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PROTOCOL revision 1.23
      1   1.1  christos This documents OpenSSH's deviations and extensions to the published SSH
      2   1.1  christos protocol.
      3   1.1  christos 
      4   1.1  christos Note that OpenSSH's sftp and sftp-server implement revision 3 of the SSH
      5   1.1  christos filexfer protocol described in:
      6   1.1  christos 
      7   1.1  christos http://www.openssh.com/txt/draft-ietf-secsh-filexfer-02.txt
      8   1.1  christos 
      9   1.2  christos Newer versions of the draft will not be supported, though some features
     10   1.2  christos are individually implemented as extensions described below.
     11   1.1  christos 
     12   1.1  christos The protocol used by OpenSSH's ssh-agent is described in the file
     13   1.1  christos PROTOCOL.agent
     14   1.1  christos 
     15   1.2  christos 1. Transport protocol changes
     16   1.2  christos 
     17   1.2  christos 1.1. transport: Protocol 2 MAC algorithm "umac-64 (a] openssh.com"
     18   1.1  christos 
     19   1.1  christos This is a new transport-layer MAC method using the UMAC algorithm
     20   1.1  christos (rfc4418). This method is identical to the "umac-64" method documented
     21   1.1  christos in:
     22   1.1  christos 
     23   1.1  christos http://www.openssh.com/txt/draft-miller-secsh-umac-01.txt
     24   1.1  christos 
     25   1.2  christos 1.2. transport: Protocol 2 compression algorithm "zlib (a] openssh.com"
     26   1.1  christos 
     27   1.1  christos This transport-layer compression method uses the zlib compression
     28   1.1  christos algorithm (identical to the "zlib" method in rfc4253), but delays the
     29   1.1  christos start of compression until after authentication has completed. This
     30   1.1  christos avoids exposing compression code to attacks from unauthenticated users.
     31   1.1  christos 
     32   1.1  christos The method is documented in:
     33   1.1  christos 
     34   1.1  christos http://www.openssh.com/txt/draft-miller-secsh-compression-delayed-00.txt
     35   1.1  christos 
     36  1.10  christos 1.3. transport: New public key algorithms "ssh-rsa-cert-v01 (a] openssh.com",
     37  1.10  christos      "ssh-dsa-cert-v01 (a] openssh.com",
     38   1.2  christos      "ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01 (a] openssh.com",
     39   1.2  christos      "ecdsa-sha2-nistp384-cert-v01 (a] openssh.com" and
     40   1.2  christos      "ecdsa-sha2-nistp521-cert-v01 (a] openssh.com"
     41   1.2  christos 
     42   1.2  christos OpenSSH introduces new public key algorithms to support certificate
     43   1.5  christos authentication for users and host keys. These methods are documented
     44   1.5  christos in the file PROTOCOL.certkeys
     45   1.2  christos 
     46   1.2  christos 1.4. transport: Elliptic Curve cryptography
     47   1.2  christos 
     48   1.2  christos OpenSSH supports ECC key exchange and public key authentication as
     49   1.2  christos specified in RFC5656. Only the ecdsa-sha2-nistp256, ecdsa-sha2-nistp384
     50   1.2  christos and ecdsa-sha2-nistp521 curves over GF(p) are supported. Elliptic
     51   1.2  christos curve points encoded using point compression are NOT accepted or
     52   1.2  christos generated.
     53   1.2  christos 
     54   1.3  christos 1.5 transport: Protocol 2 Encrypt-then-MAC MAC algorithms
     55   1.3  christos 
     56   1.3  christos OpenSSH supports MAC algorithms, whose names contain "-etm", that
     57   1.3  christos perform the calculations in a different order to that defined in RFC
     58   1.3  christos 4253. These variants use the so-called "encrypt then MAC" ordering,
     59   1.3  christos calculating the MAC over the packet ciphertext rather than the
     60   1.3  christos plaintext. This ordering closes a security flaw in the SSH transport
     61   1.3  christos protocol, where decryption of unauthenticated ciphertext provided a
     62   1.3  christos "decryption oracle" that could, in conjunction with cipher flaws, reveal
     63   1.3  christos session plaintext.
     64   1.3  christos 
     65   1.3  christos Specifically, the "-etm" MAC algorithms modify the transport protocol
     66   1.3  christos to calculate the MAC over the packet ciphertext and to send the packet
     67   1.3  christos length unencrypted. This is necessary for the transport to obtain the
     68   1.3  christos length of the packet and location of the MAC tag so that it may be
     69   1.3  christos verified without decrypting unauthenticated data.
     70   1.3  christos 
     71   1.3  christos As such, the MAC covers:
     72   1.3  christos 
     73   1.3  christos       mac = MAC(key, sequence_number || packet_length || encrypted_packet)
     74   1.3  christos 
     75   1.3  christos where "packet_length" is encoded as a uint32 and "encrypted_packet"
     76   1.3  christos contains:
     77   1.3  christos 
     78   1.3  christos       byte      padding_length
     79   1.3  christos       byte[n1]  payload; n1 = packet_length - padding_length - 1
     80   1.3  christos       byte[n2]  random padding; n2 = padding_length
     81   1.3  christos 
     82   1.3  christos 1.6 transport: AES-GCM
     83   1.3  christos 
     84   1.3  christos OpenSSH supports the AES-GCM algorithm as specified in RFC 5647.
     85   1.3  christos Because of problems with the specification of the key exchange
     86   1.3  christos the behaviour of OpenSSH differs from the RFC as follows:
     87   1.3  christos 
     88   1.3  christos AES-GCM is only negotiated as the cipher algorithms
     89   1.3  christos "aes128-gcm (a] openssh.com" or "aes256-gcm (a] openssh.com" and never as
     90   1.3  christos an MAC algorithm. Additionally, if AES-GCM is selected as the cipher
     91   1.3  christos the exchanged MAC algorithms are ignored and there doesn't have to be
     92   1.3  christos a matching MAC.
