xref: /openbsd-src/usr.bin/ssh/ssh_config.5 (revision 25c4e8bd056e974b28f4a0ffd39d76c190a56013)
1.\"
2.\" Author: Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>
3.\" Copyright (c) 1995 Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>, Espoo, Finland
4.\"                    All rights reserved
5.\"
6.\" As far as I am concerned, the code I have written for this software
7.\" can be used freely for any purpose.  Any derived versions of this
8.\" software must be clearly marked as such, and if the derived work is
9.\" incompatible with the protocol description in the RFC file, it must be
10.\" called by a name other than "ssh" or "Secure Shell".
11.\"
12.\" Copyright (c) 1999,2000 Markus Friedl.  All rights reserved.
13.\" Copyright (c) 1999 Aaron Campbell.  All rights reserved.
14.\" Copyright (c) 1999 Theo de Raadt.  All rights reserved.
15.\"
16.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
17.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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19.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
20.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
21.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
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23.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
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35.\"
36.\" $OpenBSD: ssh_config.5,v 1.373 2022/06/24 04:27:14 djm Exp $
37.Dd $Mdocdate: June 24 2022 $
38.Dt SSH_CONFIG 5
39.Os
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm ssh_config
42.Nd OpenSSH client configuration file
43.Sh DESCRIPTION
44.Xr ssh 1
45obtains configuration data from the following sources in
46the following order:
47.Pp
48.Bl -enum -offset indent -compact
49.It
50command-line options
51.It
52user's configuration file
53.Pq Pa ~/.ssh/config
54.It
55system-wide configuration file
56.Pq Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_config
57.El
58.Pp
59For each parameter, the first obtained value
60will be used.
61The configuration files contain sections separated by
62.Cm Host
63specifications, and that section is only applied for hosts that
64match one of the patterns given in the specification.
65The matched host name is usually the one given on the command line
66(see the
67.Cm CanonicalizeHostname
68option for exceptions).
69.Pp
70Since the first obtained value for each parameter is used, more
71host-specific declarations should be given near the beginning of the
72file, and general defaults at the end.
73.Pp
74The file contains keyword-argument pairs, one per line.
75Lines starting with
76.Ql #
77and empty lines are interpreted as comments.
78Arguments may optionally be enclosed in double quotes
79.Pq \&"
80in order to represent arguments containing spaces.
81Configuration options may be separated by whitespace or
82optional whitespace and exactly one
83.Ql = ;
84the latter format is useful to avoid the need to quote whitespace
85when specifying configuration options using the
86.Nm ssh ,
87.Nm scp ,
88and
89.Nm sftp
90.Fl o
91option.
92.Pp
93The possible
94keywords and their meanings are as follows (note that
95keywords are case-insensitive and arguments are case-sensitive):
96.Bl -tag -width Ds
97.It Cm Host
98Restricts the following declarations (up to the next
99.Cm Host
100or
101.Cm Match
102keyword) to be only for those hosts that match one of the patterns
103given after the keyword.
104If more than one pattern is provided, they should be separated by whitespace.
105A single
106.Ql *
107as a pattern can be used to provide global
108defaults for all hosts.
109The host is usually the
110.Ar hostname
111argument given on the command line
112(see the
113.Cm CanonicalizeHostname
114keyword for exceptions).
115.Pp
116A pattern entry may be negated by prefixing it with an exclamation mark
117.Pq Sq !\& .
118If a negated entry is matched, then the
119.Cm Host
120entry is ignored, regardless of whether any other patterns on the line
121match.
122Negated matches are therefore useful to provide exceptions for wildcard
123matches.
124.Pp
125See
126.Sx PATTERNS
127for more information on patterns.
128.It Cm Match
129Restricts the following declarations (up to the next
130.Cm Host
131or
132.Cm Match
133keyword) to be used only when the conditions following the
134.Cm Match
135keyword are satisfied.
136Match conditions are specified using one or more criteria
137or the single token
138.Cm all
139which always matches.
140The available criteria keywords are:
141.Cm canonical ,
142.Cm final ,
143.Cm exec ,
144.Cm host ,
145.Cm originalhost ,
146.Cm user ,
147and
148.Cm localuser .
149The
150.Cm all
151criteria must appear alone or immediately after
152.Cm canonical
153or
154.Cm final .
155Other criteria may be combined arbitrarily.
156All criteria but
157.Cm all ,
158.Cm canonical ,
159and
160.Cm final
161require an argument.
162Criteria may be negated by prepending an exclamation mark
163.Pq Sq !\& .
164.Pp
165The
166.Cm canonical
167keyword matches only when the configuration file is being re-parsed
168after hostname canonicalization (see the
169.Cm CanonicalizeHostname
170option).
171This may be useful to specify conditions that work with canonical host
172names only.
173.Pp
174The
175.Cm final
176keyword requests that the configuration be re-parsed (regardless of whether
177.Cm CanonicalizeHostname
178is enabled), and matches only during this final pass.
179If
180.Cm CanonicalizeHostname
181is enabled, then
182.Cm canonical
183and
184.Cm final
185match during the same pass.
186.Pp
187The
188.Cm exec
189keyword executes the specified command under the user's shell.
190If the command returns a zero exit status then the condition is considered true.
191Commands containing whitespace characters must be quoted.
192Arguments to
193.Cm exec
194accept the tokens described in the
195.Sx TOKENS
196section.
197.Pp
198The other keywords' criteria must be single entries or comma-separated
199lists and may use the wildcard and negation operators described in the
200.Sx PATTERNS
201section.
202The criteria for the
203.Cm host
204keyword are matched against the target hostname, after any substitution
205by the
206.Cm Hostname
207or
208.Cm CanonicalizeHostname
209options.
210The
211.Cm originalhost
212keyword matches against the hostname as it was specified on the command-line.
213The
214.Cm user
215keyword matches against the target username on the remote host.
216The
217.Cm localuser
218keyword matches against the name of the local user running
219.Xr ssh 1
220(this keyword may be useful in system-wide
221.Nm
222files).
223.It Cm AddKeysToAgent
224Specifies whether keys should be automatically added to a running
225.Xr ssh-agent 1 .
226If this option is set to
227.Cm yes
228and a key is loaded from a file, the key and its passphrase are added to
229the agent with the default lifetime, as if by
230.Xr ssh-add 1 .
231If this option is set to
232.Cm ask ,
233.Xr ssh 1
234will require confirmation using the
235.Ev SSH_ASKPASS
236program before adding a key (see
237.Xr ssh-add 1
238for details).
239If this option is set to
240.Cm confirm ,
241each use of the key must be confirmed, as if the
242.Fl c
243option was specified to
244.Xr ssh-add 1 .
245If this option is set to
246.Cm no ,
247no keys are added to the agent.
248Alternately, this option may be specified as a time interval
249using the format described in the
250.Sx TIME FORMATS
251section of
252.Xr sshd_config 5
253to specify the key's lifetime in
254.Xr ssh-agent 1 ,
255after which it will automatically be removed.
256The argument must be
257.Cm no
258(the default),
259.Cm yes ,
260.Cm confirm
261(optionally followed by a time interval),
262.Cm ask
263or a time interval.
264.It Cm AddressFamily
265Specifies which address family to use when connecting.
266Valid arguments are
267.Cm any
268(the default),
269.Cm inet
270(use IPv4 only), or
271.Cm inet6
272(use IPv6 only).
273.It Cm BatchMode
274If set to
275.Cm yes ,
276user interaction such as password prompts and host key confirmation requests
277will be disabled.
278This option is useful in scripts and other batch jobs where no user
279is present to interact with
280.Xr ssh 1 .
281The argument must be
282.Cm yes
283or
284.Cm no
285(the default).
286.It Cm BindAddress
287Use the specified address on the local machine as the source address of
288the connection.
289Only useful on systems with more than one address.
290.It Cm BindInterface
291Use the address of the specified interface on the local machine as the
292source address of the connection.
293.It Cm CanonicalDomains
294When
295.Cm CanonicalizeHostname
296is enabled, this option specifies the list of domain suffixes in which to
297search for the specified destination host.
298.It Cm CanonicalizeFallbackLocal
299Specifies whether to fail with an error when hostname canonicalization fails.
300The default,
301.Cm yes ,
302will attempt to look up the unqualified hostname using the system resolver's
303search rules.
304A value of
305.Cm no
306will cause
307.Xr ssh 1
308to fail instantly if
309.Cm CanonicalizeHostname
310is enabled and the target hostname cannot be found in any of the domains
311specified by
312.Cm CanonicalDomains .
