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996d5e62 1.\" $OpenBSD: ssh-keygen.1,v 1.66 2005/03/01 18:15:56 jmc Exp $
3c0ef626 2.\"
3.\" -*- nroff -*-
4.\"
5.\" Author: Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>
6.\" Copyright (c) 1995 Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>, Espoo, Finland
7.\" All rights reserved
8.\"
9.\" As far as I am concerned, the code I have written for this software
10.\" can be used freely for any purpose. Any derived versions of this
11.\" software must be clearly marked as such, and if the derived work is
12.\" incompatible with the protocol description in the RFC file, it must be
13.\" called by a name other than "ssh" or "Secure Shell".
14.\"
15.\"
16.\" Copyright (c) 1999,2000 Markus Friedl. All rights reserved.
17.\" Copyright (c) 1999 Aaron Campbell. All rights reserved.
18.\" Copyright (c) 1999 Theo de Raadt. All rights reserved.
19.\"
20.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
21.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
22.\" are met:
23.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
24.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
25.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
26.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
27.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
28.\"
29.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
30.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
31.\" OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
32.\" IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
33.\" INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
34.\" NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
35.\" DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
36.\" THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
37.\" (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
38.\" THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
39.\"
40.Dd September 25, 1999
41.Dt SSH-KEYGEN 1
42.Os
43.Sh NAME
44.Nm ssh-keygen
45.Nd authentication key generation, management and conversion
46.Sh SYNOPSIS
47.Nm ssh-keygen
6a9b3198 48.Bk -words
3c0ef626 49.Op Fl q
50.Op Fl b Ar bits
e9a17296 51.Fl t Ar type
3c0ef626 52.Op Fl N Ar new_passphrase
53.Op Fl C Ar comment
54.Op Fl f Ar output_keyfile
6a9b3198 55.Ek
3c0ef626 56.Nm ssh-keygen
57.Fl p
58.Op Fl P Ar old_passphrase
59.Op Fl N Ar new_passphrase
60.Op Fl f Ar keyfile
61.Nm ssh-keygen
62.Fl i
63.Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
64.Nm ssh-keygen
65.Fl e
66.Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
67.Nm ssh-keygen
68.Fl y
69.Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
70.Nm ssh-keygen
71.Fl c
72.Op Fl P Ar passphrase
73.Op Fl C Ar comment
74.Op Fl f Ar keyfile
75.Nm ssh-keygen
76.Fl l
77.Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
78.Nm ssh-keygen
79.Fl B
80.Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
81.Nm ssh-keygen
82.Fl D Ar reader
83.Nm ssh-keygen
996d5e62 84.Fl F Ar hostname
85.Op Fl f Ar known_hosts_file
86.Nm ssh-keygen
87.Fl H
88.Op Fl f Ar known_hosts_file
89.Nm ssh-keygen
90.Fl R Ar hostname
91.Op Fl f Ar known_hosts_file
92.Nm ssh-keygen
3c0ef626 93.Fl U Ar reader
94.Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
0fff78ff 95.Nm ssh-keygen
96.Fl r Ar hostname
97.Op Fl f Ar input_keyfile
98.Op Fl g
99.Nm ssh-keygen
100.Fl G Ar output_file
cdd66111 101.Op Fl v
0fff78ff 102.Op Fl b Ar bits
103.Op Fl M Ar memory
104.Op Fl S Ar start_point
105.Nm ssh-keygen
106.Fl T Ar output_file
107.Fl f Ar input_file
cdd66111 108.Op Fl v
0fff78ff 109.Op Fl a Ar num_trials
110.Op Fl W Ar generator
3c0ef626 111.Sh DESCRIPTION
112.Nm
113generates, manages and converts authentication keys for
114.Xr ssh 1 .
115.Nm
f5799ae1 116can create RSA keys for use by SSH protocol version 1 and RSA or DSA
0fff78ff 117keys for use by SSH protocol version 2.
118The type of key to be generated is specified with the
3c0ef626 119.Fl t
e9a17296 120option.
