• Are ssh keys tied to a user or the originating machine?

    From JimR@21:1/5 to All on Sat Nov 21 13:01:44 2015
    I'm trying to better understand ssh.

    User foo on machine bar generates a keypair, and provides the public key
    to remote user dokes on machine shme . foo connects to dokes account
    at shme, and everything is happy.

    Then user foo also has an account on machine baz. He takes the private
    key he generated on machine bar, and copies it to machine baz. Can he
    connect to dokes on shme? My limited testing suggests that it works.
    Is that a universal truth?

    Next, foo passes his private key to unrelated user thud on machine
    grunt. thud installs the private key owned by foo. Can thud now
    connect to user dokes on machine shme?

    Next, replace the above ssh keys with PGP keys. Do the same answers apply?

    Thanks,
    JimR

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  • From William Unruh@21:1/5 to JimR on Sat Nov 21 18:13:30 2015
    On 2015-11-21, JimR <NotReally@yahoo.com> wrote:
    I'm trying to better understand ssh.

    User foo on machine bar generates a keypair, and provides the public key
    to remote user dokes on machine shme . foo connects to dokes account
    at shme, and everything is happy.

    Then user foo also has an account on machine baz. He takes the private
    key he generated on machine bar, and copies it to machine baz. Can he connect to dokes on shme? My limited testing suggests that it works.
    Is that a universal truth?

    Yes

    Next, foo passes his private key to unrelated user thud on machine
    grunt. thud installs the private key owned by foo. Can thud now
    connect to user dokes on machine shme?

    Yes-- but a really really bad idea.

    Next, replace the above ssh keys with PGP keys. Do the same answers apply?

    You think there is some sort of dna test that gets done? How in the
    world wound anything know who is using the key?

    Thanks,
    JimR

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  • From Richard Kettlewell@21:1/5 to JimR on Sun Nov 22 14:09:11 2015
    JimR <NotReally@yahoo.com> writes:
    I'm trying to better understand ssh.

    User foo on machine bar generates a keypair, and provides the public
    key to remote user dokes on machine shme . foo connects to dokes
    account at shme, and everything is happy.

    Then user foo also has an account on machine baz. He takes the
    private key he generated on machine bar, and copies it to machine baz.
    Can he connect to dokes on shme? My limited testing suggests that it
    works. Is that a universal truth?

    Next, foo passes his private key to unrelated user thud on machine
    grunt. thud installs the private key owned by foo. Can thud now
    connect to user dokes on machine shme?

    The keys are not ‘tied’ to anything. When you permit access to a public key (in .ssh/authorized_keys), any holder of the corresponding private
    key can authenticate.

    Copying private keys around is not a great strategy. Consider what
    happens when one of the accounts holding the private key is compromised.
    Your response to this situation is to remove the corresponding key from
    all .ssh/authorized_keys files; i.e. to revoke all access from that key
    to anything. If you have the same private key on multiple machines then
    the effect is to revoke access from all those machines, even if only one
    of them was compromised.

    I’d suggest that the only good reason to do this is if there is some difficulty with having multiple entries in (the equivalent of) .ssh/authorized_keys.

    In short although the keys are not physically connected to user or host,
    it’s probably best to treat them as if they were.

    Next, replace the above ssh keys with PGP keys. Do the same answers
    apply?

    The same is true of PGP. Any holder of a private key can create
    signatures or decrypt received messages (assuming it is a
    signature-capable or decryption-capable key, respectively).

    --
    http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From jc091966@gmail.com@21:1/5 to JimR on Sun Jun 3 19:25:23 2018
    On Saturday, November 21, 2015 at 1:10:09 PM UTC-5, JimR wrote:
    I'm trying to better understand ssh.

    User foo on machine bar generates a keypair, and provides the public key
    to remote user dokes on machine shme . foo connects to dokes account
    at shme, and everything is happy.

    Then user foo also has an account on machine baz. He takes the private
    key he generated on machine bar, and copies it to machine baz. Can he connect to dokes on shme? My limited testing suggests that it works.
    Is that a universal truth?

    Next, foo passes his private key to unrelated user thud on machine
    grunt. thud installs the private key owned by foo. Can thud now
    connect to user dokes on machine shme?

    Next, replace the above ssh keys with PGP keys. Do the same answers apply?

    Thanks,
    JimR

    I just read your post. How about some appropriate names so we all don't have to keep track of whether "shit" refers to a machine or user.
    Hopefully someone else responded to this crap, coz I'm ticked off with the extra work deciphering your questions

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From William Unruh@21:1/5 to jc091966@gmail.com on Mon Jun 4 08:40:41 2018
    On 2018-06-04, jc091966@gmail.com <jc091966@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Saturday, November 21, 2015 at 1:10:09 PM UTC-5, JimR wrote:
    I'm trying to better understand ssh.