313.It Cm CanonicalizeHostname
314Controls whether explicit hostname canonicalization is performed.
315The default,
316.Cm no ,
317is not to perform any name rewriting and let the system resolver handle all
318hostname lookups.
319If set to
320.Cm yes
321then, for connections that do not use a
322.Cm ProxyCommand
323or
324.Cm ProxyJump ,
325.Xr ssh 1
326will attempt to canonicalize the hostname specified on the command line
327using the
328.Cm CanonicalDomains
329suffixes and
330.Cm CanonicalizePermittedCNAMEs
331rules.
332If
333.Cm CanonicalizeHostname
334is set to
335.Cm always ,
336then canonicalization is applied to proxied connections too.
337.Pp
338If this option is enabled, then the configuration files are processed
339again using the new target name to pick up any new configuration in matching
340.Cm Host
341and
342.Cm Match
343stanzas.
344A value of
345.Cm none
346disables the use of a
347.Cm ProxyJump
348host.
349.It Cm CanonicalizeMaxDots
350Specifies the maximum number of dot characters in a hostname before
351canonicalization is disabled.
352The default, 1,
353allows a single dot (i.e. hostname.subdomain).
354.It Cm CanonicalizePermittedCNAMEs
355Specifies rules to determine whether CNAMEs should be followed when
356canonicalizing hostnames.
357The rules consist of one or more arguments of
358.Ar source_domain_list : Ns Ar target_domain_list ,
359where
360.Ar source_domain_list
361is a pattern-list of domains that may follow CNAMEs in canonicalization,
362and
363.Ar target_domain_list
364is a pattern-list of domains that they may resolve to.
365.Pp
366For example,
367.Qq *.a.example.com:*.b.example.com,*.c.example.com
368will allow hostnames matching
369.Qq *.a.example.com
370to be canonicalized to names in the
371.Qq *.b.example.com
372or
373.Qq *.c.example.com
374domains.
375.Pp
376A single argument of
377.Qq none
378causes no CNAMEs to be considered for canonicalization.
379This is the default behaviour.
380.It Cm CASignatureAlgorithms
381Specifies which algorithms are allowed for signing of certificates
382by certificate authorities (CAs).
383The default is:
384.Bd -literal -offset indent
385ssh-ed25519,ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,
386ecdsa-sha2-nistp384,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521,
387sk-ssh-ed25519@openssh.com,
388sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256@openssh.com,
389rsa-sha2-512,rsa-sha2-256
390.Ed
391.Pp
392If the specified list begins with a
393.Sq +
394character, then the specified algorithms will be appended to the default set
395instead of replacing them.
396If the specified list begins with a
397.Sq -
398character, then the specified algorithms (including wildcards) will be removed
399from the default set instead of replacing them.
400.Pp
401.Xr ssh 1
402will not accept host certificates signed using algorithms other than those
403specified.
404.It Cm CertificateFile
405Specifies a file from which the user's certificate is read.
406A corresponding private key must be provided separately in order
407to use this certificate either
408from an
409.Cm IdentityFile
410directive or
411.Fl i
412flag to
413.Xr ssh 1 ,
414via
415.Xr ssh-agent 1 ,
416or via a
417.Cm PKCS11Provider
418or
419.Cm SecurityKeyProvider .
420.Pp
421Arguments to
422.Cm CertificateFile
423may use the tilde syntax to refer to a user's home directory,
424the tokens described in the
425.Sx TOKENS
426section and environment variables as described in the
427.Sx ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
428section.
429.Pp
430It is possible to have multiple certificate files specified in
431configuration files; these certificates will be tried in sequence.
432Multiple
433.Cm CertificateFile
434directives will add to the list of certificates used for
435authentication.
436.It Cm CheckHostIP
437If set to
438.Cm yes ,
439.Xr ssh 1
440will additionally check the host IP address in the
441.Pa known_hosts
442file.
443This allows it to detect if a host key changed due to DNS spoofing
444and will add addresses of destination hosts to
445.Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts
446in the process, regardless of the setting of
447.Cm StrictHostKeyChecking .
448If the option is set to
449.Cm no
450(the default),
451the check will not be executed.
452.It Cm Ciphers
453Specifies the ciphers allowed and their order of preference.
454Multiple ciphers must be comma-separated.
455If the specified list begins with a
456.Sq +
457character, then the specified ciphers will be appended to the default set
458instead of replacing them.
459If the specified list begins with a
460.Sq -
461character, then the specified ciphers (including wildcards) will be removed
462from the default set instead of replacing them.
463If the specified list begins with a
464.Sq ^
465character, then the specified ciphers will be placed at the head of the
466default set.
467.Pp
468The supported ciphers are:
469.Bd -literal -offset indent
4703des-cbc
471aes128-cbc
472aes192-cbc
473aes256-cbc
474aes128-ctr
475aes192-ctr
476aes256-ctr
477aes128-gcm@openssh.com
478aes256-gcm@openssh.com
479chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com
480.Ed
481.Pp
482The default is:
483.Bd -literal -offset indent
484chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com,
485aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,
486aes128-gcm@openssh.com,aes256-gcm@openssh.com
487.Ed
488.Pp
489The list of available ciphers may also be obtained using
490.Qq ssh -Q cipher .
491.It Cm ClearAllForwardings
492Specifies that all local, remote, and dynamic port forwardings
493specified in the configuration files or on the command line be
494cleared.
495This option is primarily useful when used from the
496.Xr ssh 1
497command line to clear port forwardings set in
498configuration files, and is automatically set by
499.Xr scp 1
500and
501.Xr sftp 1 .
502The argument must be
503.Cm yes
504or
505.Cm no
506(the default).
507.It Cm Compression
508Specifies whether to use compression.
509The argument must be
510.Cm yes
511or
512.Cm no
513(the default).
514.It Cm ConnectionAttempts
515Specifies the number of tries (one per second) to make before exiting.
516The argument must be an integer.
517This may be useful in scripts if the connection sometimes fails.
518The default is 1.
519.It Cm ConnectTimeout
520Specifies the timeout (in seconds) used when connecting to the
521SSH server, instead of using the default system TCP timeout.
522This timeout is applied both to establishing the connection and to performing
523the initial SSH protocol handshake and key exchange.
524.It Cm ControlMaster
525Enables the sharing of multiple sessions over a single network connection.
526When set to
527.Cm yes ,
528.Xr ssh 1
529will listen for connections on a control socket specified using the
530.Cm ControlPath
531argument.
532Additional sessions can connect to this socket using the same
533.Cm ControlPath
534with
535.Cm ControlMaster
536set to
537.Cm no
538(the default).
539These sessions will try to reuse the master instance's network connection
540rather than initiating new ones, but will fall back to connecting normally
541if the control socket does not exist, or is not listening.
542.Pp
543Setting this to
544.Cm ask
545will cause
546.Xr ssh 1
547to listen for control connections, but require confirmation using
548.Xr ssh-askpass 1 .
549If the
550.Cm ControlPath
551cannot be opened,
552.Xr ssh 1
553will continue without connecting to a master instance.
554.Pp
555X11 and
556.Xr ssh-agent 1
557forwarding is supported over these multiplexed connections, however the
558display and agent forwarded will be the one belonging to the master
559connection i.e. it is not possible to forward multiple displays or agents.
560.Pp
561Two additional options allow for opportunistic multiplexing: try to use a
562master connection but fall back to creating a new one if one does not already
563exist.
564These options are:
565.Cm auto
566and
567.Cm autoask .
568The latter requires confirmation like the
569.Cm ask
570option.
571.It Cm ControlPath
572Specify the path to the control socket used for connection sharing as described
573in the
574.Cm ControlMaster
575section above or the string
576.Cm none
577to disable connection sharing.
578Arguments to
579.Cm ControlPath
580may use the tilde syntax to refer to a user's home directory,
581the tokens described in the
582.Sx TOKENS
583section and environment variables as described in the
584.Sx ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
585section.
586It is recommended that any
587.Cm ControlPath
588used for opportunistic connection sharing include
589at least %h, %p, and %r (or alternatively %C) and be placed in a directory
590that is not writable by other users.
591This ensures that shared connections are uniquely identified.
592.It Cm ControlPersist
593When used in conjunction with
594.Cm ControlMaster ,
595specifies that the master connection should remain open
596in the background (waiting for future client connections)
597after the initial client connection has been closed.
598If set to
599.Cm no
600(the default),
601then the master connection will not be placed into the background,
602and will close as soon as the initial client connection is closed.
