xref: /openbsd-src/usr.bin/ssh/ssh_config.5 (revision 46035553bfdd96e63c94e32da0210227ec2e3cf1)
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
22.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
23.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
24.\"
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35.\"
36.\" $OpenBSD: ssh_config.5,v 1.340 2020/12/22 07:40:26 jmc Exp $
37.Dd $Mdocdate: December 22 2020 $
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.
344.It Cm CanonicalizeMaxDots
345Specifies the maximum number of dot characters in a hostname before
346canonicalization is disabled.
347The default, 1,
348allows a single dot (i.e. hostname.subdomain).
349.It Cm CanonicalizePermittedCNAMEs
350Specifies rules to determine whether CNAMEs should be followed when
351canonicalizing hostnames.
352The rules consist of one or more arguments of
353.Ar source_domain_list : Ns Ar target_domain_list ,
354where
355.Ar source_domain_list
356is a pattern-list of domains that may follow CNAMEs in canonicalization,
357and
358.Ar target_domain_list
359is a pattern-list of domains that they may resolve to.
360.Pp
361For example,
362.Qq *.a.example.com:*.b.example.com,*.c.example.com
363will allow hostnames matching
364.Qq *.a.example.com
365to be canonicalized to names in the
366.Qq *.b.example.com
367or
368.Qq *.c.example.com
369domains.
370.It Cm CASignatureAlgorithms
371Specifies which algorithms are allowed for signing of certificates
372by certificate authorities (CAs).
373The default is:
374.Bd -literal -offset indent
375ssh-ed25519,ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384,
376ecdsa-sha2-nistp521,rsa-sha2-512,rsa-sha2-256,ssh-rsa
377.Ed
378.Pp
379.Xr ssh 1
380will not accept host certificates signed using algorithms other than those
381specified.
382.It Cm CertificateFile
383Specifies a file from which the user's certificate is read.
384A corresponding private key must be provided separately in order
385to use this certificate either
386from an
387.Cm IdentityFile
388directive or
389.Fl i
390flag to
391.Xr ssh 1 ,
392via
393.Xr ssh-agent 1 ,
394or via a
395.Cm PKCS11Provider
396or
397.Cm SecurityKeyProvider .
398.Pp
399Arguments to
400.Cm CertificateFile
401may use the tilde syntax to refer to a user's home directory,
402the tokens described in the
403.Sx TOKENS
404section and environment variables as described in the
405.Sx ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
406section.
407.Pp
408It is possible to have multiple certificate files specified in
409configuration files; these certificates will be tried in sequence.
410Multiple
411.Cm CertificateFile
412directives will add to the list of certificates used for
413authentication.
414.It Cm ChallengeResponseAuthentication
415Specifies whether to use challenge-response authentication.
416The argument to this keyword must be
417.Cm yes
418(the default)
419or
420.Cm no .
421.It Cm CheckHostIP
422If set to
423.Cm yes
424(the default),
425.Xr ssh 1
426will additionally check the host IP address in the
427.Pa known_hosts
428file.
429This allows it to detect if a host key changed due to DNS spoofing
430and will add addresses of destination hosts to
431.Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts
432in the process, regardless of the setting of
433.Cm StrictHostKeyChecking .
434If the option is set to
435.Cm no ,
436the check will not be executed.
437.It Cm Ciphers
438Specifies the ciphers allowed and their order of preference.
439Multiple ciphers must be comma-separated.
440If the specified list begins with a
441.Sq +
442character, then the specified ciphers will be appended to the default set
443instead of replacing them.
444If the specified list begins with a
445.Sq -
446character, then the specified ciphers (including wildcards) will be removed
447from the default set instead of replacing them.
448If the specified list begins with a
449.Sq ^
450character, then the specified ciphers will be placed at the head of the
451default set.
452.Pp
453The supported ciphers are:
454.Bd -literal -offset indent
4553des-cbc
456aes128-cbc
457aes192-cbc
458aes256-cbc
459aes128-ctr
460aes192-ctr
461aes256-ctr
462aes128-gcm@openssh.com
463aes256-gcm@openssh.com
464chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com
465.Ed
466.Pp
467The default is:
468.Bd -literal -offset indent
469chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com,
470aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,
471aes128-gcm@openssh.com,aes256-gcm@openssh.com
472.Ed
473.Pp
474The list of available ciphers may also be obtained using
475.Qq ssh -Q cipher .
476.It Cm ClearAllForwardings
477Specifies that all local, remote, and dynamic port forwardings
478specified in the configuration files or on the command line be
479cleared.
480This option is primarily useful when used from the
481.Xr ssh 1
482command line to clear port forwardings set in
483configuration files, and is automatically set by
484.Xr scp 1
485and
486.Xr sftp 1 .
487The argument must be
488.Cm yes
489or
490.Cm no
491(the default).
492.It Cm Compression
493Specifies whether to use compression.
494The argument must be
495.Cm yes
496or
497.Cm no
498(the default).
499.It Cm ConnectionAttempts
500Specifies the number of tries (one per second) to make before exiting.
501The argument must be an integer.
502This may be useful in scripts if the connection sometimes fails.
503The default is 1.
504.It Cm ConnectTimeout
505Specifies the timeout (in seconds) used when connecting to the
506SSH server, instead of using the default system TCP timeout.
507This timeout is applied both to establishing the connection and to performing
508the initial SSH protocol handshake and key exchange.
509.It Cm ControlMaster
510Enables the sharing of multiple sessions over a single network connection.
511When set to
512.Cm yes ,
513.Xr ssh 1
514will listen for connections on a control socket specified using the
515.Cm ControlPath
516argument.
517Additional sessions can connect to this socket using the same
518.Cm ControlPath
519with
520.Cm ControlMaster
521set to
522.Cm no
523(the default).
524These sessions will try to reuse the master instance's network connection
525rather than initiating new ones, but will fall back to connecting normally
526if the control socket does not exist, or is not listening.
527.Pp
528Setting this to
529.Cm ask
530will cause
531.Xr ssh 1
532to listen for control connections, but require confirmation using
533.Xr ssh-askpass 1 .
534If the
535.Cm ControlPath
536cannot be opened,
537.Xr ssh 1
538will continue without connecting to a master instance.
539.Pp
540X11 and
541.Xr ssh-agent 1
542forwarding is supported over these multiplexed connections, however the
543display and agent forwarded will be the one belonging to the master
544connection i.e. it is not possible to forward multiple displays or agents.
545.Pp
546Two additional options allow for opportunistic multiplexing: try to use a
547master connection but fall back to creating a new one if one does not already
548exist.
549These options are:
550.Cm auto
551and
552.Cm autoask .
553The latter requires confirmation like the
554.Cm ask
555option.
556.It Cm ControlPath
557Specify the path to the control socket used for connection sharing as described
558in the
559.Cm ControlMaster
560section above or the string
561.Cm none
562to disable connection sharing.