     93   1.3  christos 
     94   1.4  christos 1.7 transport: chacha20-poly1305 (a] openssh.com authenticated encryption
     95   1.4  christos 
     96   1.4  christos OpenSSH supports authenticated encryption using ChaCha20 and Poly1305
     97   1.4  christos as described in PROTOCOL.chacha20poly1305.
     98   1.4  christos 
     99   1.4  christos 1.8 transport: curve25519-sha256 (a] libssh.org key exchange algorithm
    100   1.4  christos 
    101   1.4  christos OpenSSH supports the use of ECDH in Curve25519 for key exchange as
    102   1.4  christos described at:
    103   1.4  christos http://git.libssh.org/users/aris/libssh.git/plain/doc/curve25519-sha256@libssh.org.txt?h=curve25519
    104   1.4  christos 
    105  1.20  christos This is identical to curve25519-sha256 as later published in RFC8731.
    106  1.20  christos 
    107  1.22  christos 1.9 transport: ping facility
    108  1.22  christos 
    109  1.22  christos OpenSSH implements a transport level ping message SSH2_MSG_PING
    110  1.22  christos and a corresponding SSH2_MSG_PONG reply.
    111  1.22  christos 
    112  1.22  christos #define SSH2_MSG_PING	192
    113  1.22  christos #define SSH2_MSG_PONG	193
    114  1.22  christos 
    115  1.22  christos The ping message is simply:
    116  1.22  christos 
    117  1.22  christos 	byte		SSH_MSG_PING
    118  1.22  christos 	string		data
    119  1.22  christos 
    120  1.22  christos The reply copies the data (which may be the empty string) from the
    121  1.22  christos ping:
    122  1.22  christos 
    123  1.22  christos 	byte		SSH_MSG_PONG
    124  1.22  christos 	string		data
    125  1.22  christos 
    126  1.22  christos Replies are sent in order. They are sent immediately except when rekeying
    127  1.22  christos is in progress, in which case they are queued until rekeying completes.
    128  1.22  christos 
    129  1.22  christos The server advertises support for these messages using the
    130  1.22  christos SSH2_MSG_EXT_INFO mechanism (RFC8308), with the following message:
    131  1.22  christos 
    132  1.22  christos 	string		"ping (a] openssh.com"
    133  1.22  christos 	string		"0" (version)
    134  1.22  christos 
    135  1.22  christos The ping/reply message is implemented at the transport layer rather
    136  1.22  christos than as a named global or channel request to allow pings with very
    137  1.22  christos short packet lengths, which would not be possible with other
    138  1.22  christos approaches.
    139  1.22  christos 
    140  1.23  christos 1.9 transport: strict key exchange extension
    141  1.23  christos 
    142  1.23  christos OpenSSH supports a number of transport-layer hardening measures under
    143  1.23  christos a "strict KEX" feature. This feature is signalled similarly to the
    144  1.23  christos RFC8308 ext-info feature: by including a additional algorithm in the
    145  1.23  christos initiial SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT kex_algorithms field. The client may append
    146  1.23  christos "kex-strict-c-v00 (a] openssh.com" to its kex_algorithms and the server
    147  1.23  christos may append "kex-strict-s-v00 (a] openssh.com". These pseudo-algorithms
    148  1.23  christos are only valid in the initial SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT and MUST be ignored
    149  1.23  christos if they are present in subsequent SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT packets.
    150  1.23  christos 
    151  1.23  christos When an endpoint that supports this extension observes this algorithm
    152  1.23  christos name in a peer's KEXINIT packet, it MUST make the following changes to
    153  1.23  christos the the protocol:
    154  1.23  christos 
    155  1.23  christos a) During initial KEX, terminate the connection if any unexpected or
    156  1.23  christos    out-of-sequence packet is received. This includes terminating the
    157  1.23  christos    connection if the first packet received is not SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT.
    158  1.23  christos    Unexpected packets for the purpose of strict KEX include messages
    159  1.23  christos    that are otherwise valid at any time during the connection such as
    160  1.23  christos    SSH2_MSG_DEBUG and SSH2_MSG_IGNORE.
    161  1.23  christos b) After sending or receiving a SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS message, reset the
    162  1.23  christos    packet sequence number to zero. This behaviour persists for the
    163  1.23  christos    duration of the connection (i.e. not just the first
    164  1.23  christos    SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS).
    165  1.23  christos 
    166  1.23  christos 1.10 transport: SSH2_MSG_EXT_INFO during user authentication
    167  1.23  christos 
    168  1.23  christos This protocol extension allows the SSH2_MSG_EXT_INFO to be sent
    169  1.23  christos during user authentication. RFC8308 does allow a second
    170  1.23  christos SSH2_MSG_EXT_INFO notification, but it may only be sent at the end
    171  1.23  christos of user authentication and this is too late to signal per-user
    172  1.23  christos server signature algorithms.
    173  1.23  christos 
    174  1.23  christos Support for receiving the SSH2_MSG_EXT_INFO message during user
    175  1.23  christos authentication is signalled by the client including a
    176  1.23  christos "ext-info-in-auth (a] openssh.com" key via its initial SSH2_MSG_EXT_INFO
    177  1.23  christos set after the SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS message.
    178  1.23  christos 
    179  1.23  christos A server that supports this extension MAY send a second
    180  1.23  christos SSH2_MSG_EXT_INFO message any time after the client's first
    181  1.23  christos SSH2_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST, regardless of whether it succeed or fails.
    182  1.23  christos The client SHOULD be prepared to update the server-sig-algs that
    183  1.23  christos it received during an earlier SSH2_MSG_EXT_INFO with the later one.
