xref: /freebsd/crypto/openssh/ssh-keygen.1 (revision 5ffd83dbcc34f10e07f6d3e968ae6365869615f4)
1.\"	$OpenBSD: ssh-keygen.1,v 1.150 2018/09/12 06:18:59 djm Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Author: Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>
4.\" Copyright (c) 1995 Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>, Espoo, Finland
5.\"                    All rights reserved
6.\"
7.\" As far as I am concerned, the code I have written for this software
8.\" can be used freely for any purpose.  Any derived versions of this
9.\" software must be clearly marked as such, and if the derived work is
10.\" incompatible with the protocol description in the RFC file, it must be
11.\" called by a name other than "ssh" or "Secure Shell".
12.\"
13.\"
14.\" Copyright (c) 1999,2000 Markus Friedl.  All rights reserved.
15.\" Copyright (c) 1999 Aaron Campbell.  All rights reserved.
16.\" Copyright (c) 1999 Theo de Raadt.  All rights reserved.
17.\"
18.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
19.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
20.\" are met:
21.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
22.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
23.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
24.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
25.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
26.\"
27.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
28.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
29.\" OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
30.\" IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
31.\" INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
32.\" NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
33.\" DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
34.\" THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
35.\" (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
36.\" THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
37.\"
38.Dd $Mdocdate: September 12 2018 $
39.Dt SSH-KEYGEN 1
40.Os
41.Sh NAME
42.Nm ssh-keygen
43.Nd authentication key generation, management and conversion
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.Bk -words
46.Nm ssh-keygen
47.Op Fl q
48.Op Fl b Ar bits
49.Op Fl t Cm dsa | ecdsa | ed25519 | rsa
50.Op Fl N Ar new_passphrase
51.Op Fl C Ar comment
52.Op Fl f Ar output_keyfile
53.Nm ssh-keygen
54.Fl p
55.Op Fl P Ar old_passphrase
56.Op Fl N Ar new_passphrase
57.Op Fl f Ar keyfile
58.Nm ssh-keygen
59.Fl i
60.Op Fl m Ar key_format
61.Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
62.Nm ssh-keygen
63.Fl e
64.Op Fl m Ar key_format
65.Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
66.Nm ssh-keygen
67.Fl y
68.Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
69.Nm ssh-keygen
70.Fl c
71.Op Fl P Ar passphrase
72.Op Fl C Ar comment
73.Op Fl f Ar keyfile
74.Nm ssh-keygen
75.Fl l
76.Op Fl v
77.Op Fl E Ar fingerprint_hash
78.Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
79.Nm ssh-keygen
80.Fl B
81.Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
82.Nm ssh-keygen
83.Fl D Ar pkcs11
84.Nm ssh-keygen
85.Fl F Ar hostname
86.Op Fl f Ar known_hosts_file
87.Op Fl l
88.Nm ssh-keygen
89.Fl H
90.Op Fl f Ar known_hosts_file
91.Nm ssh-keygen
92.Fl R Ar hostname
93.Op Fl f Ar known_hosts_file
94.Nm ssh-keygen
95.Fl r Ar hostname
96.Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
97.Op Fl g
98.Nm ssh-keygen
99.Fl G Ar output_file
100.Op Fl v
101.Op Fl b Ar bits
102.Op Fl M Ar memory
103.Op Fl S Ar start_point
104.Nm ssh-keygen
105.Fl T Ar output_file
106.Fl f Ar input_file
107.Op Fl v
108.Op Fl a Ar rounds
109.Op Fl J Ar num_lines
110.Op Fl j Ar start_line
111.Op Fl K Ar checkpt
112.Op Fl W Ar generator
113.Nm ssh-keygen
114.Fl s Ar ca_key
115.Fl I Ar certificate_identity
116.Op Fl h
117.Op Fl U
118.Op Fl D Ar pkcs11_provider
119.Op Fl n Ar principals
120.Op Fl O Ar option
121.Op Fl V Ar validity_interval
122.Op Fl z Ar serial_number
123.Ar
124.Nm ssh-keygen
125.Fl L
126.Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
127.Nm ssh-keygen
128.Fl A
129.Op Fl f Ar prefix_path
130.Nm ssh-keygen
131.Fl k
132.Fl f Ar krl_file
133.Op Fl u
134.Op Fl s Ar ca_public
135.Op Fl z Ar version_number
136.Ar
137.Nm ssh-keygen
138.Fl Q
139.Fl f Ar krl_file
140.Ar
141.Ek
142.Sh DESCRIPTION
143.Nm
144generates, manages and converts authentication keys for
145.Xr ssh 1 .