    User foo on machine bar generates a keypair, and provides the public key
    to remote user dokes on machine shme . foo connects to dokes account
    at shme, and everything is happy.

    Then user foo also has an account on machine baz. He takes the private
    key he generated on machine bar, and copies it to machine baz. Can he
    connect to dokes on shme? My limited testing suggests that it works.
    Is that a universal truth?

    Yes.
    Note that there are two keys, a machine key pair, and a personal key pair. The machine keys are to ensure that you actually connect to the machine you claim to be connecting to. (the public keys of those machines are stored in
    your local machine. It you have never connected to it before, it asks if you
    ae sure that you are connecting to the right machine, and if you assure the program you
    are it stores the other side's public key on your machine, so you do not have to give that assurance again) The personal private key is used for the other side to make sure that it
    is actually you loggin in (your machine uses the private key to sign a message which the other side decodes to make sure it is you).

    Next, foo passes his private key to unrelated user thud on machine
    grunt. thud installs the private key owned by foo. Can thud now
    connect to user dokes on machine shme?

    Very very stupid move.

    Next, replace the above ssh keys with PGP keys. Do the same answers apply?

    What has PGP to do here? It is not used for connecting to machines. But yes, your key pair is yours, and if anyone else gets ahold of it, then can reay any mail you have or ever will encrypt with that key pair. Again a totally stupid thing to do to let anyone get your private key. Anyone, including your wife/lover/boss/National security agency.



    Thanks,
    JimR

    I just read your post. How about some appropriate names so we all don't have to keep track of whether "shit" refers to a machine or user.
    Hopefully someone else responded to this crap, coz I'm ticked off with the extra work deciphering your questions

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Carlos E.R.@21:1/5 to jc091966@gmail.com on Mon Jun 4 11:35:11 2018
    On 2018-06-04 04:25, jc091966@gmail.com wrote:
    On Saturday, November 21, 2015 at 1:10:09 PM UTC-5, JimR wrote:
    I'm trying to better understand ssh.

    User foo on machine bar generates a keypair, and provides the public key
    to remote user dokes on machine shme . foo connects to dokes account
    at shme, and everything is happy.

    Then user foo also has an account on machine baz. He takes the private
    key he generated on machine bar, and copies it to machine baz. Can he
    connect to dokes on shme? My limited testing suggests that it works.
    Is that a universal truth?

    Next, foo passes his private key to unrelated user thud on machine
    grunt. thud installs the private key owned by foo. Can thud now
    connect to user dokes on machine shme?

    Next, replace the above ssh keys with PGP keys. Do the same answers apply? >>
    Thanks,
    JimR

    I just read your post. How about some appropriate names so we all don't have to keep track of whether "shit" refers to a machine or user.
    Hopefully someone else responded to this crap, coz I'm ticked off with the extra work deciphering your questions

    Who cares?

    You are replying to a post from 2015. There is no point on asking or
    saying anything now.


    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Aragorn@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jun 4 12:24:13 2018
    On Monday 04 June 2018 11:35, Carlos E.R. conveyed the following to comp.os.linux.security...

    On 2018-06-04 04:25, jc091966@gmail.com wrote:

    On Saturday, November 21, 2015 at 1:10:09 PM UTC-5, JimR wrote:

    I'm trying to better understand ssh.

    [...]

    I just read your post. How about some appropriate names so we all
    don't have to keep track of whether "shit" refers to a machine or
    user. Hopefully someone else responded to this crap, coz I'm ticked
    off with the extra work deciphering your questions

    Who cares?

    You are replying to a post from 2015. There is no point on asking or
    saying anything now.

    That seems to happen quite a lot with people who use Google Groups as an interface to Usenet. It is one of the reasons ─ albeit not the only
    reason ─ why I've decided to start filtering out anything coming in
    through Google Groups. ;)

    --
    With respect,
    = Aragorn =

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Carlos E.R.@21:1/5 to Aragorn on Mon Jun 4 13:15:14 2018
    On 2018-06-04 12:24, Aragorn wrote:
    On Monday 04 June 2018 11:35, Carlos E.R. conveyed the following to comp.os.linux.security...

    On 2018-06-04 04:25, jc091966@gmail.com wrote:

    On Saturday, November 21, 2015 at 1:10:09 PM UTC-5, JimR wrote:

    I'm trying to better understand ssh.

    [...]

    I just read your post. How about some appropriate names so we all
    don't have to keep track of whether "shit" refers to a machine or
    user. Hopefully someone else responded to this crap, coz I'm ticked
    off with the extra work deciphering your questions

    Who cares?

    You are replying to a post from 2015. There is no point on asking or
    saying anything now.

    That seems to happen quite a lot with people who use Google Groups as an interface to Usenet. It is one of the reasons ─ albeit not the only
    reason ─ why I've decided to start filtering out anything coming in
    through Google Groups. ;)

    I don't filter them out - but I do mark them in different colour ;-)

    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)