    184  1.23  christos 
    185   1.2  christos 2. Connection protocol changes
    186   1.2  christos 
    187   1.2  christos 2.1. connection: Channel write close extension "eow (a] openssh.com"
    188   1.1  christos 
    189   1.1  christos The SSH connection protocol (rfc4254) provides the SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_EOF
    190   1.1  christos message to allow an endpoint to signal its peer that it will send no
    191   1.1  christos more data over a channel. Unfortunately, there is no symmetric way for
    192   1.1  christos an endpoint to request that its peer should cease sending data to it
    193   1.1  christos while still keeping the channel open for the endpoint to send data to
    194   1.1  christos the peer.
    195   1.1  christos 
    196   1.1  christos This is desirable, since it saves the transmission of data that would
    197   1.1  christos otherwise need to be discarded and it allows an endpoint to signal local
    198   1.1  christos processes of the condition, e.g. by closing the corresponding file
    199   1.1  christos descriptor.
    200   1.1  christos 
    201   1.1  christos OpenSSH implements a channel extension message to perform this
    202   1.1  christos signalling: "eow (a] openssh.com" (End Of Write). This message is sent by
    203   1.1  christos an endpoint when the local output of a session channel is closed or
    204   1.1  christos experiences a write error. The message is formatted as follows:
    205   1.1  christos 
    206   1.1  christos 	byte		SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_REQUEST
    207   1.1  christos 	uint32		recipient channel
    208   1.1  christos 	string		"eow (a] openssh.com"
    209   1.1  christos 	boolean		FALSE
    210   1.1  christos 
    211   1.1  christos On receiving this message, the peer SHOULD cease sending data of
    212   1.1  christos the channel and MAY signal the process from which the channel data
    213   1.1  christos originates (e.g. by closing its read file descriptor).
    214   1.1  christos 
    215   1.1  christos As with the symmetric SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_EOF message, the channel does
    216   1.1  christos remain open after a "eow (a] openssh.com" has been sent and more data may
    217   1.1  christos still be sent in the other direction. This message does not consume
    218   1.1  christos window space and may be sent even if no window space is available.
    219   1.1  christos 
    220   1.1  christos NB. due to certain broken SSH implementations aborting upon receipt
    221   1.1  christos of this message (in contravention of RFC4254 section 5.4), this
    222   1.1  christos message is only sent to OpenSSH peers (identified by banner).
    223  1.15  christos Other SSH implementations may be listed to receive this message
    224   1.1  christos upon request.
    225   1.1  christos 
    226   1.2  christos 2.2. connection: disallow additional sessions extension
    227   1.2  christos      "no-more-sessions (a] openssh.com"
    228   1.1  christos 
    229   1.1  christos Most SSH connections will only ever request a single session, but a
    230   1.1  christos attacker may abuse a running ssh client to surreptitiously open
    231   1.1  christos additional sessions under their control. OpenSSH provides a global
    232   1.1  christos request "no-more-sessions (a] openssh.com" to mitigate this attack.
    233   1.1  christos 
    234   1.1  christos When an OpenSSH client expects that it will never open another session
    235   1.1  christos (i.e. it has been started with connection multiplexing disabled), it
    236   1.1  christos will send the following global request:
    237   1.1  christos 
    238   1.1  christos 	byte		SSH_MSG_GLOBAL_REQUEST
    239   1.1  christos 	string		"no-more-sessions (a] openssh.com"
    240   1.1  christos 	char		want-reply
    241   1.1  christos 
    242   1.1  christos On receipt of such a message, an OpenSSH server will refuse to open
    243   1.1  christos future channels of type "session" and instead immediately abort the
    244   1.1  christos connection.
    245   1.1  christos 
    246   1.1  christos Note that this is not a general defence against compromised clients
    247   1.1  christos (that is impossible), but it thwarts a simple attack.
    248   1.1  christos 
    249   1.1  christos NB. due to certain broken SSH implementations aborting upon receipt
    250   1.1  christos of this message, the no-more-sessions request is only sent to OpenSSH
    251   1.1  christos servers (identified by banner). Other SSH implementations may be
    252  1.15  christos listed to receive this message upon request.
    253   1.1  christos 
    254   1.2  christos 2.3. connection: Tunnel forward extension "tun (a] openssh.com"
    255   1.1  christos 
    256   1.1  christos OpenSSH supports layer 2 and layer 3 tunnelling via the "tun (a] openssh.com"
    257   1.1  christos channel type. This channel type supports forwarding of network packets
    258   1.6  christos with datagram boundaries intact between endpoints equipped with
    259   1.1  christos interfaces like the BSD tun(4) device. Tunnel forwarding channels are
    260   1.1  christos requested by the client with the following packet:
    261   1.1  christos 
    262   1.1  christos 	byte		SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_OPEN
    263   1.1  christos 	string		"tun (a] openssh.com"
    264   1.1  christos 	uint32		sender channel
    265   1.1  christos 	uint32		initial window size
    266   1.1  christos 	uint32		maximum packet size
    267   1.1  christos 	uint32		tunnel mode
    268   1.1  christos 	uint32		remote unit number
    269   1.1  christos 
    270   1.1  christos The "tunnel mode" parameter specifies whether the tunnel should forward
    271   1.1  christos layer 2 frames or layer 3 packets. It may take one of the following values:
    272   1.1  christos 
    273   1.1  christos 	SSH_TUNMODE_POINTOPOINT  1		/* layer 3 packets */
    274   1.1  christos 	SSH_TUNMODE_ETHERNET     2		/* layer 2 frames */
    275   1.1  christos 
    276   1.1  christos The "tunnel unit number" specifies the remote interface number, or may
    277  1.14  christos be 0x7fffffff to allow the server to automatically choose an interface. A
    278   1.2  christos server that is not willing to open a client-specified unit should refuse
    279   1.2  christos the request with a SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_OPEN_FAILURE error. On successful
    280   1.2  christos open, the server should reply with SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_OPEN_SUCCESS.