3c0ef626 121.Pp
0fff78ff 122.Nm
123is also used to generate groups for use in Diffie-Hellman group
124exchange (DH-GEX).
125See the
126.Sx MODULI GENERATION
127section for details.
128.Pp
3c0ef626 129Normally each user wishing to use SSH
130with RSA or DSA authentication runs this once to create the authentication
131key in
132.Pa $HOME/.ssh/identity ,
133.Pa $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa
134or
135.Pa $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa .
136Additionally, the system administrator may use this to generate host keys,
137as seen in
138.Pa /etc/rc .
139.Pp
140Normally this program generates the key and asks for a file in which
141to store the private key.
142The public key is stored in a file with the same name but
143.Dq .pub
144appended.
145The program also asks for a passphrase.
146The passphrase may be empty to indicate no passphrase
147(host keys must have an empty passphrase), or it may be a string of
148arbitrary length.
e9a17296 149A passphrase is similar to a password, except it can be a phrase with a
150series of words, punctuation, numbers, whitespace, or any string of
151characters you want.
152Good passphrases are 10-30 characters long, are
3c0ef626 153not simple sentences or otherwise easily guessable (English
154prose has only 1-2 bits of entropy per character, and provides very bad
e9a17296 155passphrases), and contain a mix of upper and lowercase letters,
156numbers, and non-alphanumeric characters.
3c0ef626 157The passphrase can be changed later by using the
158.Fl p
159option.
160.Pp
161There is no way to recover a lost passphrase.
162If the passphrase is
163lost or forgotten, a new key must be generated and copied to the
164corresponding public key to other machines.
165.Pp
166For RSA1 keys,
167there is also a comment field in the key file that is only for
168convenience to the user to help identify the key.
169The comment can tell what the key is for, or whatever is useful.
170The comment is initialized to
171.Dq user@host
172when the key is created, but can be changed using the
173.Fl c
174option.
175.Pp
176After a key is generated, instructions below detail where the keys
177should be placed to be activated.
178.Pp
179The options are as follows:
180.Bl -tag -width Ds
0fff78ff 181.It Fl a Ar trials
182Specifies the number of primality tests to perform when screening DH-GEX
183candidates using the
184.Fl T
185command.
996d5e62 186.It Fl B
187Show the bubblebabble digest of specified private or public key file.
3c0ef626 188.It Fl b Ar bits
189Specifies the number of bits in the key to create.
190Minimum is 512 bits.
6a9b3198 191Generally, 1024 bits is considered sufficient.
3c0ef626 192The default is 1024 bits.
996d5e62 193.It Fl C Ar comment
194Provides a new comment.
3c0ef626 195.It Fl c
196Requests changing the comment in the private and public key files.
197This operation is only supported for RSA1 keys.
198The program will prompt for the file containing the private keys, for
199the passphrase if the key has one, and for the new comment.
996d5e62 200.It Fl D Ar reader
201Download the RSA public key stored in the smartcard in
202.Ar reader .
3c0ef626 203.It Fl e
204This option will read a private or public OpenSSH key file and
205print the key in a
206.Sq SECSH Public Key File Format
207to stdout.
208This option allows exporting keys for use by several commercial
209SSH implementations.
996d5e62 210.It Fl F Ar hostname
211Search for the specified
212.Ar hostname
213in a
214.Pa known_hosts
215file, listing any occurrences found.
216This option is useful to find hashed host names or addresses and may also be
217used in conjunction with the
218.Fl H
219option to print found keys in a hashed format.
220.It Fl f Ar filename
221Specifies the filename of the key file.
222.It Fl G Ar output_file
223Generate candidate primes for DH-GEX.
224These primes must be screened for
225safety (using the
226.Fl T
227option) before use.
0fff78ff 228.It Fl g
c9f39d2c 229Use generic DNS format when printing fingerprint resource records using the
230.Fl r
231command.