146.Nm
147can create keys for use by SSH protocol version 2.
148.Pp
149The type of key to be generated is specified with the
150.Fl t
151option.
152If invoked without any arguments,
153.Nm
154will generate an RSA key.
155.Pp
156.Nm
157is also used to generate groups for use in Diffie-Hellman group
158exchange (DH-GEX).
159See the
160.Sx MODULI GENERATION
161section for details.
162.Pp
163Finally,
164.Nm
165can be used to generate and update Key Revocation Lists, and to test whether
166given keys have been revoked by one.
167See the
168.Sx KEY REVOCATION LISTS
169section for details.
170.Pp
171Normally each user wishing to use SSH
172with public key authentication runs this once to create the authentication
173key in
174.Pa ~/.ssh/id_dsa ,
175.Pa ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa ,
176.Pa ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
177or
178.Pa ~/.ssh/id_rsa .
179Additionally, the system administrator may use this to generate host keys,
180as seen in
181.Pa /etc/rc .
182.Pp
183Normally this program generates the key and asks for a file in which
184to store the private key.
185The public key is stored in a file with the same name but
186.Dq .pub
187appended.
188The program also asks for a passphrase.
189The passphrase may be empty to indicate no passphrase
190(host keys must have an empty passphrase), or it may be a string of
191arbitrary length.
192A passphrase is similar to a password, except it can be a phrase with a
193series of words, punctuation, numbers, whitespace, or any string of
194characters you want.
195Good passphrases are 10-30 characters long, are
196not simple sentences or otherwise easily guessable (English
197prose has only 1-2 bits of entropy per character, and provides very bad
198passphrases), and contain a mix of upper and lowercase letters,
199numbers, and non-alphanumeric characters.
200The passphrase can be changed later by using the
201.Fl p
202option.
203.Pp
204There is no way to recover a lost passphrase.
205If the passphrase is lost or forgotten, a new key must be generated
206and the corresponding public key copied to other machines.
207.Pp
208For keys stored in the newer OpenSSH format,
209there is also a comment field in the key file that is only for
210convenience to the user to help identify the key.
211The comment can tell what the key is for, or whatever is useful.
212The comment is initialized to
213.Dq user@host
214when the key is created, but can be changed using the
215.Fl c
216option.
217.Pp
218After a key is generated, instructions below detail where the keys
219should be placed to be activated.
220.Pp
221The options are as follows:
222.Bl -tag -width Ds
223.It Fl A
224For each of the key types (rsa, dsa, ecdsa and ed25519)
225for which host keys
226do not exist, generate the host keys with the default key file path,
227an empty passphrase, default bits for the key type, and default comment.
228If
229.Fl f
230has also been specified, its argument is used as a prefix to the
231default path for the resulting host key files.
232This is used by
233.Pa /etc/rc
234to generate new host keys.
235.It Fl a Ar rounds
236When saving a private key this option specifies the number of KDF
237(key derivation function) rounds used.
238Higher numbers result in slower passphrase verification and increased
239resistance to brute-force password cracking (should the keys be stolen).
240.Pp
241When screening DH-GEX candidates (using the
242.Fl T
243command).
244This option specifies the number of primality tests to perform.
245.It Fl B
246Show the bubblebabble digest of specified private or public key file.
247.It Fl b Ar bits
248Specifies the number of bits in the key to create.
249For RSA keys, the minimum size is 1024 bits and the default is 2048 bits.
250Generally, 2048 bits is considered sufficient.
251DSA keys must be exactly 1024 bits as specified by FIPS 186-2.
252For ECDSA keys, the
253.Fl b
254flag determines the key length by selecting from one of three elliptic
255curve sizes: 256, 384 or 521 bits.
256Attempting to use bit lengths other than these three values for ECDSA keys
257will fail.
