key-plain (non-certificate key types), key-sig (all key
               types and signature algorithms), protocol-version
               (supported SSH protocol versions), and sig (supported
               signature algorithms).  Alternatively, any keyword from
               ssh_config(5) or sshd_config(5) that takes an algorithm
               list may be used as an alias for the corresponding
               query_option.

       -q      Quiet mode.  Causes most warning and diagnostic messages
               to be suppressed.

       -R [bind_address:]port:host:hostport
       -R [bind_address:]port:local_socket
       -R remote_socket:host:hostport
       -R remote_socket:local_socket
       -R [bind_address:]port
               Specifies that connections to the given TCP port or Unix
               socket on the remote (server) host are to be forwarded to
               the local side.

               This works by allocating a socket to listen to either a
               TCP port or to a Unix socket on the remote side.
               Whenever a connection is made to this port or Unix
               socket, the connection is forwarded over the secure
               channel, and a connection is made from the local machine
               to either an explicit destination specified by host port
               hostport, or local_socket, or, if no explicit destination
               was specified, ssh will act as a SOCKS 4/5 proxy and
               forward connections to the destinations requested by the
               remote SOCKS client.

               Port forwardings can also be specified in the
               configuration file.  Privileged ports can be forwarded
               only when logging in as root on the remote machine.  IPv6
               addresses can be specified by enclosing the address in
               square brackets.

               By default, TCP listening sockets on the server will be
               bound to the loopback interface only.  This may be
               overridden by specifying a bind_address.  An empty
               bind_address, or the address ‘*’, indicates that the
               remote socket should listen on all interfaces.
               Specifying a remote bind_address will only succeed if the
               server's GatewayPorts option is enabled (see
               sshd_config(5)).

               If the port argument is ‘0’, the listen port will be
               dynamically allocated on the server and reported to the
               client at run time.  When used together with -O forward,
               the allocated port will be printed to the standard
               output.

       -S ctl_path
               Specifies the location of a control socket for connection
               sharing, or the string “none” to disable connection
               sharing.  Refer to the description of ControlPath and
               ControlMaster in ssh_config(5) for details.

       -s      May be used to request invocation of a subsystem on the
               remote system.  Subsystems facilitate the use of SSH as a
               secure transport for other applications (e.g. sftp(1)).
               The subsystem is specified as the remote command.  Refer
               to the description of SessionType in ssh_config(5) for
               details.

       -T      Disable pseudo-terminal allocation.

       -t      Force pseudo-terminal allocation.  This can be used to
               execute arbitrary screen-based programs on a remote
               machine, which can be very useful, e.g. when implementing
               menu services.  Multiple -t options force tty allocation,
               even if ssh has no local tty.

       -V      Display the version number and exit.

       -v      Verbose mode.  Causes ssh to print debugging messages
               about its progress.  This is helpful in debugging
               connection, authentication, and configuration problems.
               Multiple -v options increase the verbosity.  The maximum
               is 3.

       -W host:port
               Requests that standard input and output on the client be
               forwarded to host on port over the secure channel.
               Implies -N, -T, ExitOnForwardFailure and
               ClearAllForwardings, though these can be overridden in
               the configuration file or using -o command line options.

       -w local_tun[:remote_tun]
               Requests tunnel device forwarding with the specified
               tun(4) devices between the client (local_tun) and the
               server (remote_tun).

               The devices may be specified by numerical ID or the
               keyword “any”, which uses the next available tunnel
               device.  If remote_tun is not specified, it defaults to
               “any”.  See also the Tunnel and TunnelDevice directives
               in ssh_config(5).

               If the Tunnel directive is unset, it will be set to the
               default tunnel mode, which is “point-to-point”.  If a
               different Tunnel forwarding mode it desired, then it
               should be specified before -w.

       -X      Enables X11 forwarding.  This can also be specified on a
               per-host basis in a configuration file.