996d5e62 232.It Fl H
233Hash a
234.Pa known_hosts
235file, printing the result to standard output.
236This replaces all hostnames and addresses with hashed representations.
237These hashes may be used normally by
238.Nm ssh
239and
240.Nm sshd ,
241but they do not reveal identifying information should the file's contents
242be disclosed.
243This option will not modify existing hashed hostnames and is therefore safe
244to use on files that mix hashed and non-hashed names.
3c0ef626 245.It Fl i
246This option will read an unencrypted private (or public) key file
247in SSH2-compatible format and print an OpenSSH compatible private
248(or public) key to stdout.
249.Nm
250also reads the
251.Sq SECSH Public Key File Format .
252This option allows importing keys from several commercial
253SSH implementations.
254.It Fl l
255Show fingerprint of specified public key file.
256Private RSA1 keys are also supported.
257For RSA and DSA keys
258.Nm
259tries to find the matching public key file and prints its fingerprint.
996d5e62 260.It Fl M Ar memory
261Specify the amount of memory to use (in megabytes) when generating
262candidate moduli for DH-GEX.
263.It Fl N Ar new_passphrase
264Provides the new passphrase.
265.It Fl P Ar passphrase
266Provides the (old) passphrase.
3c0ef626 267.It Fl p
268Requests changing the passphrase of a private key file instead of
269creating a new private key.
270The program will prompt for the file
271containing the private key, for the old passphrase, and twice for the
272new passphrase.
273.It Fl q
274Silence
275.Nm ssh-keygen .
276Used by
277.Pa /etc/rc
278when creating a new key.
996d5e62 279.It Fl R Ar hostname
280Removes all keys belonging to
281.Ar hostname
282from a
283.Pa known_hosts
284file.
285This option is useful to delete hashed hosts (see the
286.Fl H
287option above).
288.It Fl r Ar hostname
289Print the SSHFP fingerprint resource record named
290.Ar hostname
291for the specified public key file.
292.It Fl S Ar start
293Specify start point (in hex) when generating candidate moduli for DH-GEX.
294.It Fl T Ar output_file
295Test DH group exchange candidate primes (generated using the
296.Fl G
297option) for safety.
3c0ef626 298.It Fl t Ar type
996d5e62 299Specifies the type of key to create.
3c0ef626 300The possible values are
301.Dq rsa1
302for protocol version 1 and
303.Dq rsa
304or
305.Dq dsa
306for protocol version 2.
3c0ef626 307.It Fl U Ar reader
308Upload an existing RSA private key into the smartcard in
309.Ar reader .
cdd66111 310.It Fl v
311Verbose mode.
312Causes
313.Nm
314to print debugging messages about its progress.
315This is helpful for debugging moduli generation.
316Multiple
317.Fl v
318options increase the verbosity.
319The maximum is 3.
996d5e62 320.It Fl W Ar generator
321Specify desired generator when testing candidate moduli for DH-GEX.
322.It Fl y
323This option will read a private
324OpenSSH format file and print an OpenSSH public key to stdout.
3c0ef626 325.El
0fff78ff 326.Sh MODULI GENERATION
327.Nm
328may be used to generate groups for the Diffie-Hellman Group Exchange
329(DH-GEX) protocol.
330Generating these groups is a two-step process: first, candidate
331primes are generated using a fast, but memory intensive process.
332These candidate primes are then tested for suitability (a CPU-intensive
333process).
334.Pp
335Generation of primes is performed using the
336.Fl G
337option.
338The desired length of the primes may be specified by the
339.Fl b
340option.
341For example:
342.Pp
996d5e62 343.Dl # ssh-keygen -G moduli-2048.candidates -b 2048
0fff78ff 344.Pp
345By default, the search for primes begins at a random point in the
346desired length range.
347This may be overridden using the
348.Fl S
349option, which specifies a different start point (in hex).
350.Pp
351Once a set of candidates have been generated, they must be tested for
352suitability.
353This may be performed using the
354.Fl T
355option.