258Ed25519 keys have a fixed length and the
259.Fl b
260flag will be ignored.
261.It Fl C Ar comment
262Provides a new comment.
263.It Fl c
264Requests changing the comment in the private and public key files.
265The program will prompt for the file containing the private keys, for
266the passphrase if the key has one, and for the new comment.
267.It Fl D Ar pkcs11
268Download the RSA public keys provided by the PKCS#11 shared library
269.Ar pkcs11 .
270When used in combination with
271.Fl s ,
272this option indicates that a CA key resides in a PKCS#11 token (see the
273.Sx CERTIFICATES
274section for details).
275.It Fl E Ar fingerprint_hash
276Specifies the hash algorithm used when displaying key fingerprints.
277Valid options are:
278.Dq md5
279and
280.Dq sha256 .
281The default is
282.Dq sha256 .
283.It Fl e
284This option will read a private or public OpenSSH key file and
285print to stdout the key in one of the formats specified by the
286.Fl m
287option.
288The default export format is
289.Dq RFC4716 .
290This option allows exporting OpenSSH keys for use by other programs, including
291several commercial SSH implementations.
292.It Fl F Ar hostname
293Search for the specified
294.Ar hostname
295in a
296.Pa known_hosts
297file, listing any occurrences found.
298This option is useful to find hashed host names or addresses and may also be
299used in conjunction with the
300.Fl H
301option to print found keys in a hashed format.
302.It Fl f Ar filename
303Specifies the filename of the key file.
304.It Fl G Ar output_file
305Generate candidate primes for DH-GEX.
306These primes must be screened for
307safety (using the
308.Fl T
309option) before use.
310.It Fl g
311Use generic DNS format when printing fingerprint resource records using the
312.Fl r
313command.
314.It Fl H
315Hash a
316.Pa known_hosts
317file.
318This replaces all hostnames and addresses with hashed representations
319within the specified file; the original content is moved to a file with
320a .old suffix.
321These hashes may be used normally by
322.Nm ssh
323and
324.Nm sshd ,
325but they do not reveal identifying information should the file's contents
326be disclosed.
327This option will not modify existing hashed hostnames and is therefore safe
328to use on files that mix hashed and non-hashed names.
329.It Fl h
330When signing a key, create a host certificate instead of a user
331certificate.
332Please see the
333.Sx CERTIFICATES
334section for details.
335.It Fl I Ar certificate_identity
336Specify the key identity when signing a public key.
337Please see the
338.Sx CERTIFICATES
339section for details.
340.It Fl i
341This option will read an unencrypted private (or public) key file
342in the format specified by the
343.Fl m
344option and print an OpenSSH compatible private
345(or public) key to stdout.
346This option allows importing keys from other software, including several
347commercial SSH implementations.
348The default import format is
349.Dq RFC4716 .
350.It Fl J Ar num_lines
351Exit after screening the specified number of lines
352while performing DH candidate screening using the
353.Fl T
354option.
355.It Fl j Ar start_line
356Start screening at the specified line number
357while performing DH candidate screening using the
358.Fl T
359option.
360.It Fl K Ar checkpt
361Write the last line processed to the file
362.Ar checkpt
363while performing DH candidate screening using the
364.Fl T
365option.
366This will be used to skip lines in the input file that have already been
367processed if the job is restarted.
368.It Fl k
369Generate a KRL file.
370In this mode,
371.Nm
372will generate a KRL file at the location specified via the
373.Fl f
374flag that revokes every key or certificate presented on the command line.
375Keys/certificates to be revoked may be specified by public key file or
376using the format described in the
377.Sx KEY REVOCATION LISTS
378section.
379.It Fl L
380Prints the contents of one or more certificates.
381.It Fl l
382Show fingerprint of specified public key file.
383For RSA and DSA keys
384.Nm
385tries to find the matching public key file and prints its fingerprint.
386If combined with
387.Fl v ,
388a visual ASCII art representation of the key is supplied with the
389fingerprint.
390.It Fl M Ar memory
391Specify the amount of memory to use (in megabytes) when generating
392candidate moduli for DH-GEX.
393.It Fl m Ar key_format
394Specify a key format for the
395.Fl i
396(import) or
397.Fl e
398(export) conversion options.