               X11 forwarding should be enabled with caution.  Users
               with the ability to bypass file permissions on the remote
               host (for the user's X authorization database) can access
               the local X11 display through the forwarded connection.
               An attacker may then be able to perform activities such
               as keystroke monitoring.

               For this reason, X11 forwarding is subjected to X11
               SECURITY extension restrictions by default.  Refer to the
               ssh -Y option and the ForwardX11Trusted directive in
               ssh_config(5) for more information.

       -x      Disables X11 forwarding.

       -Y      Enables trusted X11 forwarding.  Trusted X11 forwardings
               are not subjected to the X11 SECURITY extension controls.

       -y      Send log information using the syslog(3) system module.
               By default this information is sent to stderr.

       ssh may additionally obtain configuration data from a per-user
       configuration file and a system-wide configuration file.  The
       file format and configuration options are described in
       ssh_config(5).

AUTHENTICATION         top

       The OpenSSH SSH client supports SSH protocol 2.

       The methods available for authentication are: GSSAPI-based
       authentication, host-based authentication, public key
       authentication, keyboard-interactive authentication, and password
       authentication.  Authentication methods are tried in the order
       specified above, though PreferredAuthentications can be used to
       change the default order.

       Host-based authentication works as follows: If the machine the
       user logs in from is listed in /etc/hosts.equiv or
       /etc/shosts.equiv on the remote machine, the user is non-root and
       the user names are the same on both sides, or if the files
       ~/.rhosts or ~/.shosts exist in the user's home directory on the
       remote machine and contain a line containing the name of the
       client machine and the name of the user on that machine, the user
       is considered for login.  Additionally, the server must be able
       to verify the client's host key (see the description of
       /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts and ~/.ssh/known_hosts, below) for login
       to be permitted.  This authentication method closes security
       holes due to IP spoofing, DNS spoofing, and routing spoofing.
       [Note to the administrator: /etc/hosts.equiv, ~/.rhosts, and the
       rlogin/rsh protocol in general, are inherently insecure and
       should be disabled if security is desired.]

       Public key authentication works as follows: The scheme is based
       on public-key cryptography, using cryptosystems where encryption
       and decryption are done using separate keys, and it is unfeasible
       to derive the decryption key from the encryption key.  The idea
       is that each user creates a public/private key pair for
       authentication purposes.  The server knows the public key, and
       only the user knows the private key.  ssh implements public key
       authentication protocol automatically, using one of the DSA,
       ECDSA, Ed25519 or RSA algorithms.  The HISTORY section of ssl(8)
       contains a brief discussion of the DSA and RSA algorithms.

       The file ~/.ssh/authorized_keys lists the public keys that are
       permitted for logging in.  When the user logs in, the ssh program
       tells the server which key pair it would like to use for
       authentication.  The client proves that it has access to the
       private key and the server checks that the corresponding public
       key is authorized to accept the account.

       The server may inform the client of errors that prevented public
       key authentication from succeeding after authentication completes
       using a different method.  These may be viewed by increasing the
       LogLevel to DEBUG or higher (e.g. by using the -v flag).

       The user creates their key pair by running ssh-keygen(1).  This
       stores the private key in ~/.ssh/id_dsa (DSA), ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa
       (ECDSA), ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk (authenticator-hosted ECDSA),
       ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 (Ed25519), ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk (authenticator-
       hosted Ed25519), or ~/.ssh/id_rsa (RSA) and stores the public key
       in ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub (DSA), ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa.pub (ECDSA),
       ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk.pub (authenticator-hosted ECDSA),
       ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub (Ed25519), ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk.pub
       (authenticator-hosted Ed25519), or ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub (RSA) in the
       user's home directory.  The user should then copy the public key
       to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys in their home directory on the remote
       machine.  The authorized_keys file corresponds to the
       conventional ~/.rhosts file, and has one key per line, though the
       lines can be very long.  After this, the user can log in without
       giving the password.