603If set to
604.Cm yes
605or 0,
606then the master connection will remain in the background indefinitely
607(until killed or closed via a mechanism such as the
608.Qq ssh -O exit ) .
609If set to a time in seconds, or a time in any of the formats documented in
610.Xr sshd_config 5 ,
611then the backgrounded master connection will automatically terminate
612after it has remained idle (with no client connections) for the
613specified time.
614.It Cm DynamicForward
615Specifies that a TCP port on the local machine be forwarded
616over the secure channel, and the application
617protocol is then used to determine where to connect to from the
618remote machine.
619.Pp
620The argument must be
621.Sm off
622.Oo Ar bind_address : Oc Ar port .
623.Sm on
624IPv6 addresses can be specified by enclosing addresses in square brackets.
625By default, the local port is bound in accordance with the
626.Cm GatewayPorts
627setting.
628However, an explicit
629.Ar bind_address
630may be used to bind the connection to a specific address.
631The
632.Ar bind_address
633of
634.Cm localhost
635indicates that the listening port be bound for local use only, while an
636empty address or
637.Sq *
638indicates that the port should be available from all interfaces.
639.Pp
640Currently the SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 protocols are supported, and
641.Xr ssh 1
642will act as a SOCKS server.
643Multiple forwardings may be specified, and
644additional forwardings can be given on the command line.
645Only the superuser can forward privileged ports.
646.It Cm EnableSSHKeysign
647Setting this option to
648.Cm yes
649in the global client configuration file
650.Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_config
651enables the use of the helper program
652.Xr ssh-keysign 8
653during
654.Cm HostbasedAuthentication .
655The argument must be
656.Cm yes
657or
658.Cm no
659(the default).
660This option should be placed in the non-hostspecific section.
661See
662.Xr ssh-keysign 8
663for more information.
664.It Cm EscapeChar
665Sets the escape character (default:
666.Ql ~ ) .
667The escape character can also
668be set on the command line.
669The argument should be a single character,
670.Ql ^
671followed by a letter, or
672.Cm none
673to disable the escape
674character entirely (making the connection transparent for binary
675data).
676.It Cm ExitOnForwardFailure
677Specifies whether
678.Xr ssh 1
679should terminate the connection if it cannot set up all requested
680dynamic, tunnel, local, and remote port forwardings, (e.g.\&
681if either end is unable to bind and listen on a specified port).
682Note that
683.Cm ExitOnForwardFailure
684does not apply to connections made over port forwardings and will not,
685for example, cause
686.Xr ssh 1
687to exit if TCP connections to the ultimate forwarding destination fail.
688The argument must be
689.Cm yes
690or
691.Cm no
692(the default).
693.It Cm FingerprintHash
694Specifies the hash algorithm used when displaying key fingerprints.
695Valid options are:
696.Cm md5
697and
698.Cm sha256
699(the default).
700.It Cm ForkAfterAuthentication
701Requests
702.Nm ssh
703to go to background just before command execution.
704This is useful if
705.Nm ssh
706is going to ask for passwords or passphrases, but the user
707wants it in the background.
708This implies the
709.Cm StdinNull
710configuration option being set to
711.Dq yes .
712The recommended way to start X11 programs at a remote site is with
713something like
714.Ic ssh -f host xterm ,
715which is the same as
716.Ic ssh host xterm
717if the
718.Cm ForkAfterAuthentication
719configuration option is set to
720.Dq yes .
721.Pp
722If the
723.Cm ExitOnForwardFailure
724configuration option is set to
725.Dq yes ,
726then a client started with the
727.Cm ForkAfterAuthentication
728configuration option being set to
729.Dq yes
730will wait for all remote port forwards to be successfully established
731before placing itself in the background.
732The argument to this keyword must be
733.Cm yes
734(same as the
735.Fl f
736option) or
737.Cm no
738(the default).
739.It Cm ForwardAgent
740Specifies whether the connection to the authentication agent (if any)
741will be forwarded to the remote machine.
742The argument may be
743.Cm yes ,
744.Cm no
745(the default),
746an explicit path to an agent socket or the name of an environment variable
747(beginning with
748.Sq $ )
749in which to find the path.
750.Pp
751Agent forwarding should be enabled with caution.
752Users with the ability to bypass file permissions on the remote host
753(for the agent's Unix-domain socket)
754can access the local agent through the forwarded connection.
755An attacker cannot obtain key material from the agent,
756however they can perform operations on the keys that enable them to
757authenticate using the identities loaded into the agent.
758.It Cm ForwardX11
759Specifies whether X11 connections will be automatically redirected
760over the secure channel and
761.Ev DISPLAY
762set.
763The argument must be
764.Cm yes
765or
766.Cm no
767(the default).
768.Pp
769X11 forwarding should be enabled with caution.
770Users with the ability to bypass file permissions on the remote host
771(for the user's X11 authorization database)
772can access the local X11 display through the forwarded connection.
773An attacker may then be able to perform activities such as keystroke monitoring
774if the
775.Cm ForwardX11Trusted
776option is also enabled.
777.It Cm ForwardX11Timeout
778Specify a timeout for untrusted X11 forwarding
779using the format described in the
780.Sx TIME FORMATS
781section of
782.Xr sshd_config 5 .
783X11 connections received by
784.Xr ssh 1
785after this time will be refused.
786Setting
787.Cm ForwardX11Timeout
788to zero will disable the timeout and permit X11 forwarding for the life
789of the connection.
790The default is to disable untrusted X11 forwarding after twenty minutes has
791elapsed.
792.It Cm ForwardX11Trusted
793If this option is set to
794.Cm yes ,
795remote X11 clients will have full access to the original X11 display.
796.Pp
797If this option is set to
798.Cm no
799(the default),
800remote X11 clients will be considered untrusted and prevented
801from stealing or tampering with data belonging to trusted X11
802clients.
803Furthermore, the
804.Xr xauth 1
805token used for the session will be set to expire after 20 minutes.
806Remote clients will be refused access after this time.
807.Pp
808See the X11 SECURITY extension specification for full details on
809the restrictions imposed on untrusted clients.
810.It Cm GatewayPorts
811Specifies whether remote hosts are allowed to connect to local
812forwarded ports.
813By default,
814.Xr ssh 1
815binds local port forwardings to the loopback address.
816This prevents other remote hosts from connecting to forwarded ports.
817.Cm GatewayPorts
818can be used to specify that ssh
819should bind local port forwardings to the wildcard address,
820thus allowing remote hosts to connect to forwarded ports.
821The argument must be
822.Cm yes
823or
824.Cm no
825(the default).
826.It Cm GlobalKnownHostsFile
827Specifies one or more files to use for the global
828host key database, separated by whitespace.
829The default is
830.Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts ,
831.Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts2 .
832.It Cm GSSAPIAuthentication
833Specifies whether user authentication based on GSSAPI is allowed.
834The default is
835.Cm no .
836.It Cm GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
837Forward (delegate) credentials to the server.
838The default is
839.Cm no .
840.It Cm HashKnownHosts
841Indicates that
842.Xr ssh 1
843should hash host names and addresses when they are added to
844.Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts .
845These hashed names may be used normally by
846.Xr ssh 1
847and
848.Xr sshd 8 ,
849but they do not visually reveal identifying information if the
850file's contents are disclosed.
851The default is
852.Cm no .
853Note that existing names and addresses in known hosts files
854will not be converted automatically,
855but may be manually hashed using
856.Xr ssh-keygen 1 .
857.It Cm HostbasedAcceptedAlgorithms
858Specifies the signature algorithms that will be used for hostbased
859authentication as a comma-separated list of patterns.
860Alternately if the specified list begins with a
861.Sq +
862character, then the specified signature algorithms will be appended
863to the default set instead of replacing them.
864If the specified list begins with a
865.Sq -
866character, then the specified signature algorithms (including wildcards)
867will be removed from the default set instead of replacing them.
868If the specified list begins with a
869.Sq ^
870character, then the specified signature algorithms will be placed
871at the head of the default set.
872The default for this option is:
873.Bd -literal -offset 3n
874ssh-ed25519-cert-v01@openssh.com,
875ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
876ecdsa-sha2-nistp384-cert-v01@openssh.com,
877ecdsa-sha2-nistp521-cert-v01@openssh.com,
878sk-ssh-ed25519-cert-v01@openssh.com,
879sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
880rsa-sha2-512-cert-v01@openssh.com,
881rsa-sha2-256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
882ssh-ed25519,
883ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521,
884sk-ssh-ed25519@openssh.com,
885sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256@openssh.com,
886rsa-sha2-512,rsa-sha2-256
887.Ed
888.Pp
889The
890.Fl Q
891option of
892.Xr ssh 1
893may be used to list supported signature algorithms.