399The supported key formats are:
400.Dq RFC4716
401(RFC 4716/SSH2 public or private key),
402.Dq PKCS8
403(PEM PKCS8 public key)
404or
405.Dq PEM
406(PEM public key).
407The default conversion format is
408.Dq RFC4716 .
409Setting a format of
410.Dq PEM
411when generating or updating a supported private key type will cause the
412key to be stored in the legacy PEM private key format.
413.It Fl N Ar new_passphrase
414Provides the new passphrase.
415.It Fl n Ar principals
416Specify one or more principals (user or host names) to be included in
417a certificate when signing a key.
418Multiple principals may be specified, separated by commas.
419Please see the
420.Sx CERTIFICATES
421section for details.
422.It Fl O Ar option
423Specify a certificate option when signing a key.
424This option may be specified multiple times.
425See also the
426.Sx CERTIFICATES
427section for further details.
428.Pp
429At present, no standard options are valid for host keys.
430The options that are valid for user certificates are:
431.Pp
432.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
433.It Ic clear
434Clear all enabled permissions.
435This is useful for clearing the default set of permissions so permissions may
436be added individually.
437.Pp
438.It Ic critical : Ns Ar name Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar contents
439.It Ic extension : Ns Ar name Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar contents
440Includes an arbitrary certificate critical option or extension.
441The specified
442.Ar name
443should include a domain suffix, e.g.\&
444.Dq name@example.com .
445If
446.Ar contents
447is specified then it is included as the contents of the extension/option
448encoded as a string, otherwise the extension/option is created with no
449contents (usually indicating a flag).
450Extensions may be ignored by a client or server that does not recognise them,
451whereas unknown critical options will cause the certificate to be refused.
452.Pp
453.It Ic force-command Ns = Ns Ar command
454Forces the execution of
455.Ar command
456instead of any shell or command specified by the user when
457the certificate is used for authentication.
458.Pp
459.It Ic no-agent-forwarding
460Disable
461.Xr ssh-agent 1
462forwarding (permitted by default).
463.Pp
464.It Ic no-port-forwarding
465Disable port forwarding (permitted by default).
466.Pp
467.It Ic no-pty
468Disable PTY allocation (permitted by default).
469.Pp
470.It Ic no-user-rc
471Disable execution of
472.Pa ~/.ssh/rc
473by
474.Xr sshd 8
475(permitted by default).
476.Pp
477.It Ic no-x11-forwarding
478Disable X11 forwarding (permitted by default).
479.Pp
480.It Ic permit-agent-forwarding
481Allows
482.Xr ssh-agent 1
483forwarding.
484.Pp
485.It Ic permit-port-forwarding
486Allows port forwarding.
487.Pp
488.It Ic permit-pty
489Allows PTY allocation.
490.Pp
491.It Ic permit-user-rc
492Allows execution of
493.Pa ~/.ssh/rc
494by
495.Xr sshd 8 .
496.Pp
497.It Ic permit-X11-forwarding
498Allows X11 forwarding.
499.Pp
500.It Ic source-address Ns = Ns Ar address_list
501Restrict the source addresses from which the certificate is considered valid.
502The
503.Ar address_list
504is a comma-separated list of one or more address/netmask pairs in CIDR
505format.
506.El
507.It Fl P Ar passphrase
508Provides the (old) passphrase.
509.It Fl p
510Requests changing the passphrase of a private key file instead of
511creating a new private key.
512The program will prompt for the file
513containing the private key, for the old passphrase, and twice for the
514new passphrase.
515.It Fl Q
516Test whether keys have been revoked in a KRL.
517.It Fl q
518Silence
519.Nm ssh-keygen .
520.It Fl R Ar hostname
521Removes all keys belonging to
522.Ar hostname
523from a
524.Pa known_hosts
525file.
526This option is useful to delete hashed hosts (see the
527.Fl H
528option above).
529.It Fl r Ar hostname
530Print the SSHFP fingerprint resource record named
531.Ar hostname
532for the specified public key file.
533.It Fl S Ar start
534Specify start point (in hex) when generating candidate moduli for DH-GEX.
535.It Fl s Ar ca_key
536Certify (sign) a public key using the specified CA key.