    281   1.1  christos 
    282   1.1  christos Once established the client and server may exchange packet or frames
    283   1.1  christos over the tunnel channel by encapsulating them in SSH protocol strings
    284   1.1  christos and sending them as channel data. This ensures that packet boundaries
    285   1.1  christos are kept intact. Specifically, packets are transmitted using normal
    286   1.1  christos SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_DATA packets:
    287   1.1  christos 
    288   1.1  christos 	byte		SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_DATA
    289   1.1  christos 	uint32		recipient channel
    290   1.1  christos 	string		data
    291   1.1  christos 
    292   1.1  christos The contents of the "data" field for layer 3 packets is:
    293   1.1  christos 
    294   1.1  christos 	uint32			packet length
    295   1.1  christos 	uint32			address family
    296   1.1  christos 	byte[packet length - 4]	packet data
    297   1.1  christos 
    298   1.1  christos The "address family" field identifies the type of packet in the message.
    299   1.1  christos It may be one of:
    300   1.1  christos 
    301   1.1  christos 	SSH_TUN_AF_INET		2		/* IPv4 */
    302   1.1  christos 	SSH_TUN_AF_INET6	24		/* IPv6 */
    303   1.1  christos 
    304   1.1  christos The "packet data" field consists of the IPv4/IPv6 datagram itself
    305   1.1  christos without any link layer header.
    306   1.1  christos 
    307   1.2  christos The contents of the "data" field for layer 2 packets is:
    308   1.1  christos 
    309   1.1  christos 	uint32			packet length
    310   1.1  christos 	byte[packet length]	frame
    311   1.1  christos 
    312   1.1  christos The "frame" field contains an IEEE 802.3 Ethernet frame, including
    313   1.1  christos header.
    314   1.1  christos 
    315   1.4  christos 2.4. connection: Unix domain socket forwarding
    316   1.4  christos 
    317   1.4  christos OpenSSH supports local and remote Unix domain socket forwarding
    318   1.4  christos using the "streamlocal" extension.  Forwarding is initiated as per
    319   1.4  christos TCP sockets but with a single path instead of a host and port.
    320   1.4  christos 
    321   1.4  christos Similar to direct-tcpip, direct-streamlocal is sent by the client
    322   1.4  christos to request that the server make a connection to a Unix domain socket.
    323   1.4  christos 
    324   1.4  christos 	byte		SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_OPEN
    325   1.4  christos 	string		"direct-streamlocal (a] openssh.com"
    326   1.4  christos 	uint32		sender channel
    327   1.4  christos 	uint32		initial window size
    328   1.4  christos 	uint32		maximum packet size
    329   1.4  christos 	string		socket path
    330   1.8  christos 	string		reserved
    331   1.8  christos 	uint32		reserved
    332   1.4  christos 
    333   1.4  christos Similar to forwarded-tcpip, forwarded-streamlocal is sent by the
    334   1.4  christos server when the client has previously send the server a streamlocal-forward
    335   1.4  christos GLOBAL_REQUEST.
    336   1.4  christos 
    337   1.4  christos 	byte		SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_OPEN
    338   1.4  christos 	string		"forwarded-streamlocal (a] openssh.com"
    339   1.4  christos 	uint32		sender channel
    340   1.4  christos 	uint32		initial window size
    341   1.4  christos 	uint32		maximum packet size
    342   1.4  christos 	string		socket path
    343   1.4  christos 	string		reserved for future use
    344   1.4  christos 
    345   1.4  christos The reserved field is not currently defined and is ignored on the
    346   1.4  christos remote end.  It is intended to be used in the future to pass
    347   1.4  christos information about the socket file, such as ownership and mode.
    348   1.4  christos The client currently sends the empty string for this field.
    349   1.4  christos 
    350   1.4  christos Similar to tcpip-forward, streamlocal-forward is sent by the client
    351   1.4  christos to request remote forwarding of a Unix domain socket.
    352   1.4  christos 
    353   1.4  christos 	byte		SSH2_MSG_GLOBAL_REQUEST
    354   1.4  christos 	string		"streamlocal-forward (a] openssh.com"
    355   1.4  christos 	boolean		TRUE
    356   1.4  christos 	string		socket path
    357   1.4  christos 
    358   1.4  christos Similar to cancel-tcpip-forward, cancel-streamlocal-forward is sent
    359   1.4  christos by the client cancel the forwarding of a Unix domain socket.
    360   1.4  christos 
    361   1.4  christos 	byte		SSH2_MSG_GLOBAL_REQUEST
    362   1.4  christos 	string		"cancel-streamlocal-forward (a] openssh.com"
    363   1.4  christos 	boolean		FALSE
    364   1.4  christos 	string		socket path
    365   1.4  christos 
    366   1.5  christos 2.5. connection: hostkey update and rotation "hostkeys-00 (a] openssh.com"
    367   1.5  christos and "hostkeys-prove-00 (a] openssh.com"
    368   1.5  christos 
    369   1.5  christos OpenSSH supports a protocol extension allowing a server to inform
    370   1.5  christos a client of all its protocol v.2 host keys after user-authentication
    371   1.5  christos has completed.
    372   1.5  christos 
    373   1.5  christos 	byte		SSH_MSG_GLOBAL_REQUEST
    374   1.5  christos 	string		"hostkeys-00 (a] openssh.com"
    375  1.16  christos 	char		0 /* want-reply */
    376   1.5  christos 	string[]	hostkeys
    377   1.5  christos 
    378   1.5  christos Upon receiving this message, a client should check which of the
    379  1.11  christos supplied host keys are present in known_hosts.
    380  1.11  christos 
    381  1.11  christos Note that the server may send key types that the client does not
    382  1.14  christos support. The client should disregard such keys if they are received.
    383  1.11  christos 
    384  1.11  christos If the client identifies any keys that are not present for the host,
    385  1.11  christos it should send a "hostkeys-prove (a] openssh.com" message to request the
    386  1.11  christos server prove ownership of the private half of the key.