       A variation on public key authentication is available in the form
       of certificate authentication: instead of a set of public/private
       keys, signed certificates are used.  This has the advantage that
       a single trusted certification authority can be used in place of
       many public/private keys.  See the CERTIFICATES section of
       ssh-keygen(1) for more information.

       The most convenient way to use public key or certificate
       authentication may be with an authentication agent.  See
       ssh-agent(1) and (optionally) the AddKeysToAgent directive in
       ssh_config(5) for more information.

       Keyboard-interactive authentication works as follows: The server
       sends an arbitrary "challenge" text and prompts for a response,
       possibly multiple times.  Examples of keyboard-interactive
       authentication include BSD Authentication (see login.conf(5)) and
       PAM (some non-OpenBSD systems).

       Finally, if other authentication methods fail, ssh prompts the
       user for a password.  The password is sent to the remote host for
       checking; however, since all communications are encrypted, the
       password cannot be seen by someone listening on the network.

       ssh automatically maintains and checks a database containing
       identification for all hosts it has ever been used with.  Host
       keys are stored in ~/.ssh/known_hosts in the user's home
       directory.  Additionally, the file /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts is
       automatically checked for known hosts.  Any new hosts are
       automatically added to the user's file.  If a host's
       identification ever changes, ssh warns about this and disables
       password authentication to prevent server spoofing or man-in-the-
       middle attacks, which could otherwise be used to circumvent the
       encryption.  The StrictHostKeyChecking option can be used to
       control logins to machines whose host key is not known or has
       changed.

       When the user's identity has been accepted by the server, the
       server either executes the given command in a non-interactive
       session or, if no command has been specified, logs into the
       machine and gives the user a normal shell as an interactive
       session.  All communication with the remote command or shell will
       be automatically encrypted.

       If an interactive session is requested, ssh by default will only
       request a pseudo-terminal (pty) for interactive sessions when the
       client has one.  The flags -T and -t can be used to override this
       behaviour.

       If a pseudo-terminal has been allocated, the user may use the
       escape characters noted below.

       If no pseudo-terminal has been allocated, the session is
       transparent and can be used to reliably transfer binary data.  On
       most systems, setting the escape character to “none” will also
       make the session transparent even if a tty is used.

       The session terminates when the command or shell on the remote
       machine exits and all X11 and TCP connections have been closed.

ESCAPE CHARACTERS         top

       When a pseudo-terminal has been requested, ssh supports a number
       of functions through the use of an escape character.

       A single tilde character can be sent as ~~ or by following the
       tilde by a character other than those described below.  The
       escape character must always follow a newline to be interpreted
       as special.  The escape character can be changed in configuration
       files using the EscapeChar configuration directive or on the
       command line by the -e option.

       The supported escapes (assuming the default ‘~’) are:

       ~.      Disconnect.

       ~^Z     Background ssh.

       ~#      List forwarded connections.

       ~&      Background ssh at logout when waiting for forwarded
               connection / X11 sessions to terminate.

       ~?      Display a list of escape characters.

       ~B      Send a BREAK to the remote system (only useful if the
               peer supports it).

       ~C      Open command line.  Currently this allows the addition of
               port forwardings using the -L, -R and -D options (see
               above).  It also allows the cancellation of existing
               port-forwardings with -KL[bind_address:]port for local,
               -KR[bind_address:]port for remote and
               -KD[bind_address:]port for dynamic port-forwardings.
               !command allows the user to execute a local command if
               the PermitLocalCommand option is enabled in
               ssh_config(5).  Basic help is available, using the -h
               option.

       ~R      Request rekeying of the connection (only useful if the
               peer supports it).

       ~V      Decrease the verbosity (LogLevel) when errors are being
               written to stderr.

       ~v      Increase the verbosity (LogLevel) when errors are being
               written to stderr.

TCP FORWARDING         top

       Forwarding of arbitrary TCP connections over a secure channel can
       be specified either on the command line or in a configuration
       file.  One possible application of TCP forwarding is a secure
       connection to a mail server; another is going through firewalls.