537Please see the
538.Sx CERTIFICATES
539section for details.
540.Pp
541When generating a KRL,
542.Fl s
543specifies a path to a CA public key file used to revoke certificates directly
544by key ID or serial number.
545See the
546.Sx KEY REVOCATION LISTS
547section for details.
548.It Fl T Ar output_file
549Test DH group exchange candidate primes (generated using the
550.Fl G
551option) for safety.
552.It Fl t Cm dsa | ecdsa | ed25519 | rsa
553Specifies the type of key to create.
554The possible values are
555.Dq dsa ,
556.Dq ecdsa ,
557.Dq ed25519 ,
558or
559.Dq rsa .
560.It Fl U
561When used in combination with
562.Fl s ,
563this option indicates that a CA key resides in a
564.Xr ssh-agent 1 .
565See the
566.Sx CERTIFICATES
567section for more information.
568.It Fl u
569Update a KRL.
570When specified with
571.Fl k ,
572keys listed via the command line are added to the existing KRL rather than
573a new KRL being created.
574.It Fl V Ar validity_interval
575Specify a validity interval when signing a certificate.
576A validity interval may consist of a single time, indicating that the
577certificate is valid beginning now and expiring at that time, or may consist
578of two times separated by a colon to indicate an explicit time interval.
579.Pp
580The start time may be specified as the string
581.Dq always
582to indicate the certificate has no specified start time,
583a date in YYYYMMDD format, a time in YYYYMMDDHHMM[SS] format,
584a relative time (to the current time) consisting of a minus sign followed by
585an interval in the format described in the
586TIME FORMATS section of
587.Xr sshd_config 5 .
588.Pp
589The end time may be specified as a YYYYMMDD date, a YYYYMMDDHHMM[SS] time,
590a relative time starting with a plus character or the string
591.Dq forever
592to indicate that the certificate has no expirty date.
593.Pp
594For example:
595.Dq +52w1d
596(valid from now to 52 weeks and one day from now),
597.Dq -4w:+4w
598(valid from four weeks ago to four weeks from now),
599.Dq 20100101123000:20110101123000
600(valid from 12:30 PM, January 1st, 2010 to 12:30 PM, January 1st, 2011),
601.Dq -1d:20110101
602(valid from yesterday to midnight, January 1st, 2011).
603.Dq -1m:forever
604(valid from one minute ago and never expiring).
605.It Fl v
606Verbose mode.
607Causes
608.Nm
609to print debugging messages about its progress.
610This is helpful for debugging moduli generation.
611Multiple
612.Fl v
613options increase the verbosity.
614The maximum is 3.
615.It Fl W Ar generator
616Specify desired generator when testing candidate moduli for DH-GEX.
617.It Fl y
618This option will read a private
619OpenSSH format file and print an OpenSSH public key to stdout.
620.It Fl z Ar serial_number
621Specifies a serial number to be embedded in the certificate to distinguish
622this certificate from others from the same CA.
623The default serial number is zero.
624.Pp
625When generating a KRL, the
626.Fl z
627flag is used to specify a KRL version number.
628.El
629.Sh MODULI GENERATION
630.Nm
631may be used to generate groups for the Diffie-Hellman Group Exchange
632(DH-GEX) protocol.
633Generating these groups is a two-step process: first, candidate
634primes are generated using a fast, but memory intensive process.
635These candidate primes are then tested for suitability (a CPU-intensive
636process).
637.Pp
638Generation of primes is performed using the
639.Fl G
640option.
641The desired length of the primes may be specified by the
642.Fl b
643option.
644For example:
645.Pp
646.Dl # ssh-keygen -G moduli-2048.candidates -b 2048
647.Pp
648By default, the search for primes begins at a random point in the
649desired length range.
650This may be overridden using the
651.Fl S
652option, which specifies a different start point (in hex).
653.Pp
654Once a set of candidates have been generated, they must be screened for
655suitability.
656This may be performed using the
657.Fl T
658option.
659In this mode
660.Nm
661will read candidates from standard input (or a file specified using the
662.Fl f
663option).
664For example:
665.Pp
666.Dl # ssh-keygen -T moduli-2048 -f moduli-2048.candidates
667.Pp
668By default, each candidate will be subjected to 100 primality tests.
