quite OT [solved] but interesting

Sun Nov 11 05:37:53 UTC 2018

After lots of hunting I re-installed high sierra from scratch.
Public key DID work.
I slowly restored from a time machine backup until it stopped working.

The culprit was .ssh directory.
I put the working .ssh dir back and copied my id’s and config to the working .ssh dir. Public key still worked.

Using ls -l and ignoring ACLs the working and non working dirs and files look identical (content and permissions)

This smacks of Schrödinger's cat

James

Lots of noise about public key login ...

>> Password-less login to 10.13.6 works for me just fine,
>> with the method described above (put your *.pub to the authorized_keys).
>> That's the system /usr/sbin/sshd, which is OpenSSH_7.6, LibreSSL 2.6.2.
>> Below is a log of such a session, from OpenBSD 6.3 to MacOS 10.13.6.
>> 
>>> hell 40 years experience using unix and I have and do do many many
>> 
>> I'm sure you do do.
>> 
>>>> On 3 Sep 2018, at 8:00 pm, macports-users-request at lists.macports.org wrote:
>>>> What port?
>>> 
>>> actually openssh which works everywhere ( where works == password-less login NB nothing to do with pass-phrase) does not work on high sierra
>> 
>> In the current port tree, that's OpenSSH 7.6p1r5 (right?).
>> Have you tried the same with the system OpenSSH?
>> Have you tried with the OpenSSH port built upon the LibreSSL port,
>> as opposed to the OpenSSL port? What is the difference?
>> 
>>>>> i usually copy the public key by hand, but I also used ssh-copy-id
>>>>> from 1_mac to another
>>>>> from 1_mac to itself
>>>>> from 1_mac to a plethora of linux machines and virtual machines
>>>>> 
>>>>> 1_mac cannot login passwd-less to another.
>>>> To another what?
>>> 
>>> The original post made clear I called the first mac "mac-1"
>>> and the second mac “another"
>> 
>> What happens when you try a 10.13.6 server with a different client?
>> 
>>>>> 1_mac CAN login to the linux boxes passwdless
>>>>> The logs show nothing of interest
>> 
>> Well, there must be a message about what failed with the keys, right?
>> 
>>> Umm I’m confused. I see a password prompt not a shell prompt. I see too public_key auth failed wthi error 51 before password auth gets tried
>> 
>> So show us the full -v -v log.
>> 
>>> I can see my suspition is not happening
>>> which was blank pass phrase is not allowed.
>> 
>> That would be a restriction of the _client_ (which I doubt),
>> and the client log would surely say so.
> 
> Thanks to every one for suggestions and help.  I’ll stop abusing the list <smile>
> 
> I have two machines upgraded to high sierra (that did work once upon a time)
> and one clean install (the machine was formatted ext4 and ran linux). None work!
> 
> for interest
> 
> [haycorn] /Users/jam [263]% ls -lR .ssh
> total 40
> -rw-------  1 jam  staff  1014  3 Sep 19:08 authorized_keys
> -rw-r--r--  1 jam  staff   130  4 Sep  2017 config
> -rw-------  1 jam  staff  1679 17 Feb  2018 id_rsa
> -rw-r--r--  1 jam  staff   398 17 Feb  2018 id_rsa.pub
> -rw-r--r--  1 jam  staff  2342  7 Oct  2016 known_hosts
> 
> [haycorn] /Users/jam [264]% cat .ssh/authorized_keys
> ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQC7Nq44JqKYYGNHMzotos6xmDkeI/2KVKIWcEz36TXqJsZxms39HuTpky5lP56gDnmXdBe8fSDi6ZJbSONZ5sMmS8XG0QqxDQufJIuoQrmgGXFhE8jcrbPAixGhX5fmBOPgFa5JgWDD9caYhpbxTfl2GoAu6Pe0u7paCaMyxD9KNAMk8oBzfkQFU3KMiK+0rB+/UI5lEyAJLCPW2WzFlF8N5iBjocvoDqx2slATfjKPx85VrdS5hVjKHcJjlpgEJ4a5+fcjlpAq/A2AKEQbzXfK1Tpb5PtyhRTIhjDufCZbgSdZlRC8fnm/iDXkwWDmkwCVYhyPAy5P4ecPpihzP6hF jam at twill
> 
> [haycorn] /Users/jam [265]%
> 
> To high sierra
> 
> [twill] /Users/jam [230]% ssh -vv haycorn.home
> OpenSSH_7.6p1, LibreSSL 2.6.2
> debug1: Reading configuration data /Users/jam/.ssh/config
> debug1: /Users/jam/.ssh/config line 2: Applying options for *
> debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
> debug1: /etc/ssh/ssh_config line 49: Applying options for *
> debug2: ssh_connect_direct: needpriv 0
> debug1: Connecting to haycorn.home port 22.
> debug1: Connection established.
> debug1: identity file /Users/jam/.ssh/id_rsa type 0
> debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
> debug1: identity file /Users/jam/.ssh/id_rsa-cert type -1
> debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
> debug1: identity file /Users/jam/.ssh/id_dsa type -1
> debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
> debug1: identity file /Users/jam/.ssh/id_dsa-cert type -1
> debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
