ssh: require host key checking in the ClientConfig

This change breaks existing behavior.

Before, a missing ClientConfig.HostKeyCallback would cause host key
checking to be disabled. In this configuration, establishing a
connection to any host just works, so today, most SSH client code in
the wild does not perform any host key checks.

This makes it easy to perform a MITM attack:

* SSH installations that use keyboard-interactive or password
authentication can be attacked with MITM, thereby stealing
passwords.

* Clients that use public-key authentication with agent forwarding are
also vulnerable: the MITM server could allow the login to succeed, and
then immediately ask the agent to authenticate the login to the real
server.

* Clients that use public-key authentication without agent forwarding
are harder to attack unnoticedly: an attacker cannot authenticate the
login to the real server, so it cannot in general present a convincing
server to the victim.

Now, a missing HostKeyCallback will cause the handshake to fail. This
change also provides InsecureIgnoreHostKey() and FixedHostKey(key) as
ready made host checkers.

A simplistic parser for OpenSSH's known_hosts file is given as an
example.  This change does not provide a full-fledged parser, as it
has complexity (wildcards, revocation, hashed addresses) that will
need further consideration.

When introduced, the host checking feature maintained backward
compatibility at the expense of security. We have decided this is not
the right tradeoff for the SSH library.

Fixes golang/go#19767

Change-Id: I45fc7ba9bd1ea29c31ec23f115cdbab99913e814
Reviewed-on: https://go-review.googlesource.com/38701
Run-TryBot: Han-Wen Nienhuys <hanwen@google.com>
TryBot-Result: Gobot Gobot <gobot@golang.org>
Reviewed-by: Brad Fitzpatrick <bradfitz@golang.org>

1 files changed, 54 insertions, 3 deletions

diff --git a/ssh/example_test.go b/ssh/example_test.go
index 4d2eabd..618398c 100644
--- a/ssh/example_test.go
+++ b/ssh/example_test.go
@@ -5,12 +5,16 @@
 package ssh_test
 
 import (
+	"bufio"
 	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"log"
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 
 	"golang.org/x/crypto/ssh"
 	"golang.org/x/crypto/ssh/terminal"
@@ -91,8 +95,6 @@ func ExampleNewServerConn() {
 	go ssh.DiscardRequests(reqs)
 
 	// Service the incoming Channel channel.
-
-	// Service the incoming Channel channel.
 	for newChannel := range chans {
 		// Channels have a type, depending on the application level
 		// protocol intended. In the case of a shell, the type is
@@ -131,16 +133,59 @@ func ExampleNewServerConn() {
 	}
 }
 
+func ExampleHostKeyCheck() {
+	// Every client must provide a host key check.  Here is a
+	// simple-minded parse of OpenSSH's known_hosts file
+	host := "hostname"
+	file, err := os.Open(filepath.Join(os.Getenv("HOME"), ".ssh", "known_hosts"))
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	defer file.Close()
+
+	scanner := bufio.NewScanner(file)
+	var hostKey ssh.PublicKey
+	for scanner.Scan() {
+		fields := strings.Split(scanner.Text(), " ")
+		if len(fields) != 3 {
+			continue
+		}
+		if strings.Contains(fields[0], host) {
+			var err error
+			hostKey, _, _, _, err = ssh.ParseAuthorizedKey(scanner.Bytes())
+			if err != nil {
+				log.Fatalf("error parsing %q: %v", fields[2], err)
+			}
+			break
+		}
+	}
+
+	if hostKey == nil {
+		log.Fatalf("no hostkey for %s", host)
+	}
+
+	config := ssh.ClientConfig{
+		User:            os.Getenv("USER"),
+		HostKeyCallback: ssh.FixedHostKey(hostKey),
+	}
+
+	_, err = ssh.Dial("tcp", host+":22", &config)
+	log.Println(err)
+}
+
 func ExampleDial() {
+	var hostKey ssh.PublicKey
 	// An SSH client is represented with a ClientConn.
 	//
 	// To authenticate with the remote server you must pass at least one
-	// implementation of AuthMethod via the Auth field in ClientConfig.
+	// implementation of AuthMethod via the Auth field in ClientConfig,
+	// and provide a HostKeyCallback.
 	config := &ssh.ClientConfig{
 		User: "username",
 		Auth: []ssh.AuthMethod{
 			ssh.Password("yourpassword"),
 		},
+		HostKeyCallback: ssh.FixedHostKey(hostKey),
 	}
 	client, err := ssh.Dial("tcp", "yourserver.com:22", config)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -166,6 +211,7 @@ func ExampleDial() {
 }
 
 func ExamplePublicKeys() {
+	var hostKey ssh.PublicKey
 	// A public key may be used to authenticate against the remote
 	// server by using an unencrypted PEM-encoded private key file.
 	//
@@ -188,6 +234,7 @@ func ExamplePublicKeys() {
 			// Use the PublicKeys method for remote authentication.
 			ssh.PublicKeys(signer),
 		},
+		HostKeyCallback: ssh.FixedHostKey(hostKey),
 	}
 
 	// Connect to the remote server and perform the SSH handshake.
@@ -199,11 +246,13 @@ func ExamplePublicKeys() {
 }
 
 func ExampleClient_Listen() {
+	var hostKey ssh.PublicKey
 	config := &ssh.ClientConfig{
 		User: "username",
 		Auth: []ssh.AuthMethod{
 			ssh.Password("password"),
 		},
+		HostKeyCallback: ssh.FixedHostKey(hostKey),
 	}
 	// Dial your ssh server.
 	conn, err := ssh.Dial("tcp", "localhost:22", config)
@@ -226,12 +275,14 @@ func ExampleClient_Listen() {
 }
 
 func ExampleSession_RequestPty() {
+	var hostKey ssh.PublicKey
 	// Create client config
 	config := &ssh.ClientConfig{
 		User: "username",
 		Auth: []ssh.AuthMethod{
 			ssh.Password("password"),
 		},
+		HostKeyCallback: ssh.FixedHostKey(hostKey),
 	}
 	// Connect to ssh server
 	conn, err := ssh.Dial("tcp", "localhost:22", config)