894This was formerly named HostbasedKeyTypes.
895.It Cm HostbasedAuthentication
896Specifies whether to try rhosts based authentication with public key
897authentication.
898The argument must be
899.Cm yes
900or
901.Cm no
902(the default).
903.It Cm HostKeyAlgorithms
904Specifies the host key signature algorithms
905that the client wants to use in order of preference.
906Alternately if the specified list begins with a
907.Sq +
908character, then the specified signature algorithms will be appended to
909the default set instead of replacing them.
910If the specified list begins with a
911.Sq -
912character, then the specified signature algorithms (including wildcards)
913will be removed from the default set instead of replacing them.
914If the specified list begins with a
915.Sq ^
916character, then the specified signature algorithms will be placed
917at the head of the default set.
918The default for this option is:
919.Bd -literal -offset 3n
920ssh-ed25519-cert-v01@openssh.com,
921ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
922ecdsa-sha2-nistp384-cert-v01@openssh.com,
923ecdsa-sha2-nistp521-cert-v01@openssh.com,
924sk-ssh-ed25519-cert-v01@openssh.com,
925sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
926rsa-sha2-512-cert-v01@openssh.com,
927rsa-sha2-256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
928ssh-ed25519,
929ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521,
930sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256@openssh.com,
931sk-ssh-ed25519@openssh.com,
932rsa-sha2-512,rsa-sha2-256
933.Ed
934.Pp
935If hostkeys are known for the destination host then this default is modified
936to prefer their algorithms.
937.Pp
938The list of available signature algorithms may also be obtained using
939.Qq ssh -Q HostKeyAlgorithms .
940.It Cm HostKeyAlias
941Specifies an alias that should be used instead of the
942real host name when looking up or saving the host key
943in the host key database files and when validating host certificates.
944This option is useful for tunneling SSH connections
945or for multiple servers running on a single host.
946.It Cm Hostname
947Specifies the real host name to log into.
948This can be used to specify nicknames or abbreviations for hosts.
949Arguments to
950.Cm Hostname
951accept the tokens described in the
952.Sx TOKENS
953section.
954Numeric IP addresses are also permitted (both on the command line and in
955.Cm Hostname
956specifications).
957The default is the name given on the command line.
958.It Cm IdentitiesOnly
959Specifies that
960.Xr ssh 1
961should only use the configured authentication identity and certificate files
962(either the default files, or those explicitly configured in the
963.Nm
964files
965or passed on the
966.Xr ssh 1
967command-line),
968even if
969.Xr ssh-agent 1
970or a
971.Cm PKCS11Provider
972or
973.Cm SecurityKeyProvider
974offers more identities.
975The argument to this keyword must be
976.Cm yes
977or
978.Cm no
979(the default).
980This option is intended for situations where ssh-agent
981offers many different identities.
982.It Cm IdentityAgent
983Specifies the
984.Ux Ns -domain
985socket used to communicate with the authentication agent.
986.Pp
987This option overrides the
988.Ev SSH_AUTH_SOCK
989environment variable and can be used to select a specific agent.
990Setting the socket name to
991.Cm none
992disables the use of an authentication agent.
993If the string
994.Qq SSH_AUTH_SOCK
995is specified, the location of the socket will be read from the
996.Ev SSH_AUTH_SOCK
997environment variable.
998Otherwise if the specified value begins with a
999.Sq $
1000character, then it will be treated as an environment variable containing
1001the location of the socket.
1002.Pp
1003Arguments to
1004.Cm IdentityAgent
1005may use the tilde syntax to refer to a user's home directory,
1006the tokens described in the
1007.Sx TOKENS
1008section and environment variables as described in the
1009.Sx ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1010section.
1011.It Cm IdentityFile
1012Specifies a file from which the user's DSA, ECDSA, authenticator-hosted ECDSA,
1013Ed25519, authenticator-hosted Ed25519 or RSA authentication identity is read.
1014The default is
1015.Pa ~/.ssh/id_rsa ,
1016.Pa ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa ,
1017.Pa ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk ,
1018.Pa ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 ,
1019.Pa ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk
1020and
1021.Pa ~/.ssh/id_dsa .
1022Additionally, any identities represented by the authentication agent
1023will be used for authentication unless
1024.Cm IdentitiesOnly
1025is set.
1026If no certificates have been explicitly specified by
1027.Cm CertificateFile ,
1028.Xr ssh 1
1029will try to load certificate information from the filename obtained by
1030appending
1031.Pa -cert.pub
1032to the path of a specified
1033.Cm IdentityFile .
1034.Pp
1035Arguments to
1036.Cm IdentityFile
1037may use the tilde syntax to refer to a user's home directory
1038or the tokens described in the
1039.Sx TOKENS
1040section.
1041.Pp
1042It is possible to have
1043multiple identity files specified in configuration files; all these
1044identities will be tried in sequence.
1045Multiple
1046.Cm IdentityFile
1047directives will add to the list of identities tried (this behaviour
1048differs from that of other configuration directives).
1049.Pp
1050.Cm IdentityFile
1051may be used in conjunction with
1052.Cm IdentitiesOnly
1053to select which identities in an agent are offered during authentication.
1054.Cm IdentityFile
1055may also be used in conjunction with
1056.Cm CertificateFile
1057in order to provide any certificate also needed for authentication with
1058the identity.
1059.It Cm IgnoreUnknown
1060Specifies a pattern-list of unknown options to be ignored if they are
1061encountered in configuration parsing.
1062This may be used to suppress errors if
1063.Nm
1064contains options that are unrecognised by
1065.Xr ssh 1 .
1066It is recommended that
1067.Cm IgnoreUnknown
1068be listed early in the configuration file as it will not be applied
1069to unknown options that appear before it.
1070.It Cm Include
1071Include the specified configuration file(s).
1072Multiple pathnames may be specified and each pathname may contain
1073.Xr glob 7
1074wildcards and, for user configurations, shell-like
1075.Sq ~
1076references to user home directories.
1077Wildcards will be expanded and processed in lexical order.
1078Files without absolute paths are assumed to be in
1079.Pa ~/.ssh
1080if included in a user configuration file or
1081.Pa /etc/ssh
1082if included from the system configuration file.
1083.Cm Include
1084directive may appear inside a
1085.Cm Match
1086or
1087.Cm Host
1088block
1089to perform conditional inclusion.
1090.It Cm IPQoS
1091Specifies the IPv4 type-of-service or DSCP class for connections.
1092Accepted values are
1093.Cm af11 ,
1094.Cm af12 ,
1095.Cm af13 ,
1096.Cm af21 ,
1097.Cm af22 ,
1098.Cm af23 ,
1099.Cm af31 ,
1100.Cm af32 ,
1101.Cm af33 ,
1102.Cm af41 ,
1103.Cm af42 ,
1104.Cm af43 ,
1105.Cm cs0 ,
1106.Cm cs1 ,
1107.Cm cs2 ,
1108.Cm cs3 ,
1109.Cm cs4 ,
1110.Cm cs5 ,
1111.Cm cs6 ,
1112.Cm cs7 ,
1113.Cm ef ,
1114.Cm le ,
1115.Cm lowdelay ,
1116.Cm throughput ,
1117.Cm reliability ,
1118a numeric value, or
1119.Cm none
1120to use the operating system default.
1121This option may take one or two arguments, separated by whitespace.
1122If one argument is specified, it is used as the packet class unconditionally.
1123If two values are specified, the first is automatically selected for
1124interactive sessions and the second for non-interactive sessions.
1125The default is
1126.Cm af21
1127(Low-Latency Data)
1128for interactive sessions and
1129.Cm cs1
1130(Lower Effort)
1131for non-interactive sessions.
1132.It Cm KbdInteractiveAuthentication
1133Specifies whether to use keyboard-interactive authentication.
1134The argument to this keyword must be
1135.Cm yes
1136(the default)
1137or
1138.Cm no .
1139.Cm ChallengeResponseAuthentication
1140is a deprecated alias for this.
1141.It Cm KbdInteractiveDevices
1142Specifies the list of methods to use in keyboard-interactive authentication.
1143Multiple method names must be comma-separated.
1144The default is to use the server specified list.
1145The methods available vary depending on what the server supports.
1146For an OpenSSH server,
1147it may be zero or more of:
1148.Cm bsdauth ,
1149.Cm pam ,
1150and
1151.Cm skey .
1152.It Cm KexAlgorithms
1153Specifies the available KEX (Key Exchange) algorithms.