> debug1: identity file /Users/jam/.ssh/id_ecdsa type -1
> debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
> debug1: identity file /Users/jam/.ssh/id_ecdsa-cert type -1
> debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
> debug1: identity file /Users/jam/.ssh/id_ed25519 type -1
> debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
> debug1: identity file /Users/jam/.ssh/id_ed25519-cert type -1
> debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_7.6
> debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_7.6
> debug1: match: OpenSSH_7.6 pat OpenSSH* compat 0x04000000
> debug1: Authenticating to haycorn.home:22 as 'jam'
> debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent
> debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received
> debug2: local client KEXINIT proposal
> debug2: KEX algorithms: curve25519-sha256,curve25519-sha256 at libssh.org,ecdh-sha2-nistp256,ecdh-sha2-nistp384,ecdh-sha2-nistp521,diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256,diffie-hellman-group16-sha512,diffie-hellman-group18-sha512,diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha1,diffie-hellman-group14-sha256,diffie-hellman-group14-sha1,diffie-hellman-group1-sha1,ext-info-c
> debug2: host key algorithms: ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01 at openssh.com,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384-cert-v01 at openssh.com,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521-cert-v01 at openssh.com,ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521,ssh-ed25519-cert-v01 at openssh.com,ssh-rsa-cert-v01 at openssh.com,ssh-ed25519,rsa-sha2-512,rsa-sha2-256,ssh-rsa
> debug2: ciphers ctos: chacha20-poly1305 at openssh.com,aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,aes128-gcm at openssh.com,aes256-gcm at openssh.com
> debug2: ciphers stoc: chacha20-poly1305 at openssh.com,aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,aes128-gcm at openssh.com,aes256-gcm at openssh.com
> debug2: MACs ctos: umac-64-etm at openssh.com,umac-128-etm at openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256-etm at openssh.com,hmac-sha2-512-etm at openssh.com,hmac-sha1-etm at openssh.com,umac-64 at openssh.com,umac-128 at openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha1
> debug2: MACs stoc: umac-64-etm at openssh.com,umac-128-etm at openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256-etm at openssh.com,hmac-sha2-512-etm at openssh.com,hmac-sha1-etm at openssh.com,umac-64 at openssh.com,umac-128 at openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha1
> debug2: compression ctos: none,zlib at openssh.com,zlib
> debug2: compression stoc: none,zlib at openssh.com,zlib
> debug2: languages ctos:
> debug2: languages stoc:
> debug2: first_kex_follows 0
> debug2: reserved 0
> debug2: peer server KEXINIT proposal
> debug2: KEX algorithms: curve25519-sha256,curve25519-sha256 at libssh.org,ecdh-sha2-nistp256,ecdh-sha2-nistp384,ecdh-sha2-nistp521,diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256,diffie-hellman-group16-sha512,diffie-hellman-group18-sha512,diffie-hellman-group14-sha256,diffie-hellman-group14-sha1
> debug2: host key algorithms: ssh-rsa,rsa-sha2-512,rsa-sha2-256,ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,ssh-ed25519
> debug2: ciphers ctos: chacha20-poly1305 at openssh.com,aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,aes128-gcm at openssh.com,aes256-gcm at openssh.com
> debug2: ciphers stoc: chacha20-poly1305 at openssh.com,aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,aes128-gcm at openssh.com,aes256-gcm at openssh.com
> debug2: MACs ctos: umac-64-etm at openssh.com,umac-128-etm at openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256-etm at openssh.com,hmac-sha2-512-etm at openssh.com,hmac-sha1-etm at openssh.com,umac-64 at openssh.com,umac-128 at openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha1
> debug2: MACs stoc: umac-64-etm at openssh.com,umac-128-etm at openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256-etm at openssh.com,hmac-sha2-512-etm at openssh.com,hmac-sha1-etm at openssh.com,umac-64 at openssh.com,umac-128 at openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha1
> debug2: compression ctos: none,zlib at openssh.com
> debug2: compression stoc: none,zlib at openssh.com
> debug2: languages ctos:
> debug2: languages stoc:
> debug2: first_kex_follows 0
> debug2: reserved 0
> debug1: kex: algorithm: curve25519-sha256
> debug1: kex: host key algorithm: ecdsa-sha2-nistp256