       In the example below, we look at encrypting communication for an
       IRC client, even though the IRC server it connects to does not
       directly support encrypted communication.  This works as follows:
       the user connects to the remote host using ssh, specifying the
       ports to be used to forward the connection.  After that it is
       possible to start the program locally, and ssh will encrypt and
       forward the connection to the remote server.

       The following example tunnels an IRC session from the client to
       an IRC server at “server.example.com”, joining channel “#users”,
       nickname “pinky”, using the standard IRC port, 6667:

           $ ssh -f -L 6667:localhost:6667 server.example.com sleep 10
           $ irc -c '#users' pinky IRC/127.0.0.1

       The -f option backgrounds ssh and the remote command “sleep 10”
       is specified to allow an amount of time (10 seconds, in the
       example) to start the program which is going to use the tunnel.
       If no connections are made within the time specified, ssh will
       exit.

X11 FORWARDING         top

       If the ForwardX11 variable is set to “yes” (or see the
       description of the -X, -x, and -Y options above) and the user is
       using X11 (the DISPLAY environment variable is set), the
       connection to the X11 display is automatically forwarded to the
       remote side in such a way that any X11 programs started from the
       shell (or command) will go through the encrypted channel, and the
       connection to the real X server will be made from the local
       machine.  The user should not manually set DISPLAY.  Forwarding
       of X11 connections can be configured on the command line or in
       configuration files.

       The DISPLAY value set by ssh will point to the server machine,
       but with a display number greater than zero.  This is normal, and
       happens because ssh creates a “proxy” X server on the server
       machine for forwarding the connections over the encrypted
       channel.

       ssh will also automatically set up Xauthority data on the server
       machine.  For this purpose, it will generate a random
       authorization cookie, store it in Xauthority on the server, and
       verify that any forwarded connections carry this cookie and
       replace it by the real cookie when the connection is opened.  The
       real authentication cookie is never sent to the server machine
       (and no cookies are sent in the plain).

       If the ForwardAgent variable is set to “yes” (or see the
       description of the -A and -a options above) and the user is using
       an authentication agent, the connection to the agent is
       automatically forwarded to the remote side.

VERIFYING HOST KEYS         top

       When connecting to a server for the first time, a fingerprint of
       the server's public key is presented to the user (unless the
       option StrictHostKeyChecking has been disabled).  Fingerprints
       can be determined using ssh-keygen(1):

             $ ssh-keygen -l -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key

       If the fingerprint is already known, it can be matched and the
       key can be accepted or rejected.  If only legacy (MD5)
       fingerprints for the server are available, the ssh-keygen(1) -E
       option may be used to downgrade the fingerprint algorithm to
       match.

       Because of the difficulty of comparing host keys just by looking
       at fingerprint strings, there is also support to compare host
       keys visually, using random art.  By setting the VisualHostKey
       option to “yes”, a small ASCII graphic gets displayed on every
       login to a server, no matter if the session itself is interactive
       or not.  By learning the pattern a known server produces, a user
       can easily find out that the host key has changed when a
       completely different pattern is displayed.  Because these
       patterns are not unambiguous however, a pattern that looks
       similar to the pattern remembered only gives a good probability
       that the host key is the same, not guaranteed proof.

       To get a listing of the fingerprints along with their random art
       for all known hosts, the following command line can be used:

             $ ssh-keygen -lv -f ~/.ssh/known_hosts

       If the fingerprint is unknown, an alternative method of
       verification is available: SSH fingerprints verified by DNS.  An
       additional resource record (RR), SSHFP, is added to a zonefile
       and the connecting client is able to match the fingerprint with
       that of the key presented.

       In this example, we are connecting a client to a server,
       “host.example.com”.  The SSHFP resource records should first be
       added to the zonefile for host.example.com:

             $ ssh-keygen -r host.example.com.