563Arguments to
564.Cm ControlPath
565may use the tilde syntax to refer to a user's home directory,
566the tokens described in the
567.Sx TOKENS
568section and environment variables as described in the
569.Sx ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
570section.
571It is recommended that any
572.Cm ControlPath
573used for opportunistic connection sharing include
574at least %h, %p, and %r (or alternatively %C) and be placed in a directory
575that is not writable by other users.
576This ensures that shared connections are uniquely identified.
577.It Cm ControlPersist
578When used in conjunction with
579.Cm ControlMaster ,
580specifies that the master connection should remain open
581in the background (waiting for future client connections)
582after the initial client connection has been closed.
583If set to
584.Cm no
585(the default),
586then the master connection will not be placed into the background,
587and will close as soon as the initial client connection is closed.
588If set to
589.Cm yes
590or 0,
591then the master connection will remain in the background indefinitely
592(until killed or closed via a mechanism such as the
593.Qq ssh -O exit ) .
594If set to a time in seconds, or a time in any of the formats documented in
595.Xr sshd_config 5 ,
596then the backgrounded master connection will automatically terminate
597after it has remained idle (with no client connections) for the
598specified time.
599.It Cm DynamicForward
600Specifies that a TCP port on the local machine be forwarded
601over the secure channel, and the application
602protocol is then used to determine where to connect to from the
603remote machine.
604.Pp
605The argument must be
606.Sm off
607.Oo Ar bind_address : Oc Ar port .
608.Sm on
609IPv6 addresses can be specified by enclosing addresses in square brackets.
610By default, the local port is bound in accordance with the
611.Cm GatewayPorts
612setting.
613However, an explicit
614.Ar bind_address
615may be used to bind the connection to a specific address.
616The
617.Ar bind_address
618of
619.Cm localhost
620indicates that the listening port be bound for local use only, while an
621empty address or
622.Sq *
623indicates that the port should be available from all interfaces.
624.Pp
625Currently the SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 protocols are supported, and
626.Xr ssh 1
627will act as a SOCKS server.
628Multiple forwardings may be specified, and
629additional forwardings can be given on the command line.
630Only the superuser can forward privileged ports.
631.It Cm EnableSSHKeysign
632Setting this option to
633.Cm yes
634in the global client configuration file
635.Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_config
636enables the use of the helper program
637.Xr ssh-keysign 8
638during
639.Cm HostbasedAuthentication .
640The argument must be
641.Cm yes
642or
643.Cm no
644(the default).
645This option should be placed in the non-hostspecific section.
646See
647.Xr ssh-keysign 8
648for more information.
649.It Cm EscapeChar
650Sets the escape character (default:
651.Ql ~ ) .
652The escape character can also
653be set on the command line.
654The argument should be a single character,
655.Ql ^
656followed by a letter, or
657.Cm none
658to disable the escape
659character entirely (making the connection transparent for binary
660data).
661.It Cm ExitOnForwardFailure
662Specifies whether
663.Xr ssh 1
664should terminate the connection if it cannot set up all requested
665dynamic, tunnel, local, and remote port forwardings, (e.g.\&
666if either end is unable to bind and listen on a specified port).
667Note that
668.Cm ExitOnForwardFailure
669does not apply to connections made over port forwardings and will not,
670for example, cause
671.Xr ssh 1
672to exit if TCP connections to the ultimate forwarding destination fail.
673The argument must be
674.Cm yes
675or
676.Cm no
677(the default).
678.It Cm FingerprintHash
679Specifies the hash algorithm used when displaying key fingerprints.
680Valid options are:
681.Cm md5
682and
683.Cm sha256
684(the default).
685.It Cm ForwardAgent
686Specifies whether the connection to the authentication agent (if any)
687will be forwarded to the remote machine.
688The argument may be
689.Cm yes ,
690.Cm no
691(the default),
692an explicit path to an agent socket or the name of an environment variable
693(beginning with
694.Sq $ )
695in which to find the path.
696.Pp
697Agent forwarding should be enabled with caution.
698Users with the ability to bypass file permissions on the remote host
699(for the agent's Unix-domain socket)
700can access the local agent through the forwarded connection.
701An attacker cannot obtain key material from the agent,
702however they can perform operations on the keys that enable them to
703authenticate using the identities loaded into the agent.
704.It Cm ForwardX11
705Specifies whether X11 connections will be automatically redirected
706over the secure channel and
707.Ev DISPLAY
708set.
709The argument must be
710.Cm yes
711or
712.Cm no
713(the default).
714.Pp
715X11 forwarding should be enabled with caution.
716Users with the ability to bypass file permissions on the remote host
717(for the user's X11 authorization database)
718can access the local X11 display through the forwarded connection.
719An attacker may then be able to perform activities such as keystroke monitoring
720if the
721.Cm ForwardX11Trusted
722option is also enabled.
723.It Cm ForwardX11Timeout
724Specify a timeout for untrusted X11 forwarding
725using the format described in the
726.Sx TIME FORMATS
727section of
728.Xr sshd_config 5 .
729X11 connections received by
730.Xr ssh 1
731after this time will be refused.
732Setting
733.Cm ForwardX11Timeout
734to zero will disable the timeout and permit X11 forwarding for the life
735of the connection.
736The default is to disable untrusted X11 forwarding after twenty minutes has
737elapsed.
738.It Cm ForwardX11Trusted
739If this option is set to
740.Cm yes ,
741remote X11 clients will have full access to the original X11 display.
742.Pp
743If this option is set to
744.Cm no
745(the default),
746remote X11 clients will be considered untrusted and prevented
747from stealing or tampering with data belonging to trusted X11
748clients.
749Furthermore, the
750.Xr xauth 1
751token used for the session will be set to expire after 20 minutes.
752Remote clients will be refused access after this time.
753.Pp
754See the X11 SECURITY extension specification for full details on
755the restrictions imposed on untrusted clients.
756.It Cm GatewayPorts
757Specifies whether remote hosts are allowed to connect to local
758forwarded ports.
759By default,
760.Xr ssh 1
761binds local port forwardings to the loopback address.
762This prevents other remote hosts from connecting to forwarded ports.
763.Cm GatewayPorts
764can be used to specify that ssh
765should bind local port forwardings to the wildcard address,
766thus allowing remote hosts to connect to forwarded ports.
767The argument must be
768.Cm yes
769or
770.Cm no
771(the default).
772.It Cm GlobalKnownHostsFile
773Specifies one or more files to use for the global
774host key database, separated by whitespace.
775The default is
776.Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts ,
777.Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts2 .
778.It Cm GSSAPIAuthentication
779Specifies whether user authentication based on GSSAPI is allowed.
780The default is
781.Cm no .
782.It Cm GSSAPIDelegateCredentials
783Forward (delegate) credentials to the server.
784The default is
785.Cm no .
786.It Cm HashKnownHosts
787Indicates that
788.Xr ssh 1
789should hash host names and addresses when they are added to
790.Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts .
791These hashed names may be used normally by
792.Xr ssh 1
793and
794.Xr sshd 8 ,
795but they do not visually reveal identifying information if the
796file's contents are disclosed.
797The default is
798.Cm no .
799Note that existing names and addresses in known hosts files
800will not be converted automatically,
801but may be manually hashed using
802.Xr ssh-keygen 1 .
803.It Cm HostbasedAuthentication
804Specifies whether to try rhosts based authentication with public key
805authentication.
806The argument must be
807.Cm yes
808or
809.Cm no
810(the default).
811.It Cm HostbasedKeyTypes
812Specifies the key types that will be used for hostbased authentication
813as a comma-separated list of patterns.
814Alternately if the specified list begins with a
815.Sq +
816character, then the specified key types will be appended to the default set
817instead of replacing them.
818If the specified list begins with a
819.Sq -
820character, then the specified key types (including wildcards) will be removed
821from the default set instead of replacing them.
822If the specified list begins with a
823.Sq ^
824character, then the specified key types will be placed at the head of the
825default set.
826The default for this option is:
827.Bd -literal -offset 3n
828ssh-ed25519-cert-v01@openssh.com,
829ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
830ecdsa-sha2-nistp384-cert-v01@openssh.com,
831ecdsa-sha2-nistp521-cert-v01@openssh.com,
832sk-ssh-ed25519-cert-v01@openssh.com,
833sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
834rsa-sha2-512-cert-v01@openssh.com,
835rsa-sha2-256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
836ssh-rsa-cert-v01@openssh.com,
837ssh-ed25519,
838ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521,
839sk-ssh-ed25519@openssh.com,
840sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256@openssh.com,
841rsa-sha2-512,rsa-sha2-256,ssh-rsa
842.Ed
843.Pp
844The
845.Fl Q
846option of
847.Xr ssh 1
848may be used to list supported key types.
849.It Cm HostKeyAlgorithms
850Specifies the host key algorithms
851that the client wants to use in order of preference.
852Alternately if the specified list begins with a
853.Sq +
854character, then the specified key types will be appended to the default set
855instead of replacing them.
856If the specified list begins with a
857.Sq -
858character, then the specified key types (including wildcards) will be removed
859from the default set instead of replacing them.
860If the specified list begins with a
861.Sq ^
862character, then the specified key types will be placed at the head of the
863default set.
864The default for this option is:
865.Bd -literal -offset 3n
866ssh-ed25519-cert-v01@openssh.com,
867ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
868ecdsa-sha2-nistp384-cert-v01@openssh.com,
869ecdsa-sha2-nistp521-cert-v01@openssh.com,
870sk-ssh-ed25519-cert-v01@openssh.com,
871sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
872rsa-sha2-512-cert-v01@openssh.com,
873rsa-sha2-256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
874ssh-rsa-cert-v01@openssh.com,
875ssh-ed25519,
876ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521,
877sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256@openssh.com,
878sk-ssh-ed25519@openssh.com,
879rsa-sha2-512,rsa-sha2-256,ssh-rsa
880.Ed
881.Pp
882If hostkeys are known for the destination host then this default is modified
883to prefer their algorithms.
884.Pp
885The list of available key types may also be obtained using
886.Qq ssh -Q HostKeyAlgorithms .
887.It Cm HostKeyAlias
888Specifies an alias that should be used instead of the
889real host name when looking up or saving the host key
890in the host key database files and when validating host certificates.
891This option is useful for tunneling SSH connections
892or for multiple servers running on a single host.
893.It Cm Hostname
894Specifies the real host name to log into.
895This can be used to specify nicknames or abbreviations for hosts.
896Arguments to
897.Cm Hostname
898accept the tokens described in the
899.Sx TOKENS
900section.
901Numeric IP addresses are also permitted (both on the command line and in
902.Cm Hostname
903specifications).
904The default is the name given on the command line.
905.It Cm IdentitiesOnly
906Specifies that
907.Xr ssh 1
908should only use the configured authentication identity and certificate files
909(either the default files, or those explicitly configured in the
910.Nm
911files
912or passed on the
913.Xr ssh 1
914command-line),
915even if
916.Xr ssh-agent 1
917or a
918.Cm PKCS11Provider
919or
920.Cm SecurityKeyProvider
921offers more identities.
922The argument to this keyword must be
923.Cm yes
924or
925.Cm no
926(the default).
927This option is intended for situations where ssh-agent
928offers many different identities.
929.It Cm IdentityAgent
930Specifies the
931.Ux Ns -domain
932socket used to communicate with the authentication agent.
933.Pp
934This option overrides the
935.Ev SSH_AUTH_SOCK
936environment variable and can be used to select a specific agent.
937Setting the socket name to
938.Cm none
939disables the use of an authentication agent.
940If the string
941.Qq SSH_AUTH_SOCK
942is specified, the location of the socket will be read from the
943.Ev SSH_AUTH_SOCK
944environment variable.
945Otherwise if the specified value begins with a
946.Sq $
947character, then it will be treated as an environment variable containing
948the location of the socket.
949.Pp
950Arguments to
951.Cm IdentityAgent
952may use the tilde syntax to refer to a user's home directory,
953the tokens described in the
954.Sx TOKENS
955section and environment variables as described in the
956.Sx ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
957section.
958.It Cm IdentityFile
959Specifies a file from which the user's DSA, ECDSA, authenticator-hosted ECDSA,
960Ed25519, authenticator-hosted Ed25519 or RSA authentication identity is read.
961The default is
962.Pa ~/.ssh/id_dsa ,
963.Pa ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa ,
964.Pa ~/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk ,
965.Pa ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 ,
966.Pa ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk
967and
968.Pa ~/.ssh/id_rsa .
969Additionally, any identities represented by the authentication agent
970will be used for authentication unless
971.Cm IdentitiesOnly
972is set.
973If no certificates have been explicitly specified by
974.Cm CertificateFile ,
975.Xr ssh 1
976will try to load certificate information from the filename obtained by
977appending
978.Pa -cert.pub
979to the path of a specified
980.Cm IdentityFile .
981.Pp
982Arguments to
983.Cm IdentityFile
984may use the tilde syntax to refer to a user's home directory
985or the tokens described in the
986.Sx TOKENS
987section.
988.Pp
989It is possible to have
990multiple identity files specified in configuration files; all these
991identities will be tried in sequence.
992Multiple
993.Cm IdentityFile
994directives will add to the list of identities tried (this behaviour
995differs from that of other configuration directives).
996.Pp
997.Cm IdentityFile
998may be used in conjunction with
999.Cm IdentitiesOnly
1000to select which identities in an agent are offered during authentication.
1001.Cm IdentityFile
1002may also be used in conjunction with
1003.Cm CertificateFile
1004in order to provide any certificate also needed for authentication with
1005the identity.
1006.It Cm IgnoreUnknown
1007Specifies a pattern-list of unknown options to be ignored if they are
1008encountered in configuration parsing.
1009This may be used to suppress errors if
1010.Nm
1011contains options that are unrecognised by
1012.Xr ssh 1 .
