Best way to manage SSH keys?

havochavoc OG
in Technical

Suppose I've got multiple VPS that need to talk to each other. That means I need to stick the private key on the one server. But not super keen to have private keys floating around on VPS, especially since they're mostly without passphrase (VSS remote doesn't like it)

Googling suggests the answer lies in a combination of a trusted bastion host and ssh agent forwarding. Struggling to wrap my head around how that would look practically though. Especially in the context of automation i.e. not me initiating the action but rather VPS A deciding it needs to speak to VPS B at 3AM

Thoughts on this & related concepts?

Thanked by (1)uptime

Comments

  • WSSWSS Retired

    Port knocking and ssh-agent. You can easily make VPS A download the private key, load it, then remove it after it's done but then you've got another cog in the works.

    Thanked by (1)havoc

    My pronouns are asshole/asshole/asshole. I will give you the same courtesy.

  • PureVoltagePureVoltage Hosting ProviderOG

    If you need the SSH key to do a specific command on other systems you can limit that key to only allow a specific command or set of commands.
    Not sure if that would help for your task however it's one way to keep it safe if it's just specific commands that need to be ran such as a backup etc.

    Thanked by (4)havoc mfs WSS FlamingSpaceJunk

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  • havochavoc OG

    @WSS said: then remove it after

    Yeah was thinking of sticking it on a tmpfs. It's a bandaid though.

    ...there has to be a cleaner solution here somehow. I can see how they do it in a cloud context, but that assumes it's all in the same VPC. For separate random VPS that's not true (or wireguard it then I've got more private keys lol)

  • havochavoc OG

    @PureVoltage said: you can limit that key to only allow a specific command

    Didn't know that. Useful yes. I shall investigate. Thanks

  • PureVoltagePureVoltage Hosting ProviderOG

    @havoc said:

    @PureVoltage said: you can limit that key to only allow a specific command

    Didn't know that. Useful yes. I shall investigate. Thanks

    No problem, it's so bloody useful for stupid little tasks you want done even more if using it on a bunch of VPS's should help save a lot of worries. :)
    Glad I could help!

    PureVoltage - Custom Dedicated Servers Dual E5-2680v3 64gb ram 1TB nvme 100TB/10g $145
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  • beaglebeagle OG

    I was looking at the documentation on https://linux.die.net/man/8/sshd and it seems in addition to restrict commands you can also restrict the use of keys to specific hosts and ports:

    from="*.sales.example.net,!pc.sales.example.net" ssh-rsa AAAAB2...19Q== [email protected]

command="dump /home",no-pty,no-port-forwarding ssh-dss AAAAC3...51R== example.net

permitopen="192.0.2.1:80",permitopen="192.0.2.2:25" ssh-dss AAAAB5...21S==
    Thanked by (4)mfs havoc FlamingSpaceJunk vimalware
  • havochavoc OG

    Nice one @beagle

    With tight enough restrictions that might be enough. i.e. two sets of keys

    1) mine

    2) restricted VPS to VPS keys

    Thanked by (1)beagle
  • FlamingSpaceJunkFlamingSpaceJunk OG

    @havoc said: Suppose I've got multiple VPS that need to talk to each other. That means I need to stick the private key on the one server. But not super keen to have private keys floating around on VPS, especially since they're mostly without passphrase (VSS remote doesn't like it)

    I'm confused by why the private key needs to be moved at all. Installing the public keys for each host on each other host should be enough.

    Kerberos and service accounts solve this problem, but that may be a deeper rabbit hole then you want to go down.

  • ziriuszirius OG

    I found this which is pretty cool https://gist.github.com/sivel/c68f601137ef9063efd7

  • havochavoc OG

    @FlamingSpaceJunk said: I'm confused by why the private key needs to be moved at all.

    That may just be me insisting on playing life on hard mode. Open to other suggestions.

    I want to set up a re-usable multi-purpose CI/CD pipeline. I need SSH to deploy from the CI/CD server to target. I can't see a way around the CI/CD server having keys for all the servers though. I'll likely also want the targets to be able to git clone off the CI/CD server so the reverse applies too, though that I can probably lock down pretty tight.

  • WSSWSS Retired

    @havoc said:
    Nice one @beagle

    With tight enough restrictions that might be enough. i.e. two sets of keys

    1) mine

    2) restricted VPS to VPS keys

    @havoc said:

    @FlamingSpaceJunk said: I'm confused by why the private key needs to be moved at all.

    That may just be me insisting on playing life on hard mode. Open to other suggestions.

    I want to set up a re-usable multi-purpose CI/CD pipeline. I need SSH to deploy from the CI/CD server to target. I can't see a way around the CI/CD server having keys for all the servers though. I'll likely also want the targets to be able to git clone off the CI/CD server so the reverse applies too, though that I can probably lock down pretty tight.

    Just bind bash as uid 0 to a high port and block by default.

    Thanked by (1)FlamingSpaceJunk

    My pronouns are asshole/asshole/asshole. I will give you the same courtesy.

  • comicomi OG
    edited February 2020

    @havoc said: But not super keen to have private keys floating around on VPS

    I am willing to bet your laptop has all sorts of untested and outright suspicious code running on it for years making it far less secure than a VPS set up with keeping private keys in mind. Yes hypervisor can always dump VPS's memory, but aside from obvious mistakes that's about it.

  • havochavoc OG

    @comi said: I am willing to bet your laptop has all sorts of untested and outright suspicious code running on it for years making it far less secure than a VPS set up with keeping private keys in mind.

    Fair point.

    Keeping the keys on there but with precautions is probably the least painful route.

    Thanked by (1)vimalware
  • uptimeuptime OG

    @comi said:

    @havoc said: But not super keen to have private keys floating around on VPS

    I am willing to bet your laptop has all sorts of untested and outright suspicious code running on it for years making it far less secure than a VPS set up with keeping private keys in mind. Yes hypervisor can always dump VPS's memory, but aside from obvious mistakes that's about it.

    lol ... you will lose that bet.

    (you don't know me ... or my laptop.)

    HS4LIFE (+ (* 3 4) (* 5 6))

  • havochavoc OG

    Gentoo built from source type?

    Thanked by (1)uptime
  • uptimeuptime OG

    @havoc said:
    Gentoo built from source type?

    can neither confirm nor deny ... but let's not derail this thread too much talking about my (Stallman-approved) Core 2 Duo thinkpad

    Thanked by (2)FlamingSpaceJunk vimalware

    HS4LIFE (+ (* 3 4) (* 5 6))

  • williewillie OG

    Yes for interactivity use ssh-agent, and for your automation put everything behind a VLAN. The only way into the VLAN should be through a jump host that you connect to with ssh pubkey authentication.

    Thanked by (1)vimalware
  • comicomi OG

    @uptime said: can neither confirm nor deny ...

    Practicing security through obscurity, aren't we ;-]

    Thanked by (3)uptime havoc vimalware
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