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Date:      Sun, 12 Sep 2021 16:02:42 +0200
From:      Markus Falb <markus.falb@fasel.at>
To:        freebsd-security@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Important note for future FreeBSD base system OpenSSH update
Message-ID:  <8169A4A8-B8D1-4265-87C8-74ED4D34FBC8@fasel.at>
In-Reply-To: <CAPyFy2Aw8Z3ngiM8YHApjjPRLZVC5MCN8TRQkh6pj2fSeM1zqw@mail.gmail.com>
References:  <CAPyFy2A390kS_C3g=Y9QhQcJ06z_FKUxXsNvi9g2CdWF24pukg@mail.gmail.com> <CAPyFy2B04b0GtWoHFQwxht5vK4_cnApPXpDLXU%2BRvcR=2L9YxA@mail.gmail.com> <CAPyFy2Aw8Z3ngiM8YHApjjPRLZVC5MCN8TRQkh6pj2fSeM1zqw@mail.gmail.com>

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> On 09.09.2021, at 20:01, Ed Maste <emaste@freebsd.org> wrote:
> 
> OpenSSH will disable the ssh-rsa signature scheme by default in the
> next release.
> 
> ...
> 
> To check whether a server is using the weak ssh-rsa public key
> algorithm, for host authentication, try to connect to it after
> removing the ssh-rsa algorithm from ssh(1)'s allowed list:
> 
>    ssh -oHostKeyAlgorithms=-ssh-rsa user@host

FWIW, some of us may already have dealt with that.
FIPS enabled RedHat Enterprise Linux (and probably other FIPS enabled
systems) means effectively no ssh-rsa signature available in the sshd.
I had that situation at the beginning of the year.

As mentioned, ssh-rsa signature algorithm will stop working, but
that does not automatically imply that every RSA key must be
changed to something other. The signature algorithm is not a
property that is inherent to the key.

That said, existing RSA keys were working fine for me (my openssh
client was rsa-sha2-256 and rsa-sha2-512 capable) but when I tested
with some popular windows clients (filezilla, putty) it failed
(apparently no rsa-sha2 algorithms available).

I found it interesting that mentioned clients were ecdsa
capable but did not support sha2 signatures with RSA keys.
Maybe the situation changed in the meantime to the better.

There are 3 scenarios:

1. both sides support rsa-sha2 signatures -> RSA keys still working

2. one side does not support sha2 signatures but does support other
key types -> you can change key type

3. one side does not support sha2 and no other key type -> you loose

A prominent candidate for 3. would be Cisco IOS

Best Regards, Markus



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