1013It is recommended that
1014.Cm IgnoreUnknown
1015be listed early in the configuration file as it will not be applied
1016to unknown options that appear before it.
1017.It Cm Include
1018Include the specified configuration file(s).
1019Multiple pathnames may be specified and each pathname may contain
1020.Xr glob 7
1021wildcards and, for user configurations, shell-like
1022.Sq ~
1023references to user home directories.
1024Wildcards will be expanded and processed in lexical order.
1025Files without absolute paths are assumed to be in
1026.Pa ~/.ssh
1027if included in a user configuration file or
1028.Pa /etc/ssh
1029if included from the system configuration file.
1030.Cm Include
1031directive may appear inside a
1032.Cm Match
1033or
1034.Cm Host
1035block
1036to perform conditional inclusion.
1037.It Cm IPQoS
1038Specifies the IPv4 type-of-service or DSCP class for connections.
1039Accepted values are
1040.Cm af11 ,
1041.Cm af12 ,
1042.Cm af13 ,
1043.Cm af21 ,
1044.Cm af22 ,
1045.Cm af23 ,
1046.Cm af31 ,
1047.Cm af32 ,
1048.Cm af33 ,
1049.Cm af41 ,
1050.Cm af42 ,
1051.Cm af43 ,
1052.Cm cs0 ,
1053.Cm cs1 ,
1054.Cm cs2 ,
1055.Cm cs3 ,
1056.Cm cs4 ,
1057.Cm cs5 ,
1058.Cm cs6 ,
1059.Cm cs7 ,
1060.Cm ef ,
1061.Cm le ,
1062.Cm lowdelay ,
1063.Cm throughput ,
1064.Cm reliability ,
1065a numeric value, or
1066.Cm none
1067to use the operating system default.
1068This option may take one or two arguments, separated by whitespace.
1069If one argument is specified, it is used as the packet class unconditionally.
1070If two values are specified, the first is automatically selected for
1071interactive sessions and the second for non-interactive sessions.
1072The default is
1073.Cm af21
1074(Low-Latency Data)
1075for interactive sessions and
1076.Cm cs1
1077(Lower Effort)
1078for non-interactive sessions.
1079.It Cm KbdInteractiveAuthentication
1080Specifies whether to use keyboard-interactive authentication.
1081The argument to this keyword must be
1082.Cm yes
1083(the default)
1084or
1085.Cm no .
1086.It Cm KbdInteractiveDevices
1087Specifies the list of methods to use in keyboard-interactive authentication.
1088Multiple method names must be comma-separated.
1089The default is to use the server specified list.
1090The methods available vary depending on what the server supports.
1091For an OpenSSH server,
1092it may be zero or more of:
1093.Cm bsdauth ,
1094.Cm pam ,
1095and
1096.Cm skey .
1097.It Cm KexAlgorithms
1098Specifies the available KEX (Key Exchange) algorithms.
1099Multiple algorithms must be comma-separated.
1100If the specified list begins with a
1101.Sq +
1102character, then the specified methods will be appended to the default set
1103instead of replacing them.
1104If the specified list begins with a
1105.Sq -
1106character, then the specified methods (including wildcards) will be removed
1107from the default set instead of replacing them.
1108If the specified list begins with a
1109.Sq ^
1110character, then the specified methods will be placed at the head of the
1111default set.
1112The default is:
1113.Bd -literal -offset indent
1114curve25519-sha256,curve25519-sha256@libssh.org,
1115ecdh-sha2-nistp256,ecdh-sha2-nistp384,ecdh-sha2-nistp521,
1116diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256,
1117diffie-hellman-group16-sha512,
1118diffie-hellman-group18-sha512,
1119diffie-hellman-group14-sha256
1120.Ed
1121.Pp
1122The list of available key exchange algorithms may also be obtained using
1123.Qq ssh -Q kex .
1124.It Cm KnownHostsCommand
1125Specifies a command to use to obtain a list of host keys, in addition to
1126those listed in
1127.Cm UserKnownHostsFile
1128and
1129.Cm GlobalKnownHostsFile .
1130This command is executed after the files have been read.
1131It may write host key lines to standard output in identical format to the
1132usual files (described in the
1133.Sx VERIFYING HOST KEYS
1134section in
1135.Xr ssh 1 ) .
1136Arguments to
1137.Cm KnownHostsCommand
1138accept the tokens described in the
1139.Sx TOKENS
1140section.
1141The command may be invoked multiple times per connection: once when preparing
1142the preference list of host key algorithms to use, again to obtain the
1143host key for the requested host name and, if
1144.Cm CheckHostIP
1145is enabled, one more time to obtain the host key matching the server's
1146address.
1147If the command exits abnormally or returns a non-zero exit status then the
1148connection is terminated.
1149.It Cm LocalCommand
1150Specifies a command to execute on the local machine after successfully
1151connecting to the server.
1152The command string extends to the end of the line, and is executed with
1153the user's shell.
1154Arguments to
1155.Cm LocalCommand
1156accept the tokens described in the
1157.Sx TOKENS
1158section.
1159.Pp
1160The command is run synchronously and does not have access to the
1161session of the
1162.Xr ssh 1
1163that spawned it.
1164It should not be used for interactive commands.
1165.Pp
1166This directive is ignored unless
1167.Cm PermitLocalCommand
1168has been enabled.
1169.It Cm LocalForward
1170Specifies that a TCP port on the local machine be forwarded over
1171the secure channel to the specified host and port from the remote machine.
1172The first argument specifies the listener and may be
1173.Sm off
1174.Oo Ar bind_address : Oc Ar port
1175.Sm on
1176or a Unix domain socket path.
1177The second argument is the destination and may be
1178.Ar host : Ns Ar hostport
1179or a Unix domain socket path if the remote host supports it.
1180.Pp
1181IPv6 addresses can be specified by enclosing addresses in square brackets.
1182Multiple forwardings may be specified, and additional forwardings can be
1183given on the command line.
1184Only the superuser can forward privileged ports.
1185By default, the local port is bound in accordance with the
1186.Cm GatewayPorts
1187setting.
1188However, an explicit
1189.Ar bind_address
1190may be used to bind the connection to a specific address.
1191The
1192.Ar bind_address
1193of
1194.Cm localhost
1195indicates that the listening port be bound for local use only, while an
1196empty address or
1197.Sq *
1198indicates that the port should be available from all interfaces.
1199Unix domain socket paths may use the tokens described in the
1200.Sx TOKENS
1201section and environment variables as described in the
1202.Sx ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1203section.
1204.It Cm LogLevel
1205Gives the verbosity level that is used when logging messages from
1206.Xr ssh 1 .
1207The possible values are:
1208QUIET, FATAL, ERROR, INFO, VERBOSE, DEBUG, DEBUG1, DEBUG2, and DEBUG3.
1209The default is INFO.
1210DEBUG and DEBUG1 are equivalent.