669This may be overridden using the
670.Fl a
671option.
672The DH generator value will be chosen automatically for the
673prime under consideration.
674If a specific generator is desired, it may be requested using the
675.Fl W
676option.
677Valid generator values are 2, 3, and 5.
678.Pp
679Screened DH groups may be installed in
680.Pa /etc/moduli .
681It is important that this file contains moduli of a range of bit lengths and
682that both ends of a connection share common moduli.
683.Sh CERTIFICATES
684.Nm
685supports signing of keys to produce certificates that may be used for
686user or host authentication.
687Certificates consist of a public key, some identity information, zero or
688more principal (user or host) names and a set of options that
689are signed by a Certification Authority (CA) key.
690Clients or servers may then trust only the CA key and verify its signature
691on a certificate rather than trusting many user/host keys.
692Note that OpenSSH certificates are a different, and much simpler, format to
693the X.509 certificates used in
694.Xr ssl 8 .
695.Pp
696.Nm
697supports two types of certificates: user and host.
698User certificates authenticate users to servers, whereas host certificates
699authenticate server hosts to users.
700To generate a user certificate:
701.Pp
702.Dl $ ssh-keygen -s /path/to/ca_key -I key_id /path/to/user_key.pub
703.Pp
704The resultant certificate will be placed in
705.Pa /path/to/user_key-cert.pub .
706A host certificate requires the
707.Fl h
708option:
709.Pp
710.Dl $ ssh-keygen -s /path/to/ca_key -I key_id -h /path/to/host_key.pub
711.Pp
712The host certificate will be output to
713.Pa /path/to/host_key-cert.pub .
714.Pp
715It is possible to sign using a CA key stored in a PKCS#11 token by
716providing the token library using
717.Fl D
718and identifying the CA key by providing its public half as an argument
719to
720.Fl s :
721.Pp
722.Dl $ ssh-keygen -s ca_key.pub -D libpkcs11.so -I key_id user_key.pub
723.Pp
724Similarly, it is possible for the CA key to be hosted in a
725.Xr ssh-agent 1 .
726This is indicated by the
727.Fl U
728flag and, again, the CA key must be identified by its public half.
729.Pp
730.Dl $ ssh-keygen -Us ca_key.pub -I key_id user_key.pub
731.Pp
732In all cases,
733.Ar key_id
734is a "key identifier" that is logged by the server when the certificate
735is used for authentication.
736.Pp
737Certificates may be limited to be valid for a set of principal (user/host)
738names.
739By default, generated certificates are valid for all users or hosts.
740To generate a certificate for a specified set of principals:
741.Pp
742.Dl $ ssh-keygen -s ca_key -I key_id -n user1,user2 user_key.pub
743.Dl "$ ssh-keygen -s ca_key -I key_id -h -n host.domain host_key.pub"
744.Pp
745Additional limitations on the validity and use of user certificates may
746be specified through certificate options.
747A certificate option may disable features of the SSH session, may be
748valid only when presented from particular source addresses or may
749force the use of a specific command.
750For a list of valid certificate options, see the documentation for the
751.Fl O
752option above.
753.Pp
754Finally, certificates may be defined with a validity lifetime.
755The
756.Fl V
757option allows specification of certificate start and end times.
758A certificate that is presented at a time outside this range will not be
759considered valid.
760By default, certificates are valid from
761.Ux
762Epoch to the distant future.
763.Pp
764For certificates to be used for user or host authentication, the CA
765public key must be trusted by
766.Xr sshd 8
767or
768.Xr ssh 1 .
769Please refer to those manual pages for details.
770.Sh KEY REVOCATION LISTS
771.Nm
772is able to manage OpenSSH format Key Revocation Lists (KRLs).
773These binary files specify keys or certificates to be revoked using a
774compact format, taking as little as one bit per certificate if they are being
775revoked by serial number.
776.Pp
777KRLs may be generated using the
778.Fl k
779flag.
780This option reads one or more files from the command line and generates a new
781KRL.
782The files may either contain a KRL specification (see below) or public keys,
783listed one per line.