       The output lines will have to be added to the zonefile.  To check
       that the zone is answering fingerprint queries:

             $ dig -t SSHFP host.example.com

       Finally the client connects:

             $ ssh -o "VerifyHostKeyDNS ask" host.example.com
             [...]
             Matching host key fingerprint found in DNS.
             Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

       See the VerifyHostKeyDNS option in ssh_config(5) for more
       information.

SSH-BASED VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORKS         top

       ssh contains support for Virtual Private Network (VPN) tunnelling
       using the tun(4) network pseudo-device, allowing two networks to
       be joined securely.  The sshd_config(5) configuration option
       PermitTunnel controls whether the server supports this, and at
       what level (layer 2 or 3 traffic).

       The following example would connect client network 10.0.50.0/24
       with remote network 10.0.99.0/24 using a point-to-point
       connection from 10.1.1.1 to 10.1.1.2, provided that the SSH
       server running on the gateway to the remote network, at
       192.168.1.15, allows it.

       On the client:

             # ssh -f -w 0:1 192.168.1.15 true
             # ifconfig tun0 10.1.1.1 10.1.1.2 netmask 255.255.255.252
             # route add 10.0.99.0/24 10.1.1.2

       On the server:

             # ifconfig tun1 10.1.1.2 10.1.1.1 netmask 255.255.255.252
             # route add 10.0.50.0/24 10.1.1.1

       Client access may be more finely tuned via the
       /root/.ssh/authorized_keys file (see below) and the
       PermitRootLogin server option.  The following entry would permit
       connections on tun(4) device 1 from user “jane” and on tun device
       2 from user “john”, if PermitRootLogin is set to
       “forced-commands-only”:

         tunnel="1",command="sh /etc/netstart tun1" ssh-rsa ... jane
         tunnel="2",command="sh /etc/netstart tun2" ssh-rsa ... john

       Since an SSH-based setup entails a fair amount of overhead, it
       may be more suited to temporary setups, such as for wireless
       VPNs.  More permanent VPNs are better provided by tools such as
       ipsecctl(8) and isakmpd(8).

ENVIRONMENT         top

       ssh will normally set the following environment variables:

       DISPLAY               The DISPLAY variable indicates the location
                             of the X11 server.  It is automatically set
                             by ssh to point to a value of the form
                             “hostname:n”, where “hostname” indicates
                             the host where the shell runs, and ‘n’ is
                             an integer ≥ 1.  ssh uses this special
                             value to forward X11 connections over the
                             secure channel.  The user should normally
                             not set DISPLAY explicitly, as that will
                             render the X11 connection insecure (and
                             will require the user to manually copy any
                             required authorization cookies).

       HOME                  Set to the path of the user's home
                             directory.

       LOGNAME               Synonym for USER; set for compatibility
                             with systems that use this variable.

       MAIL                  Set to the path of the user's mailbox.

       PATH                  Set to the default PATH, as specified when
                             compiling ssh.

       SSH_ASKPASS           If ssh needs a passphrase, it will read the
                             passphrase from the current terminal if it
                             was run from a terminal.  If ssh does not
                             have a terminal associated with it but
                             DISPLAY and SSH_ASKPASS are set, it will
                             execute the program specified by
                             SSH_ASKPASS and open an X11 window to read
                             the passphrase.  This is particularly
                             useful when calling ssh from a .xsession or
                             related script.  (Note that on some
                             machines it may be necessary to redirect
                             the input from /dev/null to make this
                             work.)

       SSH_ASKPASS_REQUIRE   Allows further control over the use of an
                             askpass program.  If this variable is set
                             to “never” then ssh will never attempt to
                             use one.  If it is set to “prefer”, then
                             ssh will prefer to use the askpass program
                             instead of the TTY when requesting
                             passwords.  Finally, if the variable is set
                             to “force”, then the askpass program will
                             be used for all passphrase input regardless
                             of whether DISPLAY is set.

       SSH_AUTH_SOCK         Identifies the path of a Unix-domain socket
                             used to communicate with the agent.