1154Multiple algorithms must be comma-separated.
1155If the specified list begins with a
1156.Sq +
1157character, then the specified algorithms will be appended to the default set
1158instead of replacing them.
1159If the specified list begins with a
1160.Sq -
1161character, then the specified algorithms (including wildcards) will be removed
1162from the default set instead of replacing them.
1163If the specified list begins with a
1164.Sq ^
1165character, then the specified algorithms will be placed at the head of the
1166default set.
1167The default is:
1168.Bd -literal -offset indent
1169sntrup761x25519-sha512@openssh.com,
1170curve25519-sha256,curve25519-sha256@libssh.org,
1171ecdh-sha2-nistp256,ecdh-sha2-nistp384,ecdh-sha2-nistp521,
1172diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256,
1173diffie-hellman-group16-sha512,
1174diffie-hellman-group18-sha512,
1175diffie-hellman-group14-sha256
1176.Ed
1177.Pp
1178The list of available key exchange algorithms may also be obtained using
1179.Qq ssh -Q kex .
1180.It Cm KnownHostsCommand
1181Specifies a command to use to obtain a list of host keys, in addition to
1182those listed in
1183.Cm UserKnownHostsFile
1184and
1185.Cm GlobalKnownHostsFile .
1186This command is executed after the files have been read.
1187It may write host key lines to standard output in identical format to the
1188usual files (described in the
1189.Sx VERIFYING HOST KEYS
1190section in
1191.Xr ssh 1 ) .
1192Arguments to
1193.Cm KnownHostsCommand
1194accept the tokens described in the
1195.Sx TOKENS
1196section.
1197The command may be invoked multiple times per connection: once when preparing
1198the preference list of host key algorithms to use, again to obtain the
1199host key for the requested host name and, if
1200.Cm CheckHostIP
1201is enabled, one more time to obtain the host key matching the server's
1202address.
1203If the command exits abnormally or returns a non-zero exit status then the
1204connection is terminated.
1205.It Cm LocalCommand
1206Specifies a command to execute on the local machine after successfully
1207connecting to the server.
1208The command string extends to the end of the line, and is executed with
1209the user's shell.
1210Arguments to
1211.Cm LocalCommand
1212accept the tokens described in the
1213.Sx TOKENS
1214section.
1215.Pp
1216The command is run synchronously and does not have access to the
1217session of the
1218.Xr ssh 1
1219that spawned it.
1220It should not be used for interactive commands.
1221.Pp
1222This directive is ignored unless
1223.Cm PermitLocalCommand
1224has been enabled.
1225.It Cm LocalForward
1226Specifies that a TCP port on the local machine be forwarded over
1227the secure channel to the specified host and port from the remote machine.
1228The first argument specifies the listener and may be
1229.Sm off
1230.Oo Ar bind_address : Oc Ar port
1231.Sm on
1232or a Unix domain socket path.
1233The second argument is the destination and may be
1234.Ar host : Ns Ar hostport
1235or a Unix domain socket path if the remote host supports it.
1236.Pp
1237IPv6 addresses can be specified by enclosing addresses in square brackets.
1238Multiple forwardings may be specified, and additional forwardings can be
1239given on the command line.
1240Only the superuser can forward privileged ports.
1241By default, the local port is bound in accordance with the
1242.Cm GatewayPorts
1243setting.
1244However, an explicit
1245.Ar bind_address
1246may be used to bind the connection to a specific address.
1247The
1248.Ar bind_address
1249of
1250.Cm localhost
1251indicates that the listening port be bound for local use only, while an
1252empty address or
1253.Sq *
1254indicates that the port should be available from all interfaces.
1255Unix domain socket paths may use the tokens described in the
1256.Sx TOKENS
1257section and environment variables as described in the
1258.Sx ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1259section.
1260.It Cm LogLevel
1261Gives the verbosity level that is used when logging messages from
1262.Xr ssh 1 .
1263The possible values are:
1264QUIET, FATAL, ERROR, INFO, VERBOSE, DEBUG, DEBUG1, DEBUG2, and DEBUG3.
1265The default is INFO.
1266DEBUG and DEBUG1 are equivalent.
1267DEBUG2 and DEBUG3 each specify higher levels of verbose output.
1268.It Cm LogVerbose
1269Specify one or more overrides to LogLevel.
1270An override consists of a pattern lists that matches the source file, function
1271and line number to force detailed logging for.
1272For example, an override pattern of:
1273.Bd -literal -offset indent
1274kex.c:*:1000,*:kex_exchange_identification():*,packet.c:*
1275.Ed
1276.Pp
1277would enable detailed logging for line 1000 of
1278.Pa kex.c ,
1279everything in the
1280.Fn kex_exchange_identification
1281function, and all code in the
1282.Pa packet.c
1283file.
1284This option is intended for debugging and no overrides are enabled by default.
1285.It Cm MACs
1286Specifies the MAC (message authentication code) algorithms
1287in order of preference.
1288The MAC algorithm is used for data integrity protection.
1289Multiple algorithms must be comma-separated.
1290If the specified list begins with a
1291.Sq +
1292character, then the specified algorithms will be appended to the default set
1293instead of replacing them.
1294If the specified list begins with a
1295.Sq -
1296character, then the specified algorithms (including wildcards) will be removed
1297from the default set instead of replacing them.
1298If the specified list begins with a
1299.Sq ^
1300character, then the specified algorithms will be placed at the head of the
1301default set.
1302.Pp
1303The algorithms that contain
1304.Qq -etm
1305calculate the MAC after encryption (encrypt-then-mac).
1306These are considered safer and their use recommended.
1307.Pp
1308The default is:
1309.Bd -literal -offset indent
1310umac-64-etm@openssh.com,umac-128-etm@openssh.com,
1311hmac-sha2-256-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-512-etm@openssh.com,
1312hmac-sha1-etm@openssh.com,
1313umac-64@openssh.com,umac-128@openssh.com,
1314hmac-sha2-256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha1
1315.Ed
1316.Pp
1317The list of available MAC algorithms may also be obtained using
1318.Qq ssh -Q mac .
1319.It Cm NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
1320Disable host authentication for localhost (loopback addresses).
1321The argument to this keyword must be
1322.Cm yes
1323or
1324.Cm no
1325(the default).
1326.It Cm NumberOfPasswordPrompts
1327Specifies the number of password prompts before giving up.
1328The argument to this keyword must be an integer.
1329The default is 3.
1330.It Cm PasswordAuthentication
1331Specifies whether to use password authentication.
1332The argument to this keyword must be
1333.Cm yes
1334(the default)
1335or
1336.Cm no .
1337.It Cm PermitLocalCommand
1338Allow local command execution via the
1339.Ic LocalCommand
1340option or using the
1341.Ic !\& Ns Ar command
1342escape sequence in
1343.Xr ssh 1 .
1344The argument must be
1345.Cm yes
1346or
1347.Cm no
1348(the default).
1349.It Cm PermitRemoteOpen
1350Specifies the destinations to which remote TCP port forwarding is permitted when
1351.Cm RemoteForward
1352is used as a SOCKS proxy.
1353The forwarding specification must be one of the following forms:
1354.Pp
1355.Bl -item -offset indent -compact
1356.It
1357.Cm PermitRemoteOpen
1358.Sm off
1359.Ar host : port
1360.Sm on
1361.It
1362.Cm PermitRemoteOpen
1363.Sm off
1364.Ar IPv4_addr : port
1365.Sm on
1366.It
1367.Cm PermitRemoteOpen
1368.Sm off
1369.Ar \&[ IPv6_addr \&] : port
1370.Sm on
1371.El
1372.Pp
1373Multiple forwards may be specified by separating them with whitespace.
1374An argument of
1375.Cm any
1376can be used to remove all restrictions and permit any forwarding requests.
1377An argument of
1378.Cm none
1379can be used to prohibit all forwarding requests.
1380The wildcard
1381.Sq *
1382can be used for host or port to allow all hosts or ports respectively.
1383Otherwise, no pattern matching or address lookups are performed on supplied
1384names.
1385.It Cm PKCS11Provider
1386Specifies which PKCS#11 provider to use or
1387.Cm none
1388to indicate that no provider should be used (the default).
1389The argument to this keyword is a path to the PKCS#11 shared library
1390.Xr ssh 1
1391should use to communicate with a PKCS#11 token providing keys for user
1392authentication.
1393.It Cm Port
1394Specifies the port number to connect on the remote host.
1395The default is 22.
1396.It Cm PreferredAuthentications
1397Specifies the order in which the client should try authentication methods.