    387   1.5  christos 
    388   1.5  christos 	byte		SSH_MSG_GLOBAL_REQUEST
    389   1.5  christos 	string		"hostkeys-prove-00 (a] openssh.com"
    390   1.5  christos 	char		1 /* want-reply */
    391   1.5  christos 	string[]	hostkeys
    392   1.5  christos 
    393   1.5  christos When a server receives this message, it should generate a signature
    394   1.5  christos using each requested key over the following:
    395   1.5  christos 
    396   1.5  christos 	string		"hostkeys-prove-00 (a] openssh.com"
    397   1.5  christos 	string		session identifier
    398   1.5  christos 	string		hostkey
    399   1.5  christos 
    400   1.5  christos These signatures should be included in the reply, in the order matching
    401   1.5  christos the hostkeys in the request:
    402   1.5  christos 
    403   1.5  christos 	byte		SSH_MSG_REQUEST_SUCCESS
    404   1.5  christos 	string[]	signatures
    405   1.5  christos 
    406   1.5  christos When the client receives this reply (and not a failure), it should
    407   1.5  christos validate the signatures and may update its known_hosts file, adding keys
    408   1.5  christos that it has not seen before and deleting keys for the server host that
    409   1.5  christos are no longer offered.
    410   1.5  christos 
    411   1.5  christos These extensions let a client learn key types that it had not previously
    412   1.5  christos encountered, thereby allowing it to potentially upgrade from weaker
    413   1.5  christos key algorithms to better ones. It also supports graceful key rotation:
    414   1.5  christos a server may offer multiple keys of the same type for a period (to
    415   1.5  christos give clients an opportunity to learn them using this extension) before
    416   1.5  christos removing the deprecated key from those offered.
    417   1.5  christos 
    418  1.13  christos 2.6. connection: SIGINFO support for "signal" channel request
    419  1.13  christos 
    420  1.13  christos The SSH channels protocol (RFC4254 section 6.9) supports sending a
    421  1.13  christos signal to a session attached to a channel. OpenSSH supports one
    422  1.13  christos extension signal "INFO (a] openssh.com" that allows sending SIGINFO on
    423  1.13  christos BSD-derived systems.
    424  1.13  christos 
    425  1.18  christos 3. Authentication protocol changes
    426   1.2  christos 
    427  1.18  christos 3.1. Host-bound public key authentication
    428  1.18  christos 
    429  1.18  christos This is trivial change to the traditional "publickey" authentication
    430  1.18  christos method. The authentication request is identical to the original method
    431  1.18  christos but for the name and one additional field:
    432  1.18  christos 
    433  1.18  christos 	byte		SSH2_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST
    434  1.18  christos 	string		username
    435  1.18  christos 	string		"ssh-connection"
    436  1.18  christos 	string		"publickey-hostbound-v00 (a] openssh.com"
    437  1.18  christos 	bool		has_signature
    438  1.18  christos 	string		pkalg
    439  1.18  christos 	string		public key
    440  1.18  christos 	string		server host key
    441  1.18  christos 
    442  1.18  christos Because the entire SSH2_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST message is included in
    443  1.18  christos the signed data, this ensures that a binding between the destination
    444  1.18  christos user, the server identity and the session identifier is visible to the
    445  1.18  christos signer. OpenSSH uses this binding via signed data to implement per-key
    446  1.18  christos restrictions in ssh-agent.
    447  1.18  christos 
    448  1.18  christos A server may advertise this method using the SSH2_MSG_EXT_INFO
    449  1.18  christos mechanism (RFC8308), with the following message:
    450  1.18  christos 
    451  1.18  christos 	string		"publickey-hostbound (a] openssh.com"
    452  1.18  christos 	string		"0" (version)
    453  1.18  christos 
    454  1.18  christos Clients should prefer host-bound authentication when advertised by
    455  1.18  christos server.
    456  1.18  christos 
    457  1.18  christos 4. SFTP protocol changes
    458  1.18  christos 
    459  1.18  christos 4.1. sftp: Reversal of arguments to SSH_FXP_SYMLINK
    460   1.1  christos 
    461   1.1  christos When OpenSSH's sftp-server was implemented, the order of the arguments
    462   1.1  christos to the SSH_FXP_SYMLINK method was inadvertently reversed. Unfortunately,
    463   1.1  christos the reversal was not noticed until the server was widely deployed. Since
    464   1.1  christos fixing this to follow the specification would cause incompatibility, the
    465   1.1  christos current order was retained. For correct operation, clients should send
    466   1.1  christos SSH_FXP_SYMLINK as follows:
    467   1.1  christos 
    468   1.1  christos 	uint32		id
    469   1.1  christos 	string		targetpath
    470   1.1  christos 	string		linkpath
    471   1.1  christos 
    472  1.18  christos 4.2. sftp: Server extension announcement in SSH_FXP_VERSION
    473   1.1  christos 
    474   1.1  christos OpenSSH's sftp-server lists the extensions it supports using the
    475   1.1  christos standard extension announcement mechanism in the SSH_FXP_VERSION server
    476   1.1  christos hello packet:
    477   1.1  christos 
    478   1.1  christos 	uint32		3		/* protocol version */
    479   1.1  christos 	string		ext1-name
    480   1.1  christos 	string		ext1-version
    481   1.1  christos 	string		ext2-name
    482   1.1  christos 	string		ext2-version
    483   1.1  christos 	...
    484   1.1  christos 	string		extN-name
    485   1.1  christos 	string		extN-version
    486   1.1  christos 
    487   1.1  christos Each extension reports its integer version number as an ASCII encoded
    488   1.1  christos string, e.g. "1". The version will be incremented if the extension is
    489   1.1  christos ever changed in an incompatible way. The server MAY advertise the same
    490   1.1  christos extension with multiple versions (though this is unlikely). Clients MUST
    491   1.1  christos check the version number before attempting to use the extension.