       SSH_CONNECTION        Identifies the client and server ends of
                             the connection.  The variable contains four
                             space-separated values: client IP address,
                             client port number, server IP address, and
                             server port number.

       SSH_ORIGINAL_COMMAND  This variable contains the original command
                             line if a forced command is executed.  It
                             can be used to extract the original
                             arguments.

       SSH_TTY               This is set to the name of the tty (path to
                             the device) associated with the current
                             shell or command.  If the current session
                             has no tty, this variable is not set.

       SSH_TUNNEL            Optionally set by sshd(8) to contain the
                             interface names assigned if tunnel
                             forwarding was requested by the client.

       SSH_USER_AUTH         Optionally set by sshd(8), this variable
                             may contain a pathname to a file that lists
                             the authentication methods successfully
                             used when the session was established,
                             including any public keys that were used.

       TZ                    This variable is set to indicate the
                             present time zone if it was set when the
                             daemon was started (i.e. the daemon passes
                             the value on to new connections).

       USER                  Set to the name of the user logging in.

       Additionally, ssh reads ~/.ssh/environment, and adds lines of the
       format “VARNAME=value” to the environment if the file exists and
       users are allowed to change their environment.  For more
       information, see the PermitUserEnvironment option in
       sshd_config(5).

FILES         top

       ~/.rhosts
               This file is used for host-based authentication (see
               above).  On some machines this file may need to be world-
               readable if the user's home directory is on an NFS
               partition, because sshd(8) reads it as root.
               Additionally, this file must be owned by the user, and
               must not have write permissions for anyone else.  The
               recommended permission for most machines is read/write
               for the user, and not accessible by others.

       ~/.shosts
               This file is used in exactly the same way as .rhosts, but
               allows host-based authentication without permitting login
               with rlogin/rsh.

       ~/.ssh/
               This directory is the default location for all user-
               specific configuration and authentication information.
               There is no general requirement to keep the entire
               contents of this directory secret, but the recommended
               permissions are read/write/execute for the user, and not
               accessible by others.

       ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
               Lists the public keys (DSA, ECDSA, Ed25519, RSA) that can
               be used for logging in as this user.  The format of this
               file is described in the sshd(8) manual page.  This file
               is not highly sensitive, but the recommended permissions
               are read/write for the user, and not accessible by
               others.

       ~/.ssh/config
               This is the per-user configuration file.  The file format
               and configuration options are described in ssh_config(5).
               Because of the potential for abuse, this file must have
               strict permissions: read/write for the user, and not
               writable by others.

       ~/.ssh/environment
               Contains additional definitions for environment
               variables; see “ENVIRONMENT”, above.

       ~/.ssh/id_dsa
       ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa
       ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk
       ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
       ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk
       ~/.ssh/id_rsa
               Contains the private key for authentication.  These files
               contain sensitive data and should be readable by the user
               but not accessible by others (read/write/execute).  ssh
               will simply ignore a private key file if it is accessible
               by others.  It is possible to specify a passphrase when
               generating the key which will be used to encrypt the
               sensitive part of this file using AES-128.

       ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub
       ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa.pub
       ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk.pub
       ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
       ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk.pub
       ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
               Contains the public key for authentication.  These files
               are not sensitive and can (but need not) be readable by
               anyone.

       ~/.ssh/known_hosts
               Contains a list of host keys for all hosts the user has
               logged into that are not already in the systemwide list
               of known host keys.  See sshd(8) for further details of
               the format of this file.

       ~/.ssh/rc
               Commands in this file are executed by ssh when the user
               logs in, just before the user's shell (or command) is
               started.  See the sshd(8) manual page for more
               information.

       /etc/hosts.equiv
               This file is for host-based authentication (see above).
               It should only be writable by root.

       /etc/shosts.equiv
               This file is used in exactly the same way as hosts.equiv,
               but allows host-based authentication without permitting
               login with rlogin/rsh.

       /etc/ssh/ssh_config
               Systemwide configuration file.  The file format and
               configuration options are described in ssh_config(5).

