Bug 746961

Summary: ssh-keygen cannot create key outside of ~/.ssh directory
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Reporter: Matěj Cepl <mcepl>
Component: selinux-policyAssignee: Miroslav Grepl <mgrepl>
Status: CLOSED ERRATA QA Contact: Milos Malik <mmalik>
Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: unspecified    
Version: 6.2CC: dpal, dwalsh, ksrot, mattias.ellert, mgrepl, mmalik, mvadkert, pvrabec, rvokal, tmraz
Target Milestone: rcKeywords: FutureFeature, Triaged
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Enhancement
Doc Text:
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: 746290 Environment:
Last Closed: 2012-06-20 12:27:57 UTC Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:
Bug Depends On: 746290    
Bug Blocks:    

Description Matěj Cepl 2011-10-18 12:23:47 UTC 
I have originally observed this issue on RHEL 6.2.

+++ This bug was initially created as a clone of Bug #746290 +++

So, following the orders of the Fedora project people I have decided to recreate my ssh keys. And this is what happens:

mitmanek:~ $ cd
mitmanek:~ $ ssh-keygen -b 4096
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/matej/.ssh/id_rsa): id_fedora_rsa
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): 
Enter same passphrase again: 
open id_fedora_rsa failed: Permission denied.
Saving the key failed: id_fedora_rsa.
mitmanek:~ $ restorecon -v -R .ssh
mitmanek:~ $

Of course, it was my fault, that I forgot that keys have to be generated in ~/.ssh and not anywhere else because of SELinux, but it would be helpful if when getting a relative path (like in this case) ssh-keygen defaulted to ~/.ssh rather than to the current working directory.

Thank you

--- Additional comment from dwalsh on 2011-10-14 14:16:13 EDT ---

We could fix the SELinux but this could be a problem from a security point of view, since the ~/.ssh directory tends to be a protected directory.  I think if the user specifies a file without a path it should default to ~/.ssh

--- Additional comment from tmraz on 2011-10-17 03:42:55 EDT ---

I think SELinux should allow ssh-keygen writing anywhere. Basically ssh-keygen is a simple admin/user called local tool, not connecting anywhere, and it should be unconfined.

As for it defaulting to .ssh directory - this should be changed upstream first.

--- Additional comment from mgrepl on 2011-10-17 04:13:03 EDT ---

We might want to think about removing a transition to ssh-keygen at all since we have file name transition now so .ssh dir will create with the correct label.

Matej,

chcon -t bin_t `which ssh-keygen`

should work.

--- Additional comment from tmraz on 2011-10-17 04:20:16 EDT ---

Yes, Miroslav, I agree.

--- Additional comment from dwalsh on 2011-10-17 12:31:03 EDT ---

Yes in Rawhide we want to remove transition from user roles.

--- Additional comment from dwalsh on 2011-10-17 12:38:03 EDT ---

Removed transition in selinux-policy-3.10.0-41.fc16
Comment 2 Daniel Walsh 2011-10-18 12:39:05 UTC 
Well since we do not have the file name transitions in RHEL6 we do not want to remove the transition from user roles to ssh-keygen.
Comment 3 RHEL Program Management 2011-10-25 05:49:34 UTC 
Since RHEL 6.2 External Beta has begun, and this bug remains
unresolved, it has been rejected as it is not proposed as
exception or blocker.

Red Hat invites you to ask your support representative to
propose this request, if appropriate and relevant, in the
next release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Comment 4 Miroslav Grepl 2011-11-07 18:04:24 UTC 
*** Bug 751828 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 5 Petr Lautrbach 2011-12-08 15:46:13 UTC 
ssh-keygen asks for file, not for name and also it offers filename with absolute path by default:
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/test/.ssh/id_rsa)

So I don't think that this behaviour should be changed.

But there is problem with SELinux policy which doesn't allow ssh-keygen to create key outside of ~/.ssh even for unconfined user.

type=AVC msg=audit(1323358944.706:324): avc:  denied  { write } for  pid=1578 comm="ssh-keygen" name="tmp" dev=vda3 ino=25 scontext=unconfined_u:unconfined_r:ssh_keygen_t:s0-s0:c0.c1023 tcontext=unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 tclass=dir
type=AVC msg=audit(1323358944.706:324): avc:  denied  { add_name } for  pid=1578 comm="ssh-keygen" name="key" scontext=unconfined_u:unconfined_r:ssh_keygen_t:s0-s0:c0.c1023 tcontext=unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 tclass=dir
type=AVC msg=audit(1323358944.706:324): avc:  denied  { create } for  pid=1578 comm="ssh-keygen" name="key" scontext=unconfined_u:unconfined_r:ssh_keygen_t:s0-s0:c0.c1023 tcontext=unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 tclass=file
type=AVC msg=audit(1323358944.706:324): avc:  denied  { write open } for  pid=1578 comm="ssh-keygen" name="key" dev=vda3 ino=2820 scontext=unconfined_u:unconfined_r:ssh_keygen_t:s0-s0:c0.c1023 tcontext=unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 tclass=file
Comment 6 Daniel Walsh 2011-12-08 20:04:33 UTC 
If you remove the .ssh directory or fix its label, it will work.

restorecon -R -v ~/.ssh
Comment 7 Tomas Mraz 2011-12-08 20:58:06 UTC 
No, the problem is that ssh_keygen_t should be allowed to write just anywhere in the user's home directory, not only into ssh_home_t.
Comment 8 Miroslav Grepl 2011-12-09 08:52:02 UTC 
Petr,
I understand your point you run as unconfined SELinux user and you are confined. We needed to add this change because of CC. We made ssh_keygen_t domain as unconfined domain in the latest RHEL6.3 policy which should make this working.

The problem is we can not add a proper SELinux solution until we get file name transition into RHEL6.
Comment 9 Miroslav Grepl 2011-12-09 09:50:15 UTC 
Petr,
could you test it with the latest policy?
Comment 11 Miroslav Grepl 2012-01-26 07:55:39 UTC 
ssh-keygen now runs as unconfined domain in targeted policy by default.
Comment 14 errata-xmlrpc 2012-06-20 12:27:57 UTC 
Since the problem described in this bug report should be
resolved in a recent advisory, it has been closed with a
resolution of ERRATA.

For information on the advisory, and where to find the updated
files, follow the link below.

If the solution does not work for you, open a new bug report.

http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2012-0780.html