356In this mode
357.Nm
358will read candidates from standard input (or a file specified using the
359.Fl f
360option).
361For example:
362.Pp
996d5e62 363.Dl # ssh-keygen -T moduli-2048 -f moduli-2048.candidates
0fff78ff 364.Pp
365By default, each candidate will be subjected to 100 primality tests.
366This may be overridden using the
367.Fl a
368option.
369The DH generator value will be chosen automatically for the
370prime under consideration.
371If a specific generator is desired, it may be requested using the
372.Fl W
373option.
996d5e62 374Valid generator values are 2, 3, and 5.
0fff78ff 375.Pp
376Screened DH groups may be installed in
377.Pa /etc/moduli .
378It is important that this file contains moduli of a range of bit lengths and
379that both ends of a connection share common moduli.
3c0ef626 380.Sh FILES
381.Bl -tag -width Ds
382.It Pa $HOME/.ssh/identity
383Contains the protocol version 1 RSA authentication identity of the user.
384This file should not be readable by anyone but the user.
385It is possible to
386specify a passphrase when generating the key; that passphrase will be
387used to encrypt the private part of this file using 3DES.
388This file is not automatically accessed by
389.Nm
390but it is offered as the default file for the private key.
391.Xr ssh 1
392will read this file when a login attempt is made.
393.It Pa $HOME/.ssh/identity.pub
394Contains the protocol version 1 RSA public key for authentication.
395The contents of this file should be added to
396.Pa $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys
397on all machines
398where the user wishes to log in using RSA authentication.
399There is no need to keep the contents of this file secret.
400.It Pa $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa
401Contains the protocol version 2 DSA authentication identity of the user.
402This file should not be readable by anyone but the user.
403It is possible to
404specify a passphrase when generating the key; that passphrase will be
405used to encrypt the private part of this file using 3DES.
406This file is not automatically accessed by
407.Nm
408but it is offered as the default file for the private key.
409.Xr ssh 1
410will read this file when a login attempt is made.
411.It Pa $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa.pub
412Contains the protocol version 2 DSA public key for authentication.
413The contents of this file should be added to
414.Pa $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys
415on all machines
416where the user wishes to log in using public key authentication.
417There is no need to keep the contents of this file secret.
418.It Pa $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa
419Contains the protocol version 2 RSA authentication identity of the user.
420This file should not be readable by anyone but the user.
421It is possible to
422specify a passphrase when generating the key; that passphrase will be
423used to encrypt the private part of this file using 3DES.
424This file is not automatically accessed by
425.Nm
426but it is offered as the default file for the private key.
427.Xr ssh 1
428will read this file when a login attempt is made.
429.It Pa $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
430Contains the protocol version 2 RSA public key for authentication.
431The contents of this file should be added to
432.Pa $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys
433on all machines
434where the user wishes to log in using public key authentication.
435There is no need to keep the contents of this file secret.
0fff78ff 436.It Pa /etc/moduli
437Contains Diffie-Hellman groups used for DH-GEX.
438The file format is described in
439.Xr moduli 5 .
3c0ef626 440.El
3c0ef626 441.Sh SEE ALSO
442.Xr ssh 1 ,
443.Xr ssh-add 1 ,
444.Xr ssh-agent 1 ,
0fff78ff 445.Xr moduli 5 ,
3c0ef626 446.Xr sshd 8
447.Rs
448.%A J. Galbraith
449.%A R. Thayer
450.%T "SECSH Public Key File Format"
451.%N draft-ietf-secsh-publickeyfile-01.txt
452.%D March 2001
453.%O work in progress material
454.Re
0fff78ff 455.Sh AUTHORS
456OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free
457ssh 1.2.12 release by Tatu Ylonen.
458Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus Friedl, Niels Provos,
459Theo de Raadt and Dug Song
460removed many bugs, re-added newer features and
461created OpenSSH.
462Markus Friedl contributed the support for SSH
463protocol versions 1.5 and 2.0.
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