    492   1.1  christos 
    493  1.18  christos 4.3. sftp: Extension request "posix-rename (a] openssh.com"
    494   1.1  christos 
    495   1.1  christos This operation provides a rename operation with POSIX semantics, which
    496   1.1  christos are different to those provided by the standard SSH_FXP_RENAME in
    497   1.1  christos draft-ietf-secsh-filexfer-02.txt. This request is implemented as a
    498   1.1  christos SSH_FXP_EXTENDED request with the following format:
    499   1.1  christos 
    500   1.1  christos 	uint32		id
    501   1.1  christos 	string		"posix-rename (a] openssh.com"
    502   1.1  christos 	string		oldpath
    503   1.1  christos 	string		newpath
    504   1.1  christos 
    505   1.1  christos On receiving this request the server will perform the POSIX operation
    506   1.1  christos rename(oldpath, newpath) and will respond with a SSH_FXP_STATUS message.
    507   1.1  christos This extension is advertised in the SSH_FXP_VERSION hello with version
    508   1.1  christos "1".
    509   1.1  christos 
    510  1.18  christos 4.4. sftp: Extension requests "statvfs (a] openssh.com" and
    511   1.1  christos          "fstatvfs (a] openssh.com"
    512   1.1  christos 
    513   1.1  christos These requests correspond to the statvfs and fstatvfs POSIX system
    514   1.1  christos interfaces. The "statvfs (a] openssh.com" request operates on an explicit
    515   1.1  christos pathname, and is formatted as follows:
    516   1.1  christos 
    517   1.1  christos 	uint32		id
    518   1.1  christos 	string		"statvfs (a] openssh.com"
    519   1.1  christos 	string		path
    520   1.1  christos 
    521   1.1  christos The "fstatvfs (a] openssh.com" operates on an open file handle:
    522   1.1  christos 
    523   1.1  christos 	uint32		id
    524   1.1  christos 	string		"fstatvfs (a] openssh.com"
    525   1.1  christos 	string		handle
    526   1.1  christos 
    527   1.1  christos These requests return a SSH_FXP_STATUS reply on failure. On success they
    528   1.1  christos return the following SSH_FXP_EXTENDED_REPLY reply:
    529   1.1  christos 
    530   1.1  christos 	uint32		id
    531   1.1  christos 	uint64		f_bsize		/* file system block size */
    532   1.1  christos 	uint64		f_frsize	/* fundamental fs block size */
    533   1.1  christos 	uint64		f_blocks	/* number of blocks (unit f_frsize) */
    534   1.1  christos 	uint64		f_bfree		/* free blocks in file system */
    535   1.1  christos 	uint64		f_bavail	/* free blocks for non-root */
    536   1.1  christos 	uint64		f_files		/* total file inodes */
    537   1.1  christos 	uint64		f_ffree		/* free file inodes */
    538   1.1  christos 	uint64		f_favail	/* free file inodes for to non-root */
    539   1.1  christos 	uint64		f_fsid		/* file system id */
    540   1.1  christos 	uint64		f_flag		/* bit mask of f_flag values */
    541   1.1  christos 	uint64		f_namemax	/* maximum filename length */
    542   1.1  christos 
    543   1.1  christos The values of the f_flag bitmask are as follows:
    544   1.1  christos 
    545   1.1  christos 	#define SSH_FXE_STATVFS_ST_RDONLY	0x1	/* read-only */
    546   1.1  christos 	#define SSH_FXE_STATVFS_ST_NOSUID	0x2	/* no setuid */
    547   1.1  christos 
    548   1.1  christos Both the "statvfs (a] openssh.com" and "fstatvfs (a] openssh.com" extensions are
    549   1.1  christos advertised in the SSH_FXP_VERSION hello with version "2".
    550   1.1  christos 
    551  1.18  christos 4.5. sftp: Extension request "hardlink (a] openssh.com"
    552   1.2  christos 
    553   1.2  christos This request is for creating a hard link to a regular file. This
    554   1.2  christos request is implemented as a SSH_FXP_EXTENDED request with the
    555   1.2  christos following format:
    556   1.2  christos 
    557   1.2  christos 	uint32		id
    558   1.2  christos 	string		"hardlink (a] openssh.com"
    559   1.2  christos 	string		oldpath
    560   1.2  christos 	string		newpath
    561   1.2  christos 
    562   1.2  christos On receiving this request the server will perform the operation
    563   1.2  christos link(oldpath, newpath) and will respond with a SSH_FXP_STATUS message.
    564   1.2  christos This extension is advertised in the SSH_FXP_VERSION hello with version
    565   1.2  christos "1".
    566   1.2  christos 
    567  1.18  christos 4.6. sftp: Extension request "fsync (a] openssh.com"
    568   1.4  christos 
    569   1.4  christos This request asks the server to call fsync(2) on an open file handle.
    570   1.4  christos 
    571   1.4  christos 	uint32		id
    572   1.4  christos 	string		"fsync (a] openssh.com"
    573   1.4  christos 	string		handle
    574   1.4  christos 
    575  1.19  christos On receiving this request, a server will call fsync(handle_fd) and will
    576   1.4  christos respond with a SSH_FXP_STATUS message.
    577   1.4  christos 
    578   1.4  christos This extension is advertised in the SSH_FXP_VERSION hello with version
    579   1.4  christos "1".
    580   1.4  christos 
    581  1.18  christos 4.7. sftp: Extension request "lsetstat (a] openssh.com"
    582  1.16  christos 
    583  1.16  christos This request is like the "setstat" command, but sets file attributes on
    584  1.16  christos symlinks.  It is implemented as a SSH_FXP_EXTENDED request with the
    585  1.16  christos following format:
    586  1.16  christos 
    587  1.16  christos 	uint32		id
    588  1.16  christos 	string		"lsetstat (a] openssh.com"
    589  1.16  christos 	string		path
    590  1.16  christos 	ATTRS		attrs
    591  1.16  christos 
    592  1.16  christos See the "setstat" command for more details.