1211DEBUG2 and DEBUG3 each specify higher levels of verbose output.
1212.It Cm LogVerbose
1213Specify one or more overrides to LogLevel.
1214An override consists of a pattern lists that matches the source file, function
1215and line number to force detailed logging for.
1216For example, an override pattern of:
1217.Bd -literal -offset indent
1218kex.c:*:1000,*:kex_exchange_identification():*,packet.c:*
1219.Ed
1220.Pp
1221would enable detailed logging for line 1000 of
1222.Pa kex.c ,
1223everything in the
1224.Fn kex_exchange_identification
1225function, and all code in the
1226.Pa packet.c
1227file.
1228This option is intended for debugging and no overrides are enabled by default.
1229.It Cm MACs
1230Specifies the MAC (message authentication code) algorithms
1231in order of preference.
1232The MAC algorithm is used for data integrity protection.
1233Multiple algorithms must be comma-separated.
1234If the specified list begins with a
1235.Sq +
1236character, then the specified algorithms will be appended to the default set
1237instead of replacing them.
1238If the specified list begins with a
1239.Sq -
1240character, then the specified algorithms (including wildcards) will be removed
1241from the default set instead of replacing them.
1242If the specified list begins with a
1243.Sq ^
1244character, then the specified algorithms will be placed at the head of the
1245default set.
1246.Pp
1247The algorithms that contain
1248.Qq -etm
1249calculate the MAC after encryption (encrypt-then-mac).
1250These are considered safer and their use recommended.
1251.Pp
1252The default is:
1253.Bd -literal -offset indent
1254umac-64-etm@openssh.com,umac-128-etm@openssh.com,
1255hmac-sha2-256-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-512-etm@openssh.com,
1256hmac-sha1-etm@openssh.com,
1257umac-64@openssh.com,umac-128@openssh.com,
1258hmac-sha2-256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha1
1259.Ed
1260.Pp
1261The list of available MAC algorithms may also be obtained using
1262.Qq ssh -Q mac .
1263.It Cm NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost
1264Disable host authentication for localhost (loopback addresses).
1265The argument to this keyword must be
1266.Cm yes
1267or
1268.Cm no
1269(the default).
1270.It Cm NumberOfPasswordPrompts
1271Specifies the number of password prompts before giving up.
1272The argument to this keyword must be an integer.
1273The default is 3.
1274.It Cm PasswordAuthentication
1275Specifies whether to use password authentication.
1276The argument to this keyword must be
1277.Cm yes
1278(the default)
1279or
1280.Cm no .
1281.It Cm PermitLocalCommand
1282Allow local command execution via the
1283.Ic LocalCommand
1284option or using the
1285.Ic !\& Ns Ar command
1286escape sequence in
1287.Xr ssh 1 .
1288The argument must be
1289.Cm yes
1290or
1291.Cm no
1292(the default).
1293.It Cm PKCS11Provider
1294Specifies which PKCS#11 provider to use or
1295.Cm none
1296to indicate that no provider should be used (the default).
1297The argument to this keyword is a path to the PKCS#11 shared library
1298.Xr ssh 1
1299should use to communicate with a PKCS#11 token providing keys for user
1300authentication.
1301.It Cm Port
1302Specifies the port number to connect on the remote host.
1303The default is 22.
1304.It Cm PreferredAuthentications
1305Specifies the order in which the client should try authentication methods.
1306This allows a client to prefer one method (e.g.\&
1307.Cm keyboard-interactive )
1308over another method (e.g.\&
1309.Cm password ) .
1310The default is:
1311.Bd -literal -offset indent
1312gssapi-with-mic,hostbased,publickey,
1313keyboard-interactive,password
1314.Ed
1315.It Cm ProxyCommand
1316Specifies the command to use to connect to the server.
1317The command
1318string extends to the end of the line, and is executed
1319using the user's shell
1320.Ql exec
1321directive to avoid a lingering shell process.
1322.Pp
1323Arguments to
1324.Cm ProxyCommand
1325accept the tokens described in the
1326.Sx TOKENS
1327section.
1328The command can be basically anything,
1329and should read from its standard input and write to its standard output.
1330It should eventually connect an
1331.Xr sshd 8
1332server running on some machine, or execute
1333.Ic sshd -i
1334somewhere.
1335Host key management will be done using the
1336.Cm Hostname
1337of the host being connected (defaulting to the name typed by the user).
1338Setting the command to
1339.Cm none
1340disables this option entirely.
1341Note that
1342.Cm CheckHostIP
1343is not available for connects with a proxy command.
1344.Pp
1345This directive is useful in conjunction with
1346.Xr nc 1
1347and its proxy support.
1348For example, the following directive would connect via an HTTP proxy at
1349192.0.2.0:
1350.Bd -literal -offset 3n
1351ProxyCommand /usr/bin/nc -X connect -x 192.0.2.0:8080 %h %p
1352.Ed
1353.It Cm ProxyJump
1354Specifies one or more jump proxies as either
1355.Xo
1356.Sm off
1357.Op Ar user No @
1358.Ar host
1359.Op : Ns Ar port
1360.Sm on
1361or an ssh URI
1362.Xc .
1363Multiple proxies may be separated by comma characters and will be visited
1364sequentially.
1365Setting this option will cause
1366.Xr ssh 1
1367to connect to the target host by first making a
1368.Xr ssh 1
1369connection to the specified
1370.Cm ProxyJump
1371host and then establishing a
1372TCP forwarding to the ultimate target from there.
1373.Pp
1374Note that this option will compete with the
1375.Cm ProxyCommand
1376option - whichever is specified first will prevent later instances of the
1377other from taking effect.
1378.Pp
1379Note also that the configuration for the destination host (either supplied
1380via the command-line or the configuration file) is not generally applied
1381to jump hosts.
1382.Pa ~/.ssh/config
1383should be used if specific configuration is required for jump hosts.
1384.It Cm ProxyUseFdpass
1385Specifies that
1386.Cm ProxyCommand
1387will pass a connected file descriptor back to
1388.Xr ssh 1
1389instead of continuing to execute and pass data.
1390The default is
1391.Cm no .
1392.It Cm PubkeyAcceptedKeyTypes
1393Specifies the key types that will be used for public key authentication
1394as a comma-separated list of patterns.
1395If the specified list begins with a
1396.Sq +
1397character, then the key types after it will be appended to the default
1398instead of replacing it.
1399If the specified list begins with a
1400.Sq -
1401character, then the specified key types (including wildcards) will be removed
1402from the default set instead of replacing them.
1403If the specified list begins with a
1404.Sq ^
1405character, then the specified key types will be placed at the head of the
1406default set.