       /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key
       /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
       /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ecdsa_key
       /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key
       /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
               These files contain the private parts of the host keys
               and are used for host-based authentication.

       /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts
               Systemwide list of known host keys.  This file should be
               prepared by the system administrator to contain the
               public host keys of all machines in the organization.  It
               should be world-readable.  See sshd(8) for further
               details of the format of this file.

       /etc/ssh/sshrc
               Commands in this file are executed by ssh when the user
               logs in, just before the user's shell (or command) is
               started.  See the sshd(8) manual page for more
               information.

EXIT STATUS         top

       ssh exits with the exit status of the remote command or with 255
       if an error occurred.

SEE ALSO         top

       scp(1), sftp(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-agent(1), ssh-keygen(1),
       ssh-keyscan(1), tun(4), ssh_config(5), ssh-keysign(8), sshd(8)

STANDARDS         top

       S. Lehtinen and C. Lonvick, The Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol
       Assigned Numbers, RFC 4250, January 2006.

       T. Ylonen and C. Lonvick, The Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol
       Architecture, RFC 4251, January 2006.

       T. Ylonen and C. Lonvick, The Secure Shell (SSH) Authentication
       Protocol, RFC 4252, January 2006.

       T. Ylonen and C. Lonvick, The Secure Shell (SSH) Transport Layer
       Protocol, RFC 4253, January 2006.

       T. Ylonen and C. Lonvick, The Secure Shell (SSH) Connection
       Protocol, RFC 4254, January 2006.

       J. Schlyter and W. Griffin, Using DNS to Securely Publish Secure
       Shell (SSH) Key Fingerprints, RFC 4255, January 2006.

       F. Cusack and M. Forssen, Generic Message Exchange Authentication
       for the Secure Shell Protocol (SSH), RFC 4256, January 2006.

       J. Galbraith and P. Remaker, The Secure Shell (SSH) Session
       Channel Break Extension, RFC 4335, January 2006.

       M. Bellare, T. Kohno, and C. Namprempre, The Secure Shell (SSH)
       Transport Layer Encryption Modes, RFC 4344, January 2006.

       B. Harris, Improved Arcfour Modes for the Secure Shell (SSH)
       Transport Layer Protocol, RFC 4345, January 2006.

       M. Friedl, N. Provos, and W. Simpson, Diffie-Hellman Group
       Exchange for the Secure Shell (SSH) Transport Layer Protocol, RFC
       4419, March 2006.

       J. Galbraith and R. Thayer, The Secure Shell (SSH) Public Key
       File Format, RFC 4716, November 2006.

       D. Stebila and J. Green, Elliptic Curve Algorithm Integration in
       the Secure Shell Transport Layer, RFC 5656, December 2009.

       A. Perrig and D. Song, Hash Visualization: a New Technique to
       improve Real-World Security, 1999, International Workshop on
       Cryptographic Techniques and E-Commerce (CrypTEC '99).

AUTHORS         top

       OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free ssh 1.2.12
       release by Tatu Ylonen.  Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus Friedl,
       Niels Provos, Theo de Raadt and Dug Song removed many bugs, re-
       added newer features and created OpenSSH.  Markus Friedl
       contributed the support for SSH protocol versions 1.5 and 2.0.

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the openssh (Portable OpenSSH) project.
       Information about the project can be found at
       http://www.openssh.com/portable.html.  If you have a bug report
       for this manual page, see ⟨http://www.openssh.com/report.html⟩.
       This page was obtained from the tarball openssh-9.7p1.tar.gz
       fetched from
       ⟨http://ftp.eu.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/OpenSSH/portable/⟩ on
       2024-06-14.  If you discover any rendering problems in this HTML
       version of the page, or you believe there is a better or more up-
       to-date source for the page, or you have corrections or
       improvements to the information in this COLOPHON (which is not
       part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       [email protected]

GNU                         October 11, 2023                      SSH(1)

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