784Plain public keys are revoked by listing their hash or contents in the KRL and
785certificates revoked by serial number or key ID (if the serial is zero or
786not available).
787.Pp
788Revoking keys using a KRL specification offers explicit control over the
789types of record used to revoke keys and may be used to directly revoke
790certificates by serial number or key ID without having the complete original
791certificate on hand.
792A KRL specification consists of lines containing one of the following directives
793followed by a colon and some directive-specific information.
794.Bl -tag -width Ds
795.It Cm serial : Ar serial_number Ns Op - Ns Ar serial_number
796Revokes a certificate with the specified serial number.
797Serial numbers are 64-bit values, not including zero and may be expressed
798in decimal, hex or octal.
799If two serial numbers are specified separated by a hyphen, then the range
800of serial numbers including and between each is revoked.
801The CA key must have been specified on the
802.Nm
803command line using the
804.Fl s
805option.
806.It Cm id : Ar key_id
807Revokes a certificate with the specified key ID string.
808The CA key must have been specified on the
809.Nm
810command line using the
811.Fl s
812option.
813.It Cm key : Ar public_key
814Revokes the specified key.
815If a certificate is listed, then it is revoked as a plain public key.
816.It Cm sha1 : Ar public_key
817Revokes the specified key by including its SHA1 hash in the KRL.
818.It Cm sha256 : Ar public_key
819Revokes the specified key by including its SHA256 hash in the KRL.
820KRLs that revoke keys by SHA256 hash are not supported by OpenSSH versions
821prior to 7.9.
822.It Cm hash : Ar fingerprint
823Revokes a key using a fingerprint hash, as obtained from a
824.Xr sshd 8
825authentication log message or the
826.Nm
827.Fl l
828flag.
829Only SHA256 fingerprints are supported here and resultant KRLs are
830not supported by OpenSSH versions prior to 7.9.
831.El
832.Pp
833KRLs may be updated using the
834.Fl u
835flag in addition to
836.Fl k .
837When this option is specified, keys listed via the command line are merged into
838the KRL, adding to those already there.
839.Pp
840It is also possible, given a KRL, to test whether it revokes a particular key
841(or keys).
842The
843.Fl Q
844flag will query an existing KRL, testing each key specified on the command line.
845If any key listed on the command line has been revoked (or an error encountered)
846then
847.Nm
848will exit with a non-zero exit status.
849A zero exit status will only be returned if no key was revoked.
850.Sh FILES
851.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
852.It Pa ~/.ssh/id_dsa
853.It Pa ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa
854.It Pa ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
855.It Pa ~/.ssh/id_rsa
856Contains the DSA, ECDSA, Ed25519 or RSA
857authentication identity of the user.
858This file should not be readable by anyone but the user.
859It is possible to
860specify a passphrase when generating the key; that passphrase will be
861used to encrypt the private part of this file using 128-bit AES.
862This file is not automatically accessed by
863.Nm
864but it is offered as the default file for the private key.
865.Xr ssh 1
866will read this file when a login attempt is made.
867.Pp
868.It Pa ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub
869.It Pa ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa.pub
870.It Pa ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
871.It Pa ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
872Contains the DSA, ECDSA, Ed25519 or RSA
873public key for authentication.
874The contents of this file should be added to
875.Pa ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
876on all machines
877where the user wishes to log in using public key authentication.
878There is no need to keep the contents of this file secret.
879.Pp
880.It Pa /etc/moduli
881Contains Diffie-Hellman groups used for DH-GEX.
882The file format is described in
883.Xr moduli 5 .
884.El
885.Sh SEE ALSO
886.Xr ssh 1 ,
887.Xr ssh-add 1 ,
888.Xr ssh-agent 1 ,
889.Xr moduli 5 ,
890.Xr sshd 8
891.Rs
892.%R RFC 4716
893.%T "The Secure Shell (SSH) Public Key File Format"
894.%D 2006
895.Re
896.Sh AUTHORS
897OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free
898ssh 1.2.12 release by Tatu Ylonen.
899Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus Friedl, Niels Provos,
900Theo de Raadt and Dug Song
901removed many bugs, re-added newer features and
902created OpenSSH.
903Markus Friedl contributed the support for SSH
904protocol versions 1.5 and 2.0.
905