1407The default for this option is:
1408.Bd -literal -offset 3n
1409ssh-ed25519-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1410ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1411ecdsa-sha2-nistp384-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1412ecdsa-sha2-nistp521-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1413sk-ssh-ed25519-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1414sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1415rsa-sha2-512-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1416rsa-sha2-256-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1417ssh-rsa-cert-v01@openssh.com,
1418ssh-ed25519,
1419ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521,
1420sk-ssh-ed25519@openssh.com,
1421sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256@openssh.com,
1422rsa-sha2-512,rsa-sha2-256,ssh-rsa
1423.Ed
1424.Pp
1425The list of available key types may also be obtained using
1426.Qq ssh -Q PubkeyAcceptedKeyTypes .
1427.It Cm PubkeyAuthentication
1428Specifies whether to try public key authentication.
1429The argument to this keyword must be
1430.Cm yes
1431(the default)
1432or
1433.Cm no .
1434.It Cm RekeyLimit
1435Specifies the maximum amount of data that may be transmitted before the
1436session key is renegotiated, optionally followed a maximum amount of
1437time that may pass before the session key is renegotiated.
1438The first argument is specified in bytes and may have a suffix of
1439.Sq K ,
1440.Sq M ,
1441or
1442.Sq G
1443to indicate Kilobytes, Megabytes, or Gigabytes, respectively.
1444The default is between
1445.Sq 1G
1446and
1447.Sq 4G ,
1448depending on the cipher.
1449The optional second value is specified in seconds and may use any of the
1450units documented in the TIME FORMATS section of
1451.Xr sshd_config 5 .
1452The default value for
1453.Cm RekeyLimit
1454is
1455.Cm default none ,
1456which means that rekeying is performed after the cipher's default amount
1457of data has been sent or received and no time based rekeying is done.
1458.It Cm RemoteCommand
1459Specifies a command to execute on the remote machine after successfully
1460connecting to the server.
1461The command string extends to the end of the line, and is executed with
1462the user's shell.
1463Arguments to
1464.Cm RemoteCommand
1465accept the tokens described in the
1466.Sx TOKENS
1467section.
1468.It Cm RemoteForward
1469Specifies that a TCP port on the remote machine be forwarded over
1470the secure channel.
1471The remote port may either be forwarded to a specified host and port
1472from the local machine, or may act as a SOCKS 4/5 proxy that allows a remote
1473client to connect to arbitrary destinations from the local machine.
1474The first argument is the listening specification and may be
1475.Sm off
1476.Oo Ar bind_address : Oc Ar port
1477.Sm on
1478or, if the remote host supports it, a Unix domain socket path.
1479If forwarding to a specific destination then the second argument must be
1480.Ar host : Ns Ar hostport
1481or a Unix domain socket path,
1482otherwise if no destination argument is specified then the remote forwarding
1483will be established as a SOCKS proxy.
1484.Pp
1485IPv6 addresses can be specified by enclosing addresses in square brackets.
1486Multiple forwardings may be specified, and additional
1487forwardings can be given on the command line.
1488Privileged ports can be forwarded only when
1489logging in as root on the remote machine.
1490Unix domain socket paths may use the tokens described in the
1491.Sx TOKENS
1492section and environment variables as described in the
1493.Sx ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1494section.
1495.Pp
1496If the
1497.Ar port
1498argument is 0,
1499the listen port will be dynamically allocated on the server and reported
1500to the client at run time.
1501.Pp
1502If the
1503.Ar bind_address
1504is not specified, the default is to only bind to loopback addresses.
1505If the
1506.Ar bind_address
1507is
1508.Ql *
1509or an empty string, then the forwarding is requested to listen on all
1510interfaces.
1511Specifying a remote
1512.Ar bind_address
1513will only succeed if the server's
1514.Cm GatewayPorts
1515option is enabled (see
1516.Xr sshd_config 5 ) .
1517.It Cm RequestTTY
1518Specifies whether to request a pseudo-tty for the session.
1519The argument may be one of:
1520.Cm no
1521(never request a TTY),
1522.Cm yes
1523(always request a TTY when standard input is a TTY),
1524.Cm force
1525(always request a TTY) or
1526.Cm auto
1527(request a TTY when opening a login session).
1528This option mirrors the
1529.Fl t
1530and
1531.Fl T
1532flags for
1533.Xr ssh 1 .
1534.It Cm RevokedHostKeys
1535Specifies revoked host public keys.
1536Keys listed in this file will be refused for host authentication.
1537Note that if this file does not exist or is not readable,
1538then host authentication will be refused for all hosts.
1539Keys may be specified as a text file, listing one public key per line, or as
1540an OpenSSH Key Revocation List (KRL) as generated by
1541.Xr ssh-keygen 1 .
1542For more information on KRLs, see the KEY REVOCATION LISTS section in
1543.Xr ssh-keygen 1 .
1544.It Cm SecurityKeyProvider
1545Specifies a path to a library that will be used when loading any
1546FIDO authenticator-hosted keys, overriding the default of using
1547the built-in USB HID support.
1548.Pp
1549If the specified value begins with a
1550.Sq $
1551character, then it will be treated as an environment variable containing
1552the path to the library.
1553.It Cm SendEnv
1554Specifies what variables from the local
1555.Xr environ 7
1556should be sent to the server.
1557The server must also support it, and the server must be configured to
1558accept these environment variables.
1559Note that the
1560.Ev TERM
1561environment variable is always sent whenever a
1562pseudo-terminal is requested as it is required by the protocol.
1563Refer to
1564.Cm AcceptEnv
1565in
1566.Xr sshd_config 5
1567for how to configure the server.
1568Variables are specified by name, which may contain wildcard characters.
1569Multiple environment variables may be separated by whitespace or spread
1570across multiple
1571.Cm SendEnv
1572directives.
1573.Pp
1574See
1575.Sx PATTERNS
1576for more information on patterns.
1577.Pp
1578It is possible to clear previously set
1579.Cm SendEnv
1580variable names by prefixing patterns with
1581.Pa - .
1582The default is not to send any environment variables.
1583.It Cm ServerAliveCountMax
1584Sets the number of server alive messages (see below) which may be
1585sent without
1586.Xr ssh 1
1587receiving any messages back from the server.
1588If this threshold is reached while server alive messages are being sent,
1589ssh will disconnect from the server, terminating the session.
1590It is important to note that the use of server alive messages is very
1591different from
1592.Cm TCPKeepAlive
1593(below).
1594The server alive messages are sent through the encrypted channel
1595and therefore will not be spoofable.
1596The TCP keepalive option enabled by
1597.Cm TCPKeepAlive
1598is spoofable.
1599The server alive mechanism is valuable when the client or
1600server depend on knowing when a connection has become unresponsive.
1601.Pp
1602The default value is 3.
1603If, for example,
1604.Cm ServerAliveInterval
1605(see below) is set to 15 and
1606.Cm ServerAliveCountMax
1607is left at the default, if the server becomes unresponsive,
1608ssh will disconnect after approximately 45 seconds.
1609.It Cm ServerAliveInterval
1610Sets a timeout interval in seconds after which if no data has been received
1611from the server,
1612.Xr ssh 1
1613will send a message through the encrypted
1614channel to request a response from the server.
1615The default
1616is 0, indicating that these messages will not be sent to the server.