1398This allows a client to prefer one method (e.g.\&
1399.Cm keyboard-interactive )
1400over another method (e.g.\&
1401.Cm password ) .
1402The default is:
1403.Bd -literal -offset indent
1404gssapi-with-mic,hostbased,publickey,
1405keyboard-interactive,password
1406.Ed
1407.It Cm ProxyCommand
1408Specifies the command to use to connect to the server.
1409The command
1410string extends to the end of the line, and is executed
1411using the user's shell
1412.Ql exec
1413directive to avoid a lingering shell process.
1414.Pp
1415Arguments to
1416.Cm ProxyCommand
1417accept the tokens described in the
1418.Sx TOKENS
1419section.
1420The command can be basically anything,
1421and should read from its standard input and write to its standard output.
1422It should eventually connect an
1423.Xr sshd 8
1424server running on some machine, or execute
1425.Ic sshd -i
1426somewhere.
1427Host key management will be done using the
1428.Cm Hostname
1429of the host being connected (defaulting to the name typed by the user).
1430Setting the command to
1431.Cm none
1432disables this option entirely.
1433Note that
1434.Cm CheckHostIP
1435is not available for connects with a proxy command.
1436.Pp
1437This directive is useful in conjunction with
1438.Xr nc 1
1439and its proxy support.
1440For example, the following directive would connect via an HTTP proxy at
1441192.0.2.0:
1442.Bd -literal -offset 3n
1443ProxyCommand /usr/bin/nc -X connect -x 192.0.2.0:8080 %h %p
1444.Ed
1445.It Cm ProxyJump
1446Specifies one or more jump proxies as either
1447.Xo
1448.Sm off
1449.Op Ar user No @
1450.Ar host
1451.Op : Ns Ar port
1452.Sm on
1453or an ssh URI
1454.Xc .
1455Multiple proxies may be separated by comma characters and will be visited
1456sequentially.
1457Setting this option will cause
1458.Xr ssh 1
1459to connect to the target host by first making a
1460.Xr ssh 1
1461connection to the specified
1462.Cm ProxyJump
1463host and then establishing a
1464TCP forwarding to the ultimate target from there.
1465Setting the host to
1466.Cm none
1467disables this option entirely.
1468.Pp
1469Note that this option will compete with the
1470.Cm ProxyCommand
1471option - whichever is specified first will prevent later instances of the
1472other from taking effect.
1473.Pp
1474Note also that the configuration for the destination host (either supplied
1475via the command-line or the configuration file) is not generally applied
1476to jump hosts.
1477.Pa ~/.ssh/config
1478should be used if specific configuration is required for jump hosts.
1479.It Cm ProxyUseFdpass
1480Specifies that
1481.Cm ProxyCommand
1482will pass a connected file descriptor back to
1483.Xr ssh 1
1484instead of continuing to execute and pass data.
1485The default is
1486.Cm no .
1487.It Cm PubkeyAcceptedAlgorithms
1488Specifies the signature algorithms that will be used for public key
1489authentication as a comma-separated list of patterns.
1490If the specified list begins with a
1491.Sq +
1492character, then the algorithms after it will be appended to the default
1493instead of replacing it.
1494If the specified list begins with a
1495.Sq -
1496character, then the specified algorithms (including wildcards) will be removed
1497from the default set instead of replacing them.
1498If the specified list begins with a
1499.Sq ^
1500character, then the specified algorithms will be placed at the head of the
1501default set.
1502The default for this option is:
1503.Bd -literal -offset 3n
1504ssh-ed25519-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1505ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1506ecdsa-sha2-nistp384-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1507ecdsa-sha2-nistp521-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1508sk-ssh-ed25519-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1509sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1510rsa-sha2-512-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1511rsa-sha2-256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1512ssh-ed25519,
1513ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521,
1514sk-ssh-ed25519@openssh.com,
1515sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256@openssh.com,
1516rsa-sha2-512,rsa-sha2-256
1517.Ed
1518.Pp
1519The list of available signature algorithms may also be obtained using
1520.Qq ssh -Q PubkeyAcceptedAlgorithms .
1521.It Cm PubkeyAuthentication
1522Specifies whether to try public key authentication.
1523The argument to this keyword must be
1524.Cm yes
1525(the default),
1526.Cm no ,
1527.Cm unbound
1528or
1529.Cm host-bound .
1530The final two options enable public key authentication while respectively
1531disabling or enabling the OpenSSH host-bound authentication protocol
1532extension required for restricted
1533.Xr ssh-agent 1
1534forwarding.
1535.It Cm RekeyLimit
1536Specifies the maximum amount of data that may be transmitted or received
1537before the session key is renegotiated, optionally followed by a maximum
1538amount of time that may pass before the session key is renegotiated.
1539The first argument is specified in bytes and may have a suffix of
1540.Sq K ,
1541.Sq M ,
1542or
1543.Sq G
1544to indicate Kilobytes, Megabytes, or Gigabytes, respectively.
1545The default is between
1546.Sq 1G
1547and
1548.Sq 4G ,
1549depending on the cipher.
1550The optional second value is specified in seconds and may use any of the
1551units documented in the TIME FORMATS section of
1552.Xr sshd_config 5 .
1553The default value for
1554.Cm RekeyLimit
1555is
1556.Cm default none ,
1557which means that rekeying is performed after the cipher's default amount
1558of data has been sent or received and no time based rekeying is done.
1559.It Cm RemoteCommand
1560Specifies a command to execute on the remote machine after successfully
1561connecting to the server.
1562The command string extends to the end of the line, and is executed with
1563the user's shell.
1564Arguments to
1565.Cm RemoteCommand
1566accept the tokens described in the
1567.Sx TOKENS
1568section.
1569.It Cm RemoteForward
1570Specifies that a TCP port on the remote machine be forwarded over
1571the secure channel.
1572The remote port may either be forwarded to a specified host and port
1573from the local machine, or may act as a SOCKS 4/5 proxy that allows a remote
1574client to connect to arbitrary destinations from the local machine.
1575The first argument is the listening specification and may be
1576.Sm off
1577.Oo Ar bind_address : Oc Ar port
1578.Sm on
1579or, if the remote host supports it, a Unix domain socket path.
1580If forwarding to a specific destination then the second argument must be
1581.Ar host : Ns Ar hostport
1582or a Unix domain socket path,
1583otherwise if no destination argument is specified then the remote forwarding
1584will be established as a SOCKS proxy.
1585When acting as a SOCKS proxy, the destination of the connection can be
1586restricted by
1587.Cm PermitRemoteOpen .
1588.Pp
1589IPv6 addresses can be specified by enclosing addresses in square brackets.
1590Multiple forwardings may be specified, and additional
1591forwardings can be given on the command line.
1592Privileged ports can be forwarded only when
1593logging in as root on the remote machine.
1594Unix domain socket paths may use the tokens described in the
1595.Sx TOKENS
1596section and environment variables as described in the
1597.Sx ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1598section.
1599.Pp
1600If the
1601.Ar port
1602argument is 0,
1603the listen port will be dynamically allocated on the server and reported
1604to the client at run time.
1605.Pp
1606If the
1607.Ar bind_address
1608is not specified, the default is to only bind to loopback addresses.
1609If the
1610.Ar bind_address
1611is
1612.Ql *
1613or an empty string, then the forwarding is requested to listen on all
1614interfaces.
1615Specifying a remote
1616.Ar bind_address
1617will only succeed if the server's
1618.Cm GatewayPorts
1619option is enabled (see
1620.Xr sshd_config 5 ) .
1621.It Cm RequestTTY
1622Specifies whether to request a pseudo-tty for the session.
1623The argument may be one of:
1624.Cm no
1625(never request a TTY),
1626.Cm yes
1627(always request a TTY when standard input is a TTY),
1628.Cm force
1629(always request a TTY) or
1630.Cm auto
1631(request a TTY when opening a login session).
1632This option mirrors the
1633.Fl t
1634and
1635.Fl T
1636flags for
1637.Xr ssh 1 .
1638.It Cm RevokedHostKeys
1639Specifies revoked host public keys.
1640Keys listed in this file will be refused for host authentication.
1641Note that if this file does not exist or is not readable,
1642then host authentication will be refused for all hosts.
1643Keys may be specified as a text file, listing one public key per line, or as
1644an OpenSSH Key Revocation List (KRL) as generated by
1645.Xr ssh-keygen 1 .
1646For more information on KRLs, see the KEY REVOCATION LISTS section in
1647.Xr ssh-keygen 1 .
