summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/doc/rfc/rfc4252.txt
blob: ddb6146a2d5286356be44f04c5aae55dda13d812 (plain) (blame)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
955
Network Working Group                                          T. Ylonen
Request for Comments: 4252              SSH Communications Security Corp
Category: Standards Track                                C. Lonvick, Ed.
                                                     Cisco Systems, Inc.
                                                            January 2006


             The Secure Shell (SSH) Authentication Protocol

Status of This Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).

Abstract

   The Secure Shell Protocol (SSH) is a protocol for secure remote login
   and other secure network services over an insecure network.  This
   document describes the SSH authentication protocol framework and
   public key, password, and host-based client authentication methods.
   Additional authentication methods are described in separate
   documents.  The SSH authentication protocol runs on top of the SSH
   transport layer protocol and provides a single authenticated tunnel
   for the SSH connection protocol.




















Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                     [Page 1]
^L
RFC 4252              SSH Authentication Protocol           January 2006


Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................2
   2. Contributors ....................................................3
   3. Conventions Used in This Document ...............................3
   4. The Authentication Protocol Framework ...........................4
   5. Authentication Requests .........................................4
      5.1. Responses to Authentication Requests .......................5
      5.2. The "none" Authentication Request ..........................7
      5.3. Completion of User Authentication ..........................7
      5.4. Banner Message .............................................7
   6. Authentication Protocol Message Numbers .........................8
   7. Public Key Authentication Method: "publickey" ...................8
   8. Password Authentication Method: "password" .....................10
   9. Host-Based Authentication: "hostbased" .........................12
   10. IANA Considerations ...........................................14
   11. Security Considerations .......................................14
   12. References ....................................................15
      12.1. Normative References .....................................15
      12.2. Informative References ...................................15
   Authors' Addresses ................................................16
   Trademark Notice ..................................................16

1.  Introduction

   The SSH authentication protocol is a general-purpose user
   authentication protocol.  It is intended to be run over the SSH
   transport layer protocol [SSH-TRANS].  This protocol assumes that the
   underlying protocols provide integrity and confidentiality
   protection.

   This document should be read only after reading the SSH architecture
   document [SSH-ARCH].  This document freely uses terminology and
   notation from the architecture document without reference or further
   explanation.

   The 'service name' for this protocol is "ssh-userauth".

   When this protocol starts, it receives the session identifier from
   the lower-level protocol (this is the exchange hash H from the first
   key exchange).  The session identifier uniquely identifies this
   session and is suitable for signing in order to prove ownership of a
   private key.  This protocol also needs to know whether the lower-
   level protocol provides confidentiality protection.







Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                     [Page 2]
^L
RFC 4252              SSH Authentication Protocol           January 2006


2.  Contributors

   The major original contributors of this set of documents have been:
   Tatu Ylonen, Tero Kivinen, Timo J. Rinne, Sami Lehtinen (all of SSH
   Communications Security Corp), and Markku-Juhani O. Saarinen
   (University of Jyvaskyla).  Darren Moffat was the original editor of
   this set of documents and also made very substantial contributions.

   Many people contributed to the development of this document over the
   years.  People who should be acknowledged include Mats Andersson, Ben
   Harris, Bill Sommerfeld, Brent McClure, Niels Moller, Damien Miller,
   Derek Fawcus, Frank Cusack, Heikki Nousiainen, Jakob Schlyter, Jeff
   Van Dyke, Jeffrey Altman, Jeffrey Hutzelman, Jon Bright, Joseph
   Galbraith, Ken Hornstein, Markus Friedl, Martin Forssen, Nicolas
   Williams, Niels Provos, Perry Metzger, Peter Gutmann, Simon
   Josefsson, Simon Tatham, Wei Dai, Denis Bider, der Mouse, and
   Tadayoshi Kohno.  Listing their names here does not mean that they
   endorse this document, but that they have contributed to it.

3.  Conventions Used in This Document

   All documents related to the SSH protocols shall use the keywords
   "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD",
   "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" to describe
   requirements.  These keywords are to be interpreted as described in
   [RFC2119].