> debug1: kex: server->client cipher: chacha20-poly1305 at openssh.com MAC: <implicit> compression: none
> debug1: kex: client->server cipher: chacha20-poly1305 at openssh.com MAC: <implicit> compression: none
> debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_ECDH_REPLY
> debug1: Server host key: ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 SHA256:0ZZ3WRiXJp6ucXm5k6X9Zz19kwpXLpYvYFiayZ+K0mk
> debug1: Host 'haycorn.home' is known and matches the ECDSA host key.
> debug1: Found key in /Users/jam/.ssh/known_hosts:9
> debug2: set_newkeys: mode 1
> debug1: rekey after 134217728 blocks
> debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent
> debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS
> debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received
> debug2: set_newkeys: mode 0
> debug1: rekey after 134217728 blocks
> debug2: key: /Users/jam/.ssh/id_rsa (0x7f877a700850)
> debug2: key: /Users/jam/.ssh/id_dsa (0x0)
> debug2: key: /Users/jam/.ssh/id_ecdsa (0x0)
> debug2: key: /Users/jam/.ssh/id_ed25519 (0x0)
> debug1: SSH2_MSG_EXT_INFO received
> debug1: kex_input_ext_info: server-sig-algs=<ssh-ed25519,ssh-rsa,rsa-sha2-256,rsa-sha2-512,ssh-dss,ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521>
> debug2: service_accept: ssh-userauth
> debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password
> debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
> debug1: Offering public key: RSA SHA256:/FjP5L3Grrw1P4KXIq5SsfkEy5RWhmeVehgG5+8k5rk /Users/jam/.ssh/id_rsa
> debug2: we sent a publickey packet, wait for reply
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password
> debug1: Trying private key: /Users/jam/.ssh/id_dsa
> debug1: Trying private key: /Users/jam/.ssh/id_ecdsa
> debug1: Trying private key: /Users/jam/.ssh/id_ed25519
> debug2: we did not send a packet, disable method
> debug1: Next authentication method: password
> jam at haycorn.home's password:
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> The relevant part to another machine
> —————————————————————————————————————
> ...
> debug1: rekey after 134217728 blocks
> debug2: key: /Users/jam/.ssh/id_rsa (0x7fb4d5f01360)
> debug2: key: /Users/jam/.ssh/id_dsa (0x0)
> debug2: key: /Users/jam/.ssh/id_ecdsa (0x0)
> debug2: key: /Users/jam/.ssh/id_ed25519 (0x0)
> debug1: SSH2_MSG_EXT_INFO received
> debug1: kex_input_ext_info: server-sig-algs=<rsa-sha2-256,rsa-sha2-512>
> debug2: service_accept: ssh-userauth
> debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
> debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,keyboard-interactive
> debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
> debug1: Offering public key: RSA SHA256:/FjP5L3Grrw1P4KXIq5SsfkEy5RWhmeVehgG5+8k5rk /Users/jam/.ssh/id_rsa
> debug2: we sent a publickey packet, wait for reply
> debug1: Server accepts key: pkalg rsa-sha2-512 blen 279
> debug2: input_userauth_pk_ok: fp SHA256:/FjP5L3Grrw1P4KXIq5SsfkEy5RWhmeVehgG5+8k5rk
> debug1: Authentication succeeded (publickey).
> Authenticated to sandypit.home ([192.168.5.33]:22).
> debug1: channel 0: new [client-session]
> debug2: channel 0: send open
> debug1: Requesting no-more-sessions at openssh.com
> debug1: Entering interactive session.
> debug1: pledge: exec
> debug1: client_input_global_request: rtype hostkeys-00 at openssh.com want_reply 0
> debug2: channel_input_open_confirmation: channel 0: callback start
> debug1: No xauth program.
> Warning: No xauth data; using fake authentication data for X11 forwarding.
> debug1: Requesting X11 forwarding with authentication spoofing.
> debug2: channel 0: request x11-req confirm 1
> debug2: fd 5 setting TCP_NODELAY
> debug2: client_session2_setup: id 0
> debug2: channel 0: request pty-req confirm 1
> debug1: Sending environment.
> debug1: Sending env LANG = en_AU.UTF-8
> debug2: channel 0: request env confirm 0
> debug2: channel 0: request shell confirm 1
> debug2: channel_input_open_confirmation: channel 0: callback done
> debug2: channel 0: open confirm rwindow 0 rmax 32768
> debug2: channel_input_status_confirm: type 99 id 0
> debug2: X11 forwarding request accepted on channel 0
> debug2: channel_input_status_confirm: type 99 id 0
> debug2: PTY allocation request accepted on channel 0
> debug2: channel 0: rcvd adjust 2097152
> debug2: channel_input_status_confirm: type 99 id 0
> debug2: shell request accepted on channel 0
> Last login: Tue Sep  4 19:51:13 2018 from 192.168.5.61
> Have a lot of fun...
> [sandypit] /home/jam [587]%
> 
> 
> So I’ll carefully read all the replies
> James