1648.It Cm SecurityKeyProvider
1649Specifies a path to a library that will be used when loading any
1650FIDO authenticator-hosted keys, overriding the default of using
1651the built-in USB HID support.
1652.Pp
1653If the specified value begins with a
1654.Sq $
1655character, then it will be treated as an environment variable containing
1656the path to the library.
1657.It Cm SendEnv
1658Specifies what variables from the local
1659.Xr environ 7
1660should be sent to the server.
1661The server must also support it, and the server must be configured to
1662accept these environment variables.
1663Note that the
1664.Ev TERM
1665environment variable is always sent whenever a
1666pseudo-terminal is requested as it is required by the protocol.
1667Refer to
1668.Cm AcceptEnv
1669in
1670.Xr sshd_config 5
1671for how to configure the server.
1672Variables are specified by name, which may contain wildcard characters.
1673Multiple environment variables may be separated by whitespace or spread
1674across multiple
1675.Cm SendEnv
1676directives.
1677.Pp
1678See
1679.Sx PATTERNS
1680for more information on patterns.
1681.Pp
1682It is possible to clear previously set
1683.Cm SendEnv
1684variable names by prefixing patterns with
1685.Pa - .
1686The default is not to send any environment variables.
1687.It Cm ServerAliveCountMax
1688Sets the number of server alive messages (see below) which may be
1689sent without
1690.Xr ssh 1
1691receiving any messages back from the server.
1692If this threshold is reached while server alive messages are being sent,
1693ssh will disconnect from the server, terminating the session.
1694It is important to note that the use of server alive messages is very
1695different from
1696.Cm TCPKeepAlive
1697(below).
1698The server alive messages are sent through the encrypted channel
1699and therefore will not be spoofable.
1700The TCP keepalive option enabled by
1701.Cm TCPKeepAlive
1702is spoofable.
1703The server alive mechanism is valuable when the client or
1704server depend on knowing when a connection has become unresponsive.
1705.Pp
1706The default value is 3.
1707If, for example,
1708.Cm ServerAliveInterval
1709(see below) is set to 15 and
1710.Cm ServerAliveCountMax
1711is left at the default, if the server becomes unresponsive,
1712ssh will disconnect after approximately 45 seconds.
1713.It Cm ServerAliveInterval
1714Sets a timeout interval in seconds after which if no data has been received
1715from the server,
1716.Xr ssh 1
1717will send a message through the encrypted
1718channel to request a response from the server.
1719The default
1720is 0, indicating that these messages will not be sent to the server.
1721.It Cm SessionType
1722May be used to either request invocation of a subsystem on the remote system,
1723or to prevent the execution of a remote command at all.
1724The latter is useful for just forwarding ports.
1725The argument to this keyword must be
1726.Cm none
1727(same as the
1728.Fl N
1729option),
1730.Cm subsystem
1731(same as the
1732.Fl s
1733option) or
1734.Cm default
1735(shell or command execution).
1736.It Cm SetEnv
1737Directly specify one or more environment variables and their contents to
1738be sent to the server.
1739Similarly to
1740.Cm SendEnv ,
1741with the exception of the
1742.Ev TERM
1743variable, the server must be prepared to accept the environment variable.
1744.It Cm StdinNull
1745Redirects stdin from
1746.Pa /dev/null
1747(actually, prevents reading from stdin).
1748Either this or the equivalent
1749.Fl n
1750option must be used when
1751.Nm ssh
1752is run in the background.
1753The argument to this keyword must be
1754.Cm yes
1755(same as the
1756.Fl n
1757option) or
1758.Cm no
1759(the default).
1760.It Cm StreamLocalBindMask
1761Sets the octal file creation mode mask
1762.Pq umask
1763used when creating a Unix-domain socket file for local or remote
1764port forwarding.
1765This option is only used for port forwarding to a Unix-domain socket file.
1766.Pp
1767The default value is 0177, which creates a Unix-domain socket file that is
1768readable and writable only by the owner.
1769Note that not all operating systems honor the file mode on Unix-domain
1770socket files.
1771.It Cm StreamLocalBindUnlink
1772Specifies whether to remove an existing Unix-domain socket file for local
1773or remote port forwarding before creating a new one.
1774If the socket file already exists and
1775.Cm StreamLocalBindUnlink
1776is not enabled,
1777.Nm ssh
1778will be unable to forward the port to the Unix-domain socket file.
1779This option is only used for port forwarding to a Unix-domain socket file.
1780.Pp
1781The argument must be
1782.Cm yes
1783or
1784.Cm no
1785(the default).
1786.It Cm StrictHostKeyChecking
1787If this flag is set to
1788.Cm yes ,
1789.Xr ssh 1
1790will never automatically add host keys to the
1791.Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts
1792file, and refuses to connect to hosts whose host key has changed.
1793This provides maximum protection against man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks,
1794though it can be annoying when the
1795.Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts
1796file is poorly maintained or when connections to new hosts are
1797frequently made.
1798This option forces the user to manually
1799add all new hosts.
1800.Pp
1801If this flag is set to
1802.Cm accept-new
1803then ssh will automatically add new host keys to the user's
1804.Pa known_hosts
1805file, but will not permit connections to hosts with
1806changed host keys.
1807If this flag is set to
1808.Cm no
1809or
1810.Cm off ,
1811ssh will automatically add new host keys to the user known hosts files
1812and allow connections to hosts with changed hostkeys to proceed,
1813subject to some restrictions.
1814If this flag is set to
1815.Cm ask
1816(the default),
1817new host keys
1818will be added to the user known host files only after the user
1819has confirmed that is what they really want to do, and
1820ssh will refuse to connect to hosts whose host key has changed.
1821The host keys of
1822known hosts will be verified automatically in all cases.
1823.It Cm SyslogFacility
1824Gives the facility code that is used when logging messages from
1825.Xr ssh 1 .
1826The possible values are: DAEMON, USER, AUTH, LOCAL0, LOCAL1, LOCAL2,
1827LOCAL3, LOCAL4, LOCAL5, LOCAL6, LOCAL7.
1828The default is USER.
1829.It Cm TCPKeepAlive
1830Specifies whether the system should send TCP keepalive messages to the
1831other side.
1832If they are sent, death of the connection or crash of one
1833of the machines will be properly noticed.
1834However, this means that
1835connections will die if the route is down temporarily, and some people
1836find it annoying.
1837.Pp
1838The default is
1839.Cm yes
1840(to send TCP keepalive messages), and the client will notice
1841if the network goes down or the remote host dies.
1842This is important in scripts, and many users want it too.
1843.Pp
1844To disable TCP keepalive messages, the value should be set to
1845.Cm no .
1846See also
1847.Cm ServerAliveInterval
1848for protocol-level keepalives.
1849.It Cm Tunnel
1850Request
1851.Xr tun 4
1852device forwarding between the client and the server.
1853The argument must be
1854.Cm yes ,
1855.Cm point-to-point
1856(layer 3),
1857.Cm ethernet
1858(layer 2),
1859or
1860.Cm no
1861(the default).
1862Specifying
1863.Cm yes
1864requests the default tunnel mode, which is
1865.Cm point-to-point .
1866.It Cm TunnelDevice
1867Specifies the
1868.Xr tun 4
1869devices to open on the client
1870.Pq Ar local_tun
1871and the server
1872.Pq Ar remote_tun .
1873.Pp
1874The argument must be
1875.Sm off
1876.Ar local_tun Op : Ar remote_tun .
1877.Sm on
1878The devices may be specified by numerical ID or the keyword
1879.Cm any ,
1880which uses the next available tunnel device.
1881If
1882.Ar remote_tun
1883is not specified, it defaults to
1884.Cm any .
1885The default is
1886.Cm any:any .
1887.It Cm UpdateHostKeys
1888Specifies whether
1889.Xr ssh 1
1890should accept notifications of additional hostkeys from the server sent
1891after authentication has completed and add them to
1892.Cm UserKnownHostsFile .
1893The argument must be
1894.Cm yes ,
1895.Cm no
1896or
1897.Cm ask .
1898This option allows learning alternate hostkeys for a server
1899and supports graceful key rotation by allowing a server to send replacement
1900public keys before old ones are removed.
1901.Pp
1902Additional hostkeys are only accepted if the key used to authenticate the
1903host was already trusted or explicitly accepted by the user, the host was
1904authenticated via
1905.Cm UserKnownHostsFile
1906(i.e. not
1907.Cm GlobalKnownHostsFile )
1908and the host was authenticated using a plain key and not a certificate.
