Bug 33115

Summary:	openssh doesn't read the known_hosts file correctly
Product:	Gentoo Linux	Reporter:	Matt Rogers <matt.rogers>
Component:	Current packages	Assignee:	Daniel Ahlberg (RETIRED) <aliz>
Status:	RESOLVED WORKSFORME
Severity:	normal
Priority:	High
Version:	unspecified
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Package list:		Runtime testing required:	---

Description Matt Rogers 2003-11-09 20:28:07 UTC

whenever trying to ssh into the server on the local network. ssh spits out the following text:

The authenticity of host 'karma (192.168.0.2)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is e2:82:c0:df:29:55:70:1c:09:8c:86:f9:71:65:05:16.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

It would seem to me that the known_hosts file doesn't get read correctly when trying to verify the host key, even though it gets written to correctly. I've verified that this is not a permissions problem (my known_hosts file was mode 777 at one point in time). I'm not using PAM with openssh either. 

etcat versions openssh shows that I have 3.6.1_p2 on the server.
etcat versions openssh shows that I have 3.7.1_p2 on the client.

Comment 1 Matt Rogers 2003-12-03 07:05:49 UTC

this actually seems to be caused by an error or imcompatibility with openssl somewhere. I recently recompiled my whole system and don't have this error anymore. Perhaps openssh needs to be added to revdep-rebuild when openssl is upgraded to 0.9.7 from 0.9.6? 

/me starts grabbing at straws. :/

Comment 2 Ed Grimm 2004-01-29 22:07:16 UTC

Note that in a security application such as ssh, permissions of 777 *are* a permissions problem.

Maximum permissions are 755.  Any group/other write bits *will* cause problems.  Given that the file is *not* executable, there is no reason to give them execute permissions, so they should be either 644 or 444.

After fixing the permissions, try running ssh with -v -v -v and see if there's anything useful in the text.

Comment 3 Matt Rogers 2004-01-30 05:33:01 UTC

I am unable to reproduce this anymore.