   The keywords "PRIVATE USE", "HIERARCHICAL ALLOCATION", "FIRST COME
   FIRST SERVED", "EXPERT REVIEW", "SPECIFICATION REQUIRED", "IESG
   APPROVAL", "IETF CONSENSUS", and "STANDARDS ACTION" that appear in
   this document when used to describe namespace allocation are to be
   interpreted as described in [RFC2434].

   Protocol fields and possible values to fill them are defined in this
   set of documents.  Protocol fields will be defined in the message
   definitions.  As an example, SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_DATA is defined as
   follows.

      byte      SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_DATA
      uint32    recipient channel
      string    data

   Throughout these documents, when the fields are referenced, they will
   appear within single quotes.  When values to fill those fields are
   referenced, they will appear within double quotes.  Using the above
   example, possible values for 'data' are "foo" and "bar".





Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                     [Page 3]
^L
RFC 4252              SSH Authentication Protocol           January 2006


4.  The Authentication Protocol Framework

   The server drives the authentication by telling the client which
   authentication methods can be used to continue the exchange at any
   given time.  The client has the freedom to try the methods listed by
   the server in any order.  This gives the server complete control over
   the authentication process if desired, but also gives enough
   flexibility for the client to use the methods it supports or that are
   most convenient for the user, when multiple methods are offered by
   the server.

   Authentication methods are identified by their name, as defined in
   [SSH-ARCH].  The "none" method is reserved, and MUST NOT be listed as
   supported.  However, it MAY be sent by the client.  The server MUST
   always reject this request, unless the client is to be granted access
   without any authentication, in which case, the server MUST accept
   this request.  The main purpose of sending this request is to get the
   list of supported methods from the server.

   The server SHOULD have a timeout for authentication and disconnect if
   the authentication has not been accepted within the timeout period.
   The RECOMMENDED timeout period is 10 minutes.  Additionally, the
   implementation SHOULD limit the number of failed authentication
   attempts a client may perform in a single session (the RECOMMENDED
   limit is 20 attempts).  If the threshold is exceeded, the server
   SHOULD disconnect.

   Additional thoughts about authentication timeouts and retries may be
   found in [ssh-1.2.30].

5.  Authentication Requests

   All authentication requests MUST use the following message format.
   Only the first few fields are defined; the remaining fields depend on
   the authentication method.

      byte      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST
      string    user name in ISO-10646 UTF-8 encoding [RFC3629]
      string    service name in US-ASCII
      string    method name in US-ASCII
      ....      method specific fields

   The 'user name' and 'service name' are repeated in every new
   authentication attempt, and MAY change.  The server implementation
   MUST carefully check them in every message, and MUST flush any
   accumulated authentication states if they change.  If it is unable to





Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                     [Page 4]
^L
RFC 4252              SSH Authentication Protocol           January 2006


   flush an authentication state, it MUST disconnect if the 'user name'
   or 'service name' changes.

   The 'service name' specifies the service to start after
   authentication.  There may be several different authenticated
   services provided.  If the requested service is not available, the
   server MAY disconnect immediately or at any later time.  Sending a
   proper disconnect message is RECOMMENDED.  In any case, if the
   service does not exist, authentication MUST NOT be accepted.

   If the requested 'user name' does not exist, the server MAY
   disconnect, or MAY send a bogus list of acceptable authentication
   'method name' values, but never accept any.  This makes it possible
   for the server to avoid disclosing information on which accounts
   exist.  In any case, if the 'user name' does not exist, the
   authentication request MUST NOT be accepted.

   While there is usually little point for clients to send requests that
   the server does not list as acceptable, sending such requests is not
   an error, and the server SHOULD simply reject requests that it does
   not recognize.

   An authentication request MAY result in a further exchange of
   messages.  All such messages depend on the authentication 'method
   name' used, and the client MAY at any time continue with a new
   SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST message, in which case the server MUST
   abandon the previous authentication attempt and continue with the new
   one.

   The following 'method name' values are defined.

      "publickey"             REQUIRED
      "password"              OPTIONAL
      "hostbased"             OPTIONAL
      "none"                  NOT RECOMMENDED

   Additional 'method name' values may be defined as specified in
   [SSH-ARCH] and [SSH-NUMBERS].