    593  1.16  christos 
    594  1.16  christos This extension is advertised in the SSH_FXP_VERSION hello with version
    595  1.16  christos "1".
    596  1.16  christos 
    597  1.18  christos 4.8. sftp: Extension request "limits (a] openssh.com"
    598  1.16  christos 
    599  1.16  christos This request is used to determine various limits the server might impose.
    600  1.16  christos Clients should not attempt to exceed these limits as the server might sever
    601  1.16  christos the connection immediately.
    602  1.16  christos 
    603  1.16  christos 	uint32		id
    604  1.16  christos 	string		"limits (a] openssh.com"
    605  1.16  christos 
    606  1.16  christos The server will respond with a SSH_FXP_EXTENDED_REPLY reply:
    607  1.16  christos 
    608  1.16  christos 	uint32		id
    609  1.16  christos 	uint64		max-packet-length
    610  1.16  christos 	uint64		max-read-length
    611  1.16  christos 	uint64		max-write-length
    612  1.16  christos 	uint64		max-open-handles
    613  1.16  christos 
    614  1.16  christos The 'max-packet-length' applies to the total number of bytes in a
    615  1.16  christos single SFTP packet.  Servers SHOULD set this at least to 34000.
    616  1.16  christos 
    617  1.16  christos The 'max-read-length' is the largest length in a SSH_FXP_READ packet.
    618  1.16  christos Even if the client requests a larger size, servers will usually respond
    619  1.16  christos with a shorter SSH_FXP_DATA packet.  Servers SHOULD set this at least to
    620  1.16  christos 32768.
    621  1.16  christos 
    622  1.16  christos The 'max-write-length' is the largest length in a SSH_FXP_WRITE packet
    623  1.16  christos the server will accept.  Servers SHOULD set this at least to 32768.
    624  1.16  christos 
    625  1.16  christos The 'max-open-handles' is the maximum number of active handles that the
    626  1.16  christos server allows (e.g. handles created by SSH_FXP_OPEN and SSH_FXP_OPENDIR
    627  1.16  christos packets).  Servers MAY count internal file handles against this limit
    628  1.16  christos (e.g. system logging or stdout/stderr), so clients SHOULD NOT expect to
    629  1.16  christos open this many handles in practice.
    630  1.16  christos 
    631  1.16  christos If the server doesn't enforce a specific limit, then the field may be
    632  1.16  christos set to 0.  This implies the server relies on the OS to enforce limits
    633  1.16  christos (e.g. available memory or file handles), and such limits might be
    634  1.16  christos dynamic.  The client SHOULD take care to not try to exceed reasonable
    635  1.16  christos limits.
    636  1.16  christos 
    637  1.16  christos This extension is advertised in the SSH_FXP_VERSION hello with version
    638  1.16  christos "1".
    639  1.16  christos 
    640  1.18  christos 4.9. sftp: Extension request "expand-path (a] openssh.com"
    641  1.17  christos 
    642  1.17  christos This request supports canonicalisation of relative paths and
    643  1.17  christos those that need tilde-expansion, i.e. "~", "~/..." and "~user/..."
    644  1.17  christos These paths are expanded using shell-like rules and the resultant
    645  1.17  christos path is canonicalised similarly to SSH2_FXP_REALPATH.
    646  1.17  christos 
    647  1.17  christos It is implemented as a SSH_FXP_EXTENDED request with the following
    648  1.17  christos format:
    649  1.17  christos 
    650  1.17  christos 	uint32		id
    651  1.17  christos 	string		"expand-path (a] openssh.com"
    652  1.17  christos 	string		path
    653  1.17  christos 
    654  1.17  christos Its reply is the same format as that of SSH2_FXP_REALPATH.
    655  1.17  christos 
    656  1.17  christos This extension is advertised in the SSH_FXP_VERSION hello with version
    657  1.17  christos "1".
    658  1.17  christos 
    659  1.19  christos 4.10. sftp: Extension request "copy-data"
    660  1.19  christos 
    661  1.19  christos This request asks the server to copy data from one open file handle and
    662  1.19  christos write it to a different open file handle.  This avoids needing to transfer
    663  1.19  christos the data across the network twice (a download followed by an upload).
    664  1.19  christos 
    665  1.19  christos 	byte		SSH_FXP_EXTENDED
    666  1.19  christos 	uint32		id
    667  1.19  christos 	string		"copy-data"
    668  1.19  christos 	string		read-from-handle
    669  1.19  christos 	uint64		read-from-offset
    670  1.19  christos 	uint64		read-data-length
    671  1.19  christos 	string		write-to-handle
    672  1.19  christos 	uint64		write-to-offset
    673  1.19  christos 
    674  1.19  christos The server will copy read-data-length bytes starting from
    675  1.19  christos read-from-offset from the read-from-handle and write them to
    676  1.19  christos write-to-handle starting from write-to-offset, and then respond with a
    677  1.19  christos SSH_FXP_STATUS message.
    678  1.19  christos 
    679  1.19  christos It's equivalent to issuing a series of SSH_FXP_READ requests on
    680  1.19  christos read-from-handle and a series of requests of SSH_FXP_WRITE on
    681  1.19  christos write-to-handle.
    682  1.19  christos 
    683  1.19  christos If read-from-handle and write-to-handle are the same, the server will
    684  1.19  christos fail the request and respond with a SSH_FX_INVALID_PARAMETER message.
    685  1.19  christos 
    686  1.19  christos If read-data-length is 0, then the server will read data from the
    687  1.19  christos read-from-handle until EOF is reached.
