Linux – How to generate “ssh-rsa” key instead of “rsa-sha2-512”

linuxSecurityssh

I have many servers for which I have properly generated keys, set permissions and was able to ssh/scp without password.
However there is one machine which is a little bit different and I think that I have found the difference.

The difference is that on machine for which I coulnd not connect without password is that ssh is accepting keys:

debug1: Server accepts key: pkalg ssh-rsa blen 279

and all other my machines are accepting:

debug1: Server accepts key: pkalg rsa-sha2-512 blen 279

While creating ssh keys I always set argument "-t rsa" and I'm not sure which kind of key is generated. Can you help me to create ssh-rsa key instaed of rsa-sha2-512? And last one thing – I cannot modify /etc/ssh/sshd_config to change something.

Full dump of ssh log are below:
One to which I can connect:

OpenSSH_7.4p1, OpenSSL 1.0.2k-fips  26 Jan 2017
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug1: /etc/ssh/ssh_config line 58: Applying options for *
debug1: Connecting to HOSTNAME [IP] port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: identity file /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_rsa type 1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_rsa-cert type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_dsa type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_dsa-cert type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_ecdsa type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_ecdsa-cert type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_ed25519 type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_ed25519-cert type -1
debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_7.4
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_7.4
debug1: match: OpenSSH_7.4 pat OpenSSH* compat 0x04000000
debug1: Authenticating to HOSTNAME:22 as 'SOMEUSER'
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received
debug1: kex: algorithm: curve25519-sha256
debug1: kex: host key algorithm: ecdsa-sha2-nistp256
debug1: kex: server->client cipher: chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com MAC: <implicit> compression: none
debug1: kex: client->server cipher: chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com MAC: <implicit> compression: none
debug1: kex: curve25519-sha256 need=64 dh_need=64
debug1: kex: curve25519-sha256 need=64 dh_need=64
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_ECDH_REPLY
debug1: Server host key: ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 SHA256:###HASH###
debug1: Host 'HOSTNAME' is known and matches the ECDSA host key.
debug1: Found key in /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/known_hosts:2
debug1: rekey after ###HASH### blocks
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received
debug1: rekey after ###HASH### blocks
debug1: SSH2_MSG_EXT_INFO received
debug1: kex_input_ext_info: server-sig-algs=<rsa-sha2-256,rsa-sha2-512>
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-keyex,gssapi-with-mic,password
debug1: Next authentication method: gssapi-keyex
debug1: No valid Key exchange context
debug1: Next authentication method: gssapi-with-mic
debug1: Unspecified GSS failure.  Minor code may provide more information
No Kerberos credentials available (default cache: FILE:/tmp/krb5cc_38000069)

debug1: Unspecified GSS failure.  Minor code may provide more information
No Kerberos credentials available (default cache: FILE:/tmp/krb5cc_38000069)

debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
debug1: Offering RSA public key: /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_rsa
debug1: Server accepts key: pkalg rsa-sha2-512 blen 279
debug1: Authentication succeeded (publickey).
Authenticated to HOSTNAME ([IP]:22).
debug1: channel 0: new [client-session]
debug1: Requesting no-more-sessions@openssh.com
debug1: Entering interactive session.
debug1: pledge: network
debug1: client_input_global_request: rtype hostkeys-00@openssh.com want_reply 0
debug1: Sending environment.
debug1: Sending env LANG = en_US.UTF-8

Second one to which I cannot connect:

OpenSSH_7.4p1, OpenSSL 1.0.2k-fips  26 Jan 2017
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug1: /etc/ssh/ssh_config line 58: Applying options for *
debug1: Connecting to HOSTNAME [IP] port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: identity file /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_rsa type 1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_rsa-cert type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_dsa type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_dsa-cert type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_ecdsa type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_ecdsa-cert type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_ed25519 type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_ed25519-cert type -1
debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_7.4
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version Sun_SSH_1.1.8
debug1: no match: Sun_SSH_1.1.8
debug1: Authenticating to HOSTNAME:22 as 'USERNAME'
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received
debug1: kex: algorithm: diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256
debug1: kex: host key algorithm: ssh-rsa
debug1: kex: server->client cipher: aes128-ctr MAC: hmac-sha2-256 compression: none
debug1: kex: client->server cipher: aes128-ctr MAC: hmac-sha2-256 compression: none
debug1: kex: diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256 need=32 dh_need=32
debug1: kex: diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256 need=32 dh_need=32
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REQUEST(1024<8192<8192) sent
debug1: got SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_GROUP
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_INIT sent
debug1: got SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REPLY
debug1: Server host key: ssh-rsa SHA256:###HASH###
debug1: Host 'HOSTNAME' is known and matches the RSA host key.
debug1: Found key in /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/known_hosts:13