Go to main content

man pages section 1: User Commands

Exit Print View

Updated: July 2017
 
 

ssh-agent.openssh (1)

Name

ssh-agent.openssh - authentication agent

Synopsis

ssh-agent  [-c  |  s] [-Dd] [-a bind_address] [-E fingerprint_hash] [-P
pkcs11_whitelist] [-t life] [command [arg...]
ssh-agent [-c | s] -k

Description

SSH-AGENT(1)                General Commands Manual               SSH-AGENT(1)



NAME
       ssh-agent - authentication agent

SYNOPSIS
       ssh-agent  [-c  |  s] [-Dd] [-a bind_address] [-E fingerprint_hash] [-P
       pkcs11_whitelist] [-t life] [command [arg...]
       ssh-agent [-c | s] -k

DESCRIPTION
       ssh-agent is a program to hold private keys used for public key authen-
       tication  (RSA,  DSA, ECDSA, Ed25519).  ssh-agent is usually started in
       the beginning of an X-session or a login session, and all other windows
       or  programs  are started as clients to the ssh-agent program.  Through
       use of environment variables the agent can be located and automatically
       used for authentication when logging in to other machines using ssh(1).

       The  agent  initially  does  not have any private keys.  Keys are added
       using ssh(1) (see AddKeysToAgent in ssh_config(4) for details) or  ssh-
       add(1).   Multiple  identities  may be stored in ssh-agent concurrently
       and ssh(1) will automatically use them if present.  ssh-add(1) is  also
       used  to remove keys from ssh-agent and to query the keys that are held
       in one.

       The options are as follows:

       -a bind_address
              Bind the agent to  the  UNIX-domain  socket  bind_address.   The
              default is $TMPDIR/ssh-XXXXXXXXXX/agent.ppid.

       -c     Generate  C-shell  commands  on  stdout.  This is the default if
              SHELL looks like it's a csh style of shell.

       -D     Foreground mode.  When this option is specified  ssh-agent  will
              not fork.

       -d     Debug  mode.   When  this option is specified ssh-agent will not
              fork and will write debug information to standard error.

       -E fingerprint_hash
              Specifies the hash algorithm used when  displaying  key  finger-
              prints.  Valid options are: ``md5'' and ``sha256''.  The default
              is ``sha256''.  If OpenSSL is running in FIPS-140 mode, the only
              supported option is ``sha256''.

       -k     Kill  the  current agent (given by the SSH_AGENT_PID environment
              variable).

       -P pkcs11_whitelist
              Specify a pattern-list of acceptable paths  for  PKCS#11  shared
              libraries  that  may be added using the -s option to ssh-add(1).
              The  default  is  to  allow  loading  PKCS#11   libraries   from
              ``/usr/lib/*,/usr/local/lib/*''.   PKCS#11 libraries that do not
              match the whitelist will be refused.  See PATTERNS  in  ssh_con-
              fig(4) for a description of pattern-list syntax.

       -s     Generate  Bourne  shell commands on stdout.  This is the default
              if SHELL does not look like it's a csh style of shell.

       -t life
              Set a default value for the maximum lifetime of identities added
              to  the agent.  The lifetime may be specified in seconds or in a
              time format specified in sshd_config(4).  A  lifetime  specified
              for  an  identity with ssh-add(1) overrides this value.  Without
              this option the default maximum lifetime is forever.

       If a command line is given, this is executed as  a  subprocess  of  the
       agent.  When the command dies, so does the agent.

       The  idea  is  that the agent is run in the user's local PC, laptop, or
       terminal.  Authentication data need not be stored on any other machine,
       and authentication passphrases never go over the network.  However, the
       connection to the agent is forwarded over SSH remote  logins,  and  the
       user  can  thus  use the privileges given by the identities anywhere in
       the network in a secure way.

       There are two main ways to get an agent set up: The first is  that  the
       agent starts a new subcommand into which some environment variables are
       exported, eg ssh-agent xterm & .  The second is that the  agent  prints
       the  needed shell commands (either sh(1) or csh(1) syntax can be gener-
       ated) which can be evaluated in the calling shell, eg  eval  `ssh-agent
       -s`  for Bourne-type shells such as sh(1) or ksh(1) and eval `ssh-agent
       -c` for csh(1) and derivatives.

       Later ssh(1) looks at these variables and uses them to establish a con-
       nection to the agent.

       The  agent  will  never  send  a  private key over its request channel.
       Instead, operations that require a private key will be performed by the
       agent,  and  the  result  will be returned to the requester.  This way,
       private keys are not exposed to clients using the agent.

       A UNIX-domain socket is created and the name of this socket  is  stored
       in the SSH_AUTH_SOCK environment variable.  The socket is made accessi-
       ble only to the current user.  This method is easily abused by root  or
       another instance of the same user.

       The SSH_AGENT_PID environment variable holds the agent's process ID.

       The  agent  exits  automatically  when the command given on the command
       line terminates.

FILES
       $TMPDIR/ssh-XXXXXXXXXX/agent.<ppid>
              UNIX-domain sockets  used  to  contain  the  connection  to  the
              authentication  agent.  These sockets should only be readable by
              the owner.  The sockets should get  automatically  removed  when
              the agent exits.

ATTRIBUTES
       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:


       +---------------+--------------------------+
       |ATTRIBUTE TYPE |     ATTRIBUTE VALUE      |
       +---------------+--------------------------+
       |Availability   | network/openssh          |
       +---------------+--------------------------+
       |Stability      | Pass-through uncommitted |
       +---------------+--------------------------+
SEE ALSO
       ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-keygen(1), sshd(1M)

AUTHORS
       -nosplit  OpenSSH  is  a derivative of the original and free ssh 1.2.12
       release by

       Tatu Ylonen .

       Aaron Campbell , Bob Beck , Markus Friedl ,  Niels  Provos  ,  Theo  de
       Raadt and

       Dug  Song  removed  many  bugs,  re-added  newer  features  and created
       OpenSSH.

       Markus Friedl contributed the support for SSH protocol versions 1.5 and
       2.0.



NOTES
       This     software     was    built    from    source    available    at
       https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland.   The  original   community
       source    was   downloaded   from    http://mirrors.sonic.net/pub/Open-
       BSD/OpenSSH/portable/openssh-7.4p1.tar.gz

       Further information about this software can be found on the open source
       community website at http://www.openssh.org/.



                               November 30 2016                   SSH-AGENT(1)