1617.It Cm SetEnv
1618Directly specify one or more environment variables and their contents to
1619be sent to the server.
1620Similarly to
1621.Cm SendEnv ,
1622the server must be prepared to accept the environment variable.
1623.It Cm StreamLocalBindMask
1624Sets the octal file creation mode mask
1625.Pq umask
1626used when creating a Unix-domain socket file for local or remote
1627port forwarding.
1628This option is only used for port forwarding to a Unix-domain socket file.
1629.Pp
1630The default value is 0177, which creates a Unix-domain socket file that is
1631readable and writable only by the owner.
1632Note that not all operating systems honor the file mode on Unix-domain
1633socket files.
1634.It Cm StreamLocalBindUnlink
1635Specifies whether to remove an existing Unix-domain socket file for local
1636or remote port forwarding before creating a new one.
1637If the socket file already exists and
1638.Cm StreamLocalBindUnlink
1639is not enabled,
1640.Nm ssh
1641will be unable to forward the port to the Unix-domain socket file.
1642This option is only used for port forwarding to a Unix-domain socket file.
1643.Pp
1644The argument must be
1645.Cm yes
1646or
1647.Cm no
1648(the default).
1649.It Cm StrictHostKeyChecking
1650If this flag is set to
1651.Cm yes ,
1652.Xr ssh 1
1653will never automatically add host keys to the
1654.Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts
1655file, and refuses to connect to hosts whose host key has changed.
1656This provides maximum protection against man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks,
1657though it can be annoying when the
1658.Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts
1659file is poorly maintained or when connections to new hosts are
1660frequently made.
1661This option forces the user to manually
1662add all new hosts.
1663.Pp
1664If this flag is set to
1665.Dq accept-new
1666then ssh will automatically add new host keys to the user
1667known hosts files, but will not permit connections to hosts with
1668changed host keys.
1669If this flag is set to
1670.Dq no
1671or
1672.Dq off ,
1673ssh will automatically add new host keys to the user known hosts files
1674and allow connections to hosts with changed hostkeys to proceed,
1675subject to some restrictions.
1676If this flag is set to
1677.Cm ask
1678(the default),
1679new host keys
1680will be added to the user known host files only after the user
1681has confirmed that is what they really want to do, and
1682ssh will refuse to connect to hosts whose host key has changed.
1683The host keys of
1684known hosts will be verified automatically in all cases.
1685.It Cm SyslogFacility
1686Gives the facility code that is used when logging messages from
1687.Xr ssh 1 .
1688The possible values are: DAEMON, USER, AUTH, LOCAL0, LOCAL1, LOCAL2,
1689LOCAL3, LOCAL4, LOCAL5, LOCAL6, LOCAL7.
1690The default is USER.
1691.It Cm TCPKeepAlive
1692Specifies whether the system should send TCP keepalive messages to the
1693other side.
1694If they are sent, death of the connection or crash of one
1695of the machines will be properly noticed.
1696However, this means that
1697connections will die if the route is down temporarily, and some people
1698find it annoying.
1699.Pp
1700The default is
1701.Cm yes
1702(to send TCP keepalive messages), and the client will notice
1703if the network goes down or the remote host dies.
1704This is important in scripts, and many users want it too.
1705.Pp
1706To disable TCP keepalive messages, the value should be set to
1707.Cm no .
1708See also
1709.Cm ServerAliveInterval
1710for protocol-level keepalives.
1711.It Cm Tunnel
1712Request
1713.Xr tun 4
1714device forwarding between the client and the server.
1715The argument must be
1716.Cm yes ,
1717.Cm point-to-point
1718(layer 3),
1719.Cm ethernet
1720(layer 2),
1721or
1722.Cm no
1723(the default).
1724Specifying
1725.Cm yes
1726requests the default tunnel mode, which is
1727.Cm point-to-point .
1728.It Cm TunnelDevice
1729Specifies the
1730.Xr tun 4
1731devices to open on the client
1732.Pq Ar local_tun
1733and the server
1734.Pq Ar remote_tun .
1735.Pp
1736The argument must be
1737.Sm off
1738.Ar local_tun Op : Ar remote_tun .
1739.Sm on
1740The devices may be specified by numerical ID or the keyword
1741.Cm any ,
1742which uses the next available tunnel device.
1743If
1744.Ar remote_tun
1745is not specified, it defaults to
1746.Cm any .
1747The default is
1748.Cm any:any .
1749.It Cm UpdateHostKeys
1750Specifies whether
1751.Xr ssh 1
1752should accept notifications of additional hostkeys from the server sent
1753after authentication has completed and add them to
1754.Cm UserKnownHostsFile .
1755The argument must be
1756.Cm yes ,
1757.Cm no
1758or
1759.Cm ask .
1760This option allows learning alternate hostkeys for a server
1761and supports graceful key rotation by allowing a server to send replacement
1762public keys before old ones are removed.
1763.Pp
1764Additional hostkeys are only accepted if the key used to authenticate the
1765host was already trusted or explicitly accepted by the user, the host was
1766authenticated via
1767.Cm UserKnownHostsFile
1768(i.e. not
1769.Cm GlobalKnownHostsFile )
1770and the host was authenticated using a plain key and not a certificate.
1771.Pp
1772.Cm UpdateHostKeys
1773is enabled by default if the user has not overridden the default
1774.Cm UserKnownHostsFile
1775setting and has not enabled
1776.Cm VerifyHostKeyDNS ,
1777otherwise
1778.Cm UpdateHostKeys
1779will be set to
1780.Cm no .
1781.Pp
1782If
1783.Cm UpdateHostKeys
1784is set to
1785.Cm ask ,
1786then the user is asked to confirm the modifications to the known_hosts file.
1787Confirmation is currently incompatible with
1788.Cm ControlPersist ,
1789and will be disabled if it is enabled.
1790.Pp
1791Presently, only
1792.Xr sshd 8
1793from OpenSSH 6.8 and greater support the
1794.Qq hostkeys@openssh.com
1795protocol extension used to inform the client of all the server's hostkeys.
1796.It Cm User
1797Specifies the user to log in as.
1798This can be useful when a different user name is used on different machines.
1799This saves the trouble of
1800having to remember to give the user name on the command line.
1801.It Cm UserKnownHostsFile
1802Specifies one or more files to use for the user
1803host key database, separated by whitespace.
1804Each filename may use tilde notation to refer to the user's home directory,
1805the tokens described in the
1806.Sx TOKENS
1807section and environment variables as described in the
1808.Sx ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1809section.
1810The default is
1811.Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts ,
1812.Pa ~/.ssh/known_hosts2 .
1813.It Cm VerifyHostKeyDNS
1814Specifies whether to verify the remote key using DNS and SSHFP resource
1815records.
1816If this option is set to
1817.Cm yes ,
1818the client will implicitly trust keys that match a secure fingerprint
1819from DNS.
1820Insecure fingerprints will be handled as if this option was set to
1821.Cm ask .