1909.Pp
1910.Cm UpdateHostKeys
1911is enabled by default if the user has not overridden the default
1912.Cm UserKnownHostsFile
1913setting and has not enabled
1914.Cm VerifyHostKeyDNS ,
1915otherwise
1916.Cm UpdateHostKeys
1917will be set to
1918.Cm no .
1919.Pp
1920If
1921.Cm UpdateHostKeys
1922is set to
1923.Cm ask ,
1924then the user is asked to confirm the modifications to the known_hosts file.
1925Confirmation is currently incompatible with
1926.Cm ControlPersist ,
1927and will be disabled if it is enabled.
1928.Pp
1929Presently, only
1930.Xr sshd 8
1931from OpenSSH 6.8 and greater support the
1932.Qq hostkeys@openssh.com
1933protocol extension used to inform the client of all the server's hostkeys.
1934.It Cm User
1935Specifies the user to log in as.
1936This can be useful when a different user name is used on different machines.
1937This saves the trouble of
1938having to remember to give the user name on the command line.
1939.It Cm UserKnownHostsFile
1940Specifies one or more files to use for the user
1941host key database, separated by whitespace.
1942Each filename may use tilde notation to refer to the user's home directory,
1943the tokens described in the
1944.Sx TOKENS
1945section and environment variables as described in the
1946.Sx ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1947section.
1948The default is
1949.Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts ,
1950.Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts2 .
1951.It Cm VerifyHostKeyDNS
1952Specifies whether to verify the remote key using DNS and SSHFP resource
1953records.
1954If this option is set to
1955.Cm yes ,
1956the client will implicitly trust keys that match a secure fingerprint
1957from DNS.
1958Insecure fingerprints will be handled as if this option was set to
1959.Cm ask .
1960If this option is set to
1961.Cm ask ,
1962information on fingerprint match will be displayed, but the user will still
1963need to confirm new host keys according to the
1964.Cm StrictHostKeyChecking
1965option.
1966The default is
1967.Cm no .
1968.Pp
1969See also
1970.Sx VERIFYING HOST KEYS
1971in
1972.Xr ssh 1 .
1973.It Cm VisualHostKey
1974If this flag is set to
1975.Cm yes ,
1976an ASCII art representation of the remote host key fingerprint is
1977printed in addition to the fingerprint string at login and
1978for unknown host keys.
1979If this flag is set to
1980.Cm no
1981(the default),
1982no fingerprint strings are printed at login and
1983only the fingerprint string will be printed for unknown host keys.
1984.It Cm XAuthLocation
1985Specifies the full pathname of the
1986.Xr xauth 1
1987program.
1988The default is
1989.Pa /usr/X11R6/bin/xauth .
1990.El
1991.Sh PATTERNS
1992A
1993.Em pattern
1994consists of zero or more non-whitespace characters,
1995.Sq *
1996(a wildcard that matches zero or more characters),
1997or
1998.Sq ?\&
1999(a wildcard that matches exactly one character).
2000For example, to specify a set of declarations for any host in the
2001.Qq .co.uk
2002set of domains,
2003the following pattern could be used:
2004.Pp
2005.Dl Host *.co.uk
2006.Pp
2007The following pattern
2008would match any host in the 192.168.0.[0-9] network range:
2009.Pp
2010.Dl Host 192.168.0.?
2011.Pp
2012A
2013.Em pattern-list
2014is a comma-separated list of patterns.
2015Patterns within pattern-lists may be negated
2016by preceding them with an exclamation mark
2017.Pq Sq !\& .
2018For example,
2019to allow a key to be used from anywhere within an organization
2020except from the
2021.Qq dialup
2022pool,
2023the following entry (in authorized_keys) could be used:
2024.Pp
2025.Dl from=\&"!*.dialup.example.com,*.example.com\&"
2026.Pp
2027Note that a negated match will never produce a positive result by itself.
2028For example, attempting to match
2029.Qq host3
2030against the following pattern-list will fail:
2031.Pp
2032.Dl from=\&"!host1,!host2\&"
2033.Pp
2034The solution here is to include a term that will yield a positive match,
2035such as a wildcard:
2036.Pp
2037.Dl from=\&"!host1,!host2,*\&"
2038.Sh TOKENS
2039Arguments to some keywords can make use of tokens,
2040which are expanded at runtime:
2041.Pp
2042.Bl -tag -width XXXX -offset indent -compact
2043.It %%
2044A literal
2045.Sq % .
2046.It \&%C
2047Hash of %l%h%p%r.
2048.It %d
2049Local user's home directory.
2050.It %f
2051The fingerprint of the server's host key.
2052.It %H
2053The
2054.Pa known_hosts
2055hostname or address that is being searched for.
2056.It %h
2057The remote hostname.
2058.It \%%I
2059A string describing the reason for a
2060.Cm KnownHostsCommand
2061execution: either
2062.Cm ADDRESS
2063when looking up a host by address (only when
2064.Cm CheckHostIP
2065is enabled),
2066.Cm HOSTNAME
2067when searching by hostname, or
2068.Cm ORDER
2069when preparing the host key algorithm preference list to use for the
2070destination host.
2071.It %i
2072The local user ID.
2073.It %K
2074The base64 encoded host key.
2075.It %k
2076The host key alias if specified, otherwise the original remote hostname given
2077on the command line.
2078.It %L
2079The local hostname.
2080.It %l
2081The local hostname, including the domain name.
2082.It %n
2083The original remote hostname, as given on the command line.
2084.It %p
2085The remote port.
2086.It %r
2087The remote username.
2088.It \&%T
2089The local
2090.Xr tun 4
2091or
2092.Xr tap 4
2093network interface assigned if
2094tunnel forwarding was requested, or
2095.Qq NONE
2096otherwise.
2097.It %t
2098The type of the server host key, e.g.
2099.Cm ssh-ed25519 .
2100.It %u
2101The local username.
2102.El
2103.Pp
2104.Cm CertificateFile ,
2105.Cm ControlPath ,
2106.Cm IdentityAgent ,
2107.Cm IdentityFile ,
2108.Cm KnownHostsCommand ,
2109.Cm LocalForward ,
2110.Cm Match exec ,
2111.Cm RemoteCommand ,
2112.Cm RemoteForward ,
2113and
2114.Cm UserKnownHostsFile
2115accept the tokens %%, %C, %d, %h, %i, %k, %L, %l, %n, %p, %r, and %u.
2116.Pp
2117.Cm KnownHostsCommand
2118additionally accepts the tokens %f, %H, %I, %K and %t.
2119.Pp
2120.Cm Hostname
2121accepts the tokens %% and %h.
2122.Pp
2123.Cm LocalCommand
2124accepts all tokens.
2125.Pp
2126.Cm ProxyCommand
2127and
2128.Cm ProxyJump
2129accept the tokens %%, %h, %n, %p, and %r.
2130.Sh ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
2131Arguments to some keywords can be expanded at runtime from environment
2132variables on the client by enclosing them in
2133.Ic ${} ,
2134for example
2135.Ic ${HOME}/.ssh
2136would refer to the user's .ssh directory.
2137If a specified environment variable does not exist then an error will be
2138returned and the setting for that keyword will be ignored.
2139.Pp
2140The keywords
2141.Cm CertificateFile ,
2142.Cm ControlPath ,
2143.Cm IdentityAgent ,
2144.Cm IdentityFile ,
2145.Cm KnownHostsCommand ,
2146and
2147.Cm UserKnownHostsFile
2148support environment variables.
2149The keywords
2150.Cm LocalForward
2151and
2152.Cm RemoteForward
2153support environment variables only for Unix domain socket paths.
2154.Sh FILES
2155.Bl -tag -width Ds
2156.It Pa ~/.ssh/config
2157This is the per-user configuration file.
2158The format of this file is described above.
2159This file is used by the SSH client.
2160Because of the potential for abuse, this file must have strict permissions:
2161read/write for the user, and not writable by others.
2162.It Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_config
2163Systemwide configuration file.
2164This file provides defaults for those
2165values that are not specified in the user's configuration file, and
2166for those users who do not have a configuration file.
2167This file must be world-readable.
2168.El
2169.Sh SEE ALSO
2170.Xr ssh 1
2171.Sh AUTHORS
2172.An -nosplit
2173OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free
2174ssh 1.2.12 release by
2175.An Tatu Ylonen .
2176.An Aaron Campbell , Bob Beck , Markus Friedl ,
2177.An Niels Provos , Theo de Raadt
2178and
2179.An Dug Song
2180removed many bugs, re-added newer features and
2181created OpenSSH.
2182.An Markus Friedl
2183contributed the support for SSH protocol versions 1.5 and 2.0.
2184