5.1.  Responses to Authentication Requests

   If the server rejects the authentication request, it MUST respond
   with the following:

      byte         SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_FAILURE
      name-list    authentications that can continue
      boolean      partial success




Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                     [Page 5]
^L
RFC 4252              SSH Authentication Protocol           January 2006


   The 'authentications that can continue' is a comma-separated name-
   list of authentication 'method name' values that may productively
   continue the authentication dialog.

   It is RECOMMENDED that servers only include those 'method name'
   values in the name-list that are actually useful.  However, it is not
   illegal to include 'method name' values that cannot be used to
   authenticate the user.

   Already successfully completed authentications SHOULD NOT be included
   in the name-list, unless they should be performed again for some
   reason.

   The value of 'partial success' MUST be TRUE if the authentication
   request to which this is a response was successful.  It MUST be FALSE
   if the request was not successfully processed.

   When the server accepts authentication, it MUST respond with the
   following:

      byte      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_SUCCESS

   Note that this is not sent after each step in a multi-method
   authentication sequence, but only when the authentication is
   complete.

   The client MAY send several authentication requests without waiting
   for responses from previous requests.  The server MUST process each
   request completely and acknowledge any failed requests with a
   SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_FAILURE message before processing the next request.

   A request that requires further messages to be exchanged will be
   aborted by a subsequent request.  A client MUST NOT send a subsequent
   request if it has not received a response from the server for a
   previous request.  A SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_FAILURE message MUST NOT be
   sent for an aborted method.

   SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_SUCCESS MUST be sent only once.  When
   SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_SUCCESS has been sent, any further authentication
   requests received after that SHOULD be silently ignored.

   Any non-authentication messages sent by the client after the request
   that resulted in SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_SUCCESS being sent MUST be passed
   to the service being run on top of this protocol.  Such messages can
   be identified by their message numbers (see Section 6).






Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                     [Page 6]
^L
RFC 4252              SSH Authentication Protocol           January 2006


5.2.  The "none" Authentication Request

   A client may request a list of authentication 'method name' values
   that may continue by using the "none" authentication 'method name'.

   If no authentication is needed for the user, the server MUST return
   SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_SUCCESS.  Otherwise, the server MUST return
   SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_FAILURE and MAY return with it a list of methods
   that may continue in its 'authentications that can continue' value.

   This 'method name' MUST NOT be listed as supported by the server.

5.3.  Completion of User Authentication

   Authentication is complete when the server has responded with
   SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_SUCCESS.  All authentication related messages
   received after sending this message SHOULD be silently ignored.

   After sending SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_SUCCESS, the server starts the
   requested service.

5.4.  Banner Message

   In some jurisdictions, sending a warning message before
   authentication may be relevant for getting legal protection.  Many
   UNIX machines, for example, normally display text from /etc/issue,
   use TCP wrappers, or similar software to display a banner before
   issuing a login prompt.

   The SSH server may send an SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_BANNER message at any
   time after this authentication protocol starts and before
   authentication is successful.  This message contains text to be
   displayed to the client user before authentication is attempted.  The
   format is as follows:

      byte      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_BANNER
      string    message in ISO-10646 UTF-8 encoding [RFC3629]
      string    language tag [RFC3066]

   By default, the client SHOULD display the 'message' on the screen.
   However, since the 'message' is likely to be sent for every login
   attempt, and since some client software will need to open a separate
   window for this warning, the client software may allow the user to
   explicitly disable the display of banners from the server.  The
   'message' may consist of multiple lines, with line breaks indicated
   by CRLF pairs.





Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                     [Page 7]
^L
RFC 4252              SSH Authentication Protocol           January 2006


   If the 'message' string is displayed, control character filtering,
   discussed in [SSH-ARCH], SHOULD be used to avoid attacks by sending
   terminal control characters.

6.  Authentication Protocol Message Numbers

   All message numbers used by this authentication protocol are in the
   range from 50 to 79, which is part of the range reserved for
   protocols running on top of the SSH transport layer protocol.

   Message numbers of 80 and higher are reserved for protocols running
   after this authentication protocol, so receiving one of them before
   authentication is complete is an error, to which the server MUST
   respond by disconnecting, preferably with a proper disconnect message
   sent to ease troubleshooting.