1822If this option is set to
1823.Cm ask ,
1824information on fingerprint match will be displayed, but the user will still
1825need to confirm new host keys according to the
1826.Cm StrictHostKeyChecking
1827option.
1828The default is
1829.Cm no .
1830.Pp
1831See also
1832.Sx VERIFYING HOST KEYS
1833in
1834.Xr ssh 1 .
1835.It Cm VisualHostKey
1836If this flag is set to
1837.Cm yes ,
1838an ASCII art representation of the remote host key fingerprint is
1839printed in addition to the fingerprint string at login and
1840for unknown host keys.
1841If this flag is set to
1842.Cm no
1843(the default),
1844no fingerprint strings are printed at login and
1845only the fingerprint string will be printed for unknown host keys.
1846.It Cm XAuthLocation
1847Specifies the full pathname of the
1848.Xr xauth 1
1849program.
1850The default is
1851.Pa /usr/X11R6/bin/xauth .
1852.El
1853.Sh PATTERNS
1854A
1855.Em pattern
1856consists of zero or more non-whitespace characters,
1857.Sq *
1858(a wildcard that matches zero or more characters),
1859or
1860.Sq ?\&
1861(a wildcard that matches exactly one character).
1862For example, to specify a set of declarations for any host in the
1863.Qq .co.uk
1864set of domains,
1865the following pattern could be used:
1866.Pp
1867.Dl Host *.co.uk
1868.Pp
1869The following pattern
1870would match any host in the 192.168.0.[0-9] network range:
1871.Pp
1872.Dl Host 192.168.0.?
1873.Pp
1874A
1875.Em pattern-list
1876is a comma-separated list of patterns.
1877Patterns within pattern-lists may be negated
1878by preceding them with an exclamation mark
1879.Pq Sq !\& .
1880For example,
1881to allow a key to be used from anywhere within an organization
1882except from the
1883.Qq dialup
1884pool,
1885the following entry (in authorized_keys) could be used:
1886.Pp
1887.Dl from=\&"!*.dialup.example.com,*.example.com\&"
1888.Pp
1889Note that a negated match will never produce a positive result by itself.
1890For example, attempting to match
1891.Qq host3
1892against the following pattern-list will fail:
1893.Pp
1894.Dl from=\&"!host1,!host2\&"
1895.Pp
1896The solution here is to include a term that will yield a positive match,
1897such as a wildcard:
1898.Pp
1899.Dl from=\&"!host1,!host2,*\&"
1900.Sh TOKENS
1901Arguments to some keywords can make use of tokens,
1902which are expanded at runtime:
1903.Pp
1904.Bl -tag -width XXXX -offset indent -compact
1905.It %%
1906A literal
1907.Sq % .
1908.It \&%C
1909Hash of %l%h%p%r.
1910.It %d
1911Local user's home directory.
1912.It %f
1913The fingerprint of the server's host key.
1914.It %H
1915The
1916.Pa known_hosts
1917hostname or address that is being searched for.
1918.It %h
1919The remote hostname.
1920.It \%%I
1921A string describing the reason for a
1922.Cm KnownHostsCommand
1923execution: either
1924.Cm ADDRESS
1925when looking up a host by address (only when
1926.Cm CheckHostIP
1927is enabled),
1928.Cm HOSTNAME
1929when searching by hostname, or
1930.Cm ORDER
1931when preparing the host key algorithm preference list to use for the
1932destination host.
1933.It %i
1934The local user ID.
1935.It %K
1936The base64 encoded host key.
1937.It %k
1938The host key alias if specified, otherwise the orignal remote hostname given
1939on the command line.
1940.It %L
1941The local hostname.
1942.It %l
1943The local hostname, including the domain name.
1944.It %n
1945The original remote hostname, as given on the command line.
1946.It %p
1947The remote port.
1948.It %r
1949The remote username.
1950.It \&%T
1951The local
1952.Xr tun 4
1953or
1954.Xr tap 4
1955network interface assigned if
1956tunnel forwarding was requested, or
1957.Qq NONE
1958otherwise.
1959.It %t
1960The type of the server host key, e.g.
1961.Cm ssh-ed25519
1962.It %u
1963The local username.
1964.El
1965.Pp
1966.Cm CertificateFile ,
1967.Cm ControlPath ,
1968.Cm IdentityAgent ,
1969.Cm IdentityFile ,
1970.Cm KnownHostsCommand ,
1971.Cm LocalForward ,
1972.Cm Match exec ,
1973.Cm RemoteCommand ,
1974.Cm RemoteForward ,
1975and
1976.Cm UserKnownHostsFile
1977accept the tokens %%, %C, %d, %h, %i, %L, %l, %n, %p, %r, and %u.
1978.Pp
1979.Cm KnownHostsCommand
1980additionally accepts the tokens %f, %H, %I, %K and %t.
1981.Pp
1982.Cm Hostname
1983accepts the tokens %% and %h.
1984.Pp
1985.Cm LocalCommand
1986accepts all tokens.
1987.Pp
1988.Cm ProxyCommand
1989accepts the tokens %%, %h, %n, %p, and %r.
1990.Sh ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1991Arguments to some keywords can be expanded at runtime from environment
1992variables on the client by enclosing them in
1993.Ic ${} ,
1994for example
1995.Ic ${HOME}/.ssh
1996would refer to the user's .ssh directory.
1997If a specified environment variable does not exist then an error will be
1998returned and the setting for that keyword will be ignored.
1999.Pp
2000The keywords
2001.Cm CertificateFile ,
2002.Cm ControlPath ,
2003.Cm IdentityAgent ,
2004.Cm IdentityFile
2005.Cm KnownHostsCommand ,
2006and
2007.Cm UserKnownHostsFile
2008support environment variables.
2009The keywords
2010.Cm LocalForward
2011and
2012.Cm RemoteForward
2013support environment variables only for Unix domain socket paths.
2014.Sh FILES
2015.Bl -tag -width Ds
2016.It Pa ~/.ssh/config
2017This is the per-user configuration file.
2018The format of this file is described above.
2019This file is used by the SSH client.
2020Because of the potential for abuse, this file must have strict permissions:
2021read/write for the user, and not writable by others.
2022.It Pa /etc/ssh/ssh_config
2023Systemwide configuration file.
2024This file provides defaults for those
2025values that are not specified in the user's configuration file, and
2026for those users who do not have a configuration file.
2027This file must be world-readable.
2028.El
2029.Sh SEE ALSO
2030.Xr ssh 1
2031.Sh AUTHORS
2032.An -nosplit
2033OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free
2034ssh 1.2.12 release by
2035.An Tatu Ylonen .
2036.An Aaron Campbell , Bob Beck , Markus Friedl ,
2037.An Niels Provos , Theo de Raadt
2038and
2039.An Dug Song
2040removed many bugs, re-added newer features and
2041created OpenSSH.
2042.An Markus Friedl
2043contributed the support for SSH protocol versions 1.5 and 2.0.
2044