    688  1.19  christos 
    689  1.19  christos This extension is advertised in the SSH_FXP_VERSION hello with version
    690  1.19  christos "1".
    691  1.19  christos 
    692  1.19  christos This request is identical to the "copy-data" request documented in:
    693  1.19  christos 
    694  1.19  christos https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-secsh-filexfer-extensions-00#section-7
    695  1.19  christos 
    696  1.20  christos 4.11. sftp: Extension request "home-directory"
    697  1.20  christos 
    698  1.20  christos This request asks the server to expand the specified user's home directory.
    699  1.20  christos An empty username implies the current user.  This can be used by the client
    700  1.20  christos to expand ~/ type paths locally.
    701  1.20  christos 
    702  1.20  christos 	byte		SSH_FXP_EXTENDED
    703  1.20  christos 	uint32		id
    704  1.20  christos 	string		"home-directory"
    705  1.20  christos 	string		username
    706  1.20  christos 
    707  1.20  christos This extension is advertised in the SSH_FXP_VERSION hello with version
    708  1.20  christos "1".
    709  1.20  christos 
    710  1.20  christos This provides similar information as the "expand-path (a] openssh.com" extension.
    711  1.20  christos 
    712  1.20  christos This request is identical to the "home-directory" request documented in:
    713  1.20  christos 
    714  1.20  christos https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-secsh-filexfer-extensions-00#section-5
    715  1.20  christos 
    716  1.20  christos 4.12. sftp: Extension request "users-groups-by-id (a] openssh.com"
    717  1.20  christos 
    718  1.21  christos This request asks the server to return user and/or group names that
    719  1.20  christos correspond to one or more IDs (e.g. as returned from a SSH_FXP_STAT
    720  1.20  christos request). This may be used by the client to provide usernames in
    721  1.20  christos directory listings.
    722  1.20  christos 
    723  1.20  christos 	byte		SSH_FXP_EXTENDED
    724  1.20  christos 	uint32		id
    725  1.20  christos 	string		"users-groups-by-id (a] openssh.com"
    726  1.20  christos 	string		uids
    727  1.20  christos 	string		gids
    728  1.20  christos 
    729  1.20  christos Where "uids" and "gids" consists of one or more integer user or group
    730  1.20  christos identifiers:
    731  1.20  christos 
    732  1.20  christos 	uint32		id-0
    733  1.20  christos 	...
    734  1.20  christos 
    735  1.20  christos The server will reply with a SSH_FXP_EXTENDED_REPLY:
    736  1.20  christos 
    737  1.20  christos 	byte		SSH_FXP_EXTENDED_REPLY
    738  1.20  christos 	string		usernames
    739  1.20  christos 	string		groupnames
    740  1.20  christos 
    741  1.20  christos Where "username" and "groupnames" consists of names in identical request
    742  1.20  christos order to "uids" and "gids" respectively:
    743  1.20  christos 
    744  1.20  christos 	string		name-0
    745  1.20  christos 	...
    746  1.20  christos 
    747  1.20  christos If a name cannot be identified for a given user or group ID, an empty
    748  1.20  christos string will be returned in its place.
    749  1.20  christos 
    750  1.20  christos It is acceptable for either "uids" or "gids" to be an empty set, in
    751  1.20  christos which case the respective "usernames" or "groupnames" list will also
    752  1.20  christos be empty.
    753  1.20  christos 
    754  1.20  christos This extension is advertised in the SSH_FXP_VERSION hello with version
    755  1.20  christos "1".
    756  1.20  christos 
    757  1.18  christos 5. Miscellaneous changes
    758  1.12  christos 
    759  1.18  christos 5.1 Public key format
    760  1.12  christos 
    761  1.12  christos OpenSSH public keys, as generated by ssh-keygen(1) and appearing in
    762  1.12  christos authorized_keys files, are formatted as a single line of text consisting
    763  1.12  christos of the public key algorithm name followed by a base64-encoded key blob.
    764  1.12  christos The public key blob (before base64 encoding) is the same format used for
    765  1.12  christos the encoding of public keys sent on the wire: as described in RFC4253
    766  1.12  christos section 6.6 for RSA and DSA keys, RFC5656 section 3.1 for ECDSA keys
    767  1.12  christos and the "New public key formats" section of PROTOCOL.certkeys for the
    768  1.12  christos OpenSSH certificate formats.
    769  1.12  christos 
    770  1.18  christos 5.2 Private key format
    771  1.12  christos 
    772  1.12  christos OpenSSH private keys, as generated by ssh-keygen(1) use the format
    773  1.12  christos described in PROTOCOL.key by default. As a legacy option, PEM format
    774  1.12  christos (RFC7468) private keys are also supported for RSA, DSA and ECDSA keys
    775  1.12  christos and were the default format before OpenSSH 7.8.
    776  1.12  christos 
    777  1.18  christos 5.3 KRL format
    778  1.12  christos 
    779  1.12  christos OpenSSH supports a compact format for Key Revocation Lists (KRLs). This
    780  1.12  christos format is described in the PROTOCOL.krl file.
    781  1.12  christos 
    782  1.18  christos 5.4 Connection multiplexing
    783  1.12  christos 
    784  1.12  christos OpenSSH's connection multiplexing uses messages as described in
    785  1.12  christos PROTOCOL.mux over a Unix domain socket for communications between a
    786  1.12  christos master instance and later clients.
    787  1.12  christos 
    788  1.18  christos 5.5. Agent protocol extensions
    789  1.18  christos 
    790  1.18  christos OpenSSH extends the usual agent protocol. These changes are documented
    791  1.18  christos in the PROTOCOL.agent file.
    792  1.18  christos 
    793  1.23  christos $OpenBSD: PROTOCOL,v 1.51 2023/12/18 14:45:49 djm Exp $
    794   1.3  christos $NetBSD: PROTOCOL,v 1.23 2023/12/20 17:15:20 christos Exp $
    795