   After successful authentication, such messages are passed to the
   higher-level service.

   These are the general authentication message codes:

      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST            50
      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_FAILURE            51
      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_SUCCESS            52
      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_BANNER             53

   In addition to the above, there is a range of message numbers (60 to
   79) reserved for method-specific messages.  These messages are only
   sent by the server (client sends only SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST
   messages).  Different authentication methods reuse the same message
   numbers.

7.  Public Key Authentication Method: "publickey"

   The only REQUIRED authentication 'method name' is "publickey"
   authentication.  All implementations MUST support this method;
   however, not all users need to have public keys, and most local
   policies are not likely to require public key authentication for all
   users in the near future.

   With this method, the possession of a private key serves as
   authentication.  This method works by sending a signature created
   with a private key of the user.  The server MUST check that the key
   is a valid authenticator for the user, and MUST check that the
   signature is valid.  If both hold, the authentication request MUST be
   accepted; otherwise, it MUST be rejected.  Note that the server MAY
   require additional authentications after successful authentication.




Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                     [Page 8]
^L
RFC 4252              SSH Authentication Protocol           January 2006


   Private keys are often stored in an encrypted form at the client
   host, and the user must supply a passphrase before the signature can
   be generated.  Even if they are not, the signing operation involves
   some expensive computation.  To avoid unnecessary processing and user
   interaction, the following message is provided for querying whether
   authentication using the "publickey" method would be acceptable.

      byte      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST
      string    user name in ISO-10646 UTF-8 encoding [RFC3629]
      string    service name in US-ASCII
      string    "publickey"
      boolean   FALSE
      string    public key algorithm name
      string    public key blob

   Public key algorithms are defined in the transport layer
   specification [SSH-TRANS].  The 'public key blob' may contain
   certificates.

   Any public key algorithm may be offered for use in authentication.
   In particular, the list is not constrained by what was negotiated
   during key exchange.  If the server does not support some algorithm,
   it MUST simply reject the request.

   The server MUST respond to this message with either
   SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_FAILURE or with the following:

      byte      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_PK_OK
      string    public key algorithm name from the request
      string    public key blob from the request

   To perform actual authentication, the client MAY then send a
   signature generated using the private key.  The client MAY send the
   signature directly without first verifying whether the key is
   acceptable.  The signature is sent using the following packet:

      byte      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST
      string    user name
      string    service name
      string    "publickey"
      boolean   TRUE
      string    public key algorithm name
      string    public key to be used for authentication
      string    signature







Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                     [Page 9]
^L
RFC 4252              SSH Authentication Protocol           January 2006


   The value of 'signature' is a signature by the corresponding private
   key over the following data, in the following order:

      string    session identifier
      byte      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST
      string    user name
      string    service name
      string    "publickey"
      boolean   TRUE
      string    public key algorithm name
      string    public key to be used for authentication

   When the server receives this message, it MUST check whether the
   supplied key is acceptable for authentication, and if so, it MUST
   check whether the signature is correct.

   If both checks succeed, this method is successful.  Note that the
   server may require additional authentications.  The server MUST
   respond with SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_SUCCESS (if no more authentications are
   needed), or SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_FAILURE (if the request failed, or more
   authentications are needed).

   The following method-specific message numbers are used by the
   "publickey" authentication method.

      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_PK_OK              60

8.  Password Authentication Method: "password"

   Password authentication uses the following packets.  Note that a
   server MAY request that a user change the password.  All
   implementations SHOULD support password authentication.

      byte      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST
      string    user name
      string    service name
      string    "password"
      boolean   FALSE
      string    plaintext password in ISO-10646 UTF-8 encoding [RFC3629]

   Note that the 'plaintext password' value is encoded in ISO-10646
   UTF-8.  It is up to the server how to interpret the password and
   validate it against the password database.  However, if the client
   reads the password in some other encoding (e.g., ISO 8859-1 - ISO
   Latin1), it MUST convert the password to ISO-10646 UTF-8 before
   transmitting, and the server MUST convert the password to the
   encoding used on that system for passwords.




Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                    [Page 10]
^L
RFC 4252              SSH Authentication Protocol           January 2006


   From an internationalization standpoint, it is desired that if a user
   enters their password, the authentication process will work
   regardless of what OS and client software the user is using.  Doing
   so requires normalization.  Systems supporting non-ASCII passwords
   SHOULD always normalize passwords and user names whenever they are
   added to the database, or compared (with or without hashing) to
   existing entries in the database.  SSH implementations that both
   store the passwords and compare them SHOULD use [RFC4013] for
   normalization.

   Note that even though the cleartext password is transmitted in the
   packet, the entire packet is encrypted by the transport layer.  Both
   the server and the client should check whether the underlying
   transport layer provides confidentiality (i.e., if encryption is
   being used).  If no confidentiality is provided ("none" cipher),
   password authentication SHOULD be disabled.  If there is no
   confidentiality or no MAC, password change SHOULD be disabled.

   Normally, the server responds to this message with success or
   failure.  However, if the password has expired, the server SHOULD
   indicate this by responding with SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_PASSWD_CHANGEREQ.
   In any case, the server MUST NOT allow an expired password to be used
   for authentication.

      byte      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_PASSWD_CHANGEREQ
      string    prompt in ISO-10646 UTF-8 encoding [RFC3629]
      string    language tag [RFC3066]

   In this case, the client MAY continue with a different authentication
   method, or request a new password from the user and retry password
   authentication using the following message.  The client MAY also send
   this message instead of the normal password authentication request
   without the server asking for it.

      byte      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST
      string    user name
      string    service name
      string    "password"
      boolean   TRUE
      string    plaintext old password in ISO-10646 UTF-8 encoding
                 [RFC3629]
      string    plaintext new password in ISO-10646 UTF-8 encoding
                 [RFC3629]








Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                    [Page 11]
^L
RFC 4252              SSH Authentication Protocol           January 2006


   The server must reply to each request message with
   SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_SUCCESS, SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_FAILURE, or another
   SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_PASSWD_CHANGEREQ.  The meaning of these is as
   follows:

      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_SUCCESS - The password has been changed, and
      authentication has been successfully completed.

      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_FAILURE with partial success - The password has
      been changed, but more authentications are needed.

      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_FAILURE without partial success - The password
      has not been changed.  Either password changing was not supported,
      or the old password was bad.  Note that if the server has already
      sent SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_PASSWD_CHANGEREQ, we know that it supports
      changing the password.

      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_CHANGEREQ - The password was not changed because
      the new password was not acceptable (e.g., too easy to guess).

   The following method-specific message numbers are used by the
   password authentication method.

      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_PASSWD_CHANGEREQ   60

9.  Host-Based Authentication: "hostbased"

   Some sites wish to allow authentication based on the host that the
   user is coming from and the user name on the remote host.  While this
   form of authentication is not suitable for high-security sites, it
   can be very convenient in many environments.  This form of
   authentication is OPTIONAL.  When used, special care SHOULD be taken
   to prevent a regular user from obtaining the private host key.

   The client requests this form of authentication by sending the
   following message.  It is similar to the UNIX "rhosts" and
   "hosts.equiv" styles of authentication, except that the identity of
   the client host is checked more rigorously.

   This method works by having the client send a signature created with
   the private key of the client host, which the server checks with that
   host's public key.  Once the client host's identity is established,
   authorization (but no further authentication) is performed based on
   the user names on the server and the client, and the client host
   name.






Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                    [Page 12]
^L
RFC 4252              SSH Authentication Protocol           January 2006


      byte      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST
      string    user name
      string    service name
      string    "hostbased"
      string    public key algorithm for host key
      string    public host key and certificates for client host
      string    client host name expressed as the FQDN in US-ASCII
      string    user name on the client host in ISO-10646 UTF-8 encoding
                 [RFC3629]
      string    signature

   Public key algorithm names for use in 'public key algorithm for host
   key' are defined in the transport layer specification [SSH-TRANS].
   The 'public host key and certificates for client host' may include
   certificates.

   The value of 'signature' is a signature with the private host key of
   the following data, in this order:

      string    session identifier
      byte      SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST
      string    user name
      string    service name
      string    "hostbased"
      string    public key algorithm for host key
      string    public host key and certificates for client host
      string    client host name expressed as the FQDN in US-ASCII
      string    user name on the client host in ISO-10646 UTF-8 encoding
                 [RFC3629]

   The server MUST verify that the host key actually belongs to the
   client host named in the message, that the given user on that host is
   allowed to log in, and that the 'signature' value is a valid
   signature on the appropriate value by the given host key.  The server
   MAY ignore the client 'user name', if it wants to authenticate only
   the client host.

   Whenever possible, it is RECOMMENDED that the server perform
   additional checks to verify that the network address obtained from
   the (untrusted) network matches the given client host name.  This
   makes exploiting compromised host keys more difficult.  Note that
   this may require special handling for connections coming through a
   firewall.








Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                    [Page 13]
^L
RFC 4252              SSH Authentication Protocol           January 2006


10.  IANA Considerations

   This document is part of a set.  The IANA considerations for the SSH
   protocol, as defined in [SSH-ARCH], [SSH-TRANS], [SSH-CONNECT], and
   this document, are detailed in [SSH-NUMBERS].

11.  Security Considerations

   The purpose of this protocol is to perform client user
   authentication.  It assumed that this runs over a secure transport
   layer protocol, which has already authenticated the server machine,
   established an encrypted communications channel, and computed a
   unique session identifier for this session.  The transport layer
   provides forward secrecy for password authentication and other
   methods that rely on secret data.

   Full security considerations for this protocol are provided in
   [SSH-ARCH].

































Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                    [Page 14]
^L
RFC 4252              SSH Authentication Protocol           January 2006


12.  References

12.1.  Normative References

   [SSH-ARCH]    Ylonen, T. and C. Lonvick, Ed., "The Secure Shell (SSH)
                 Protocol Architecture", RFC 4251, January 2006.

   [SSH-CONNECT] Ylonen, T. and C. Lonvick, Ed., "The Secure Shell (SSH)
                 Connection Protocol", RFC 4254, January 2006.

   [SSH-TRANS]   Ylonen, T. and C. Lonvick, Ed., "The Secure Shell (SSH)
                 Transport Layer Protocol", RFC 4253, January 2006.

   [SSH-NUMBERS] Lehtinen, S. and C. Lonvick, Ed., "The Secure Shell
                 (SSH) Protocol Assigned Numbers", RFC 4250, January
                 2006.

   [RFC2119]     Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
                 Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [RFC2434]     Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing
                 an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC
                 2434, October 1998.

   [RFC3066]     Alvestrand, H., "Tags for the Identification of
                 Languages", BCP 47, RFC 3066, January 2001.

   [RFC3629]     Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO
                 10646", STD 63, RFC 3629, November 2003.

   [RFC4013]     Zeilenga, K., "SASLprep: Stringprep Profile for User
                 Names and Passwords", RFC 4013, February 2005.

12.2.  Informative References

   [ssh-1.2.30]  Ylonen, T., "ssh-1.2.30/RFC", File within compressed
                 tarball  ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/unix/security/login/
                 ssh/ssh-1.2.30.tar.gz, November 1995.













Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                    [Page 15]
^L
RFC 4252              SSH Authentication Protocol           January 2006


Authors' Addresses

   Tatu Ylonen
   SSH Communications Security Corp
   Valimotie 17
   00380 Helsinki
   Finland

   EMail: ylo@ssh.com


   Chris Lonvick (editor)
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   12515 Research Blvd.
   Austin  78759
   USA

   EMail: clonvick@cisco.com

Trademark Notice

   "ssh" is a registered trademark in the United States and/or other
   countries.




























Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                    [Page 16]
^L
RFC 4252              SSH Authentication Protocol           January 2006


Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).

   This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
   contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
   retain all their rights.

   This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
   OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
   ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
   INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
   INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
   WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Intellectual Property

   The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
   Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to
   pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
   this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
   might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has
   made any independent effort to identify any such rights.  Information
   on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
   found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
   assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
   attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
   such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
   specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
   http://www.ietf.org/ipr.

   The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
   copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
   rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
   this standard.  Please address the information to the IETF at
   ietf-ipr@ietf.org.

Acknowledgement

   Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF
   Administrative Support Activity (IASA).







Ylonen & Lonvick            Standards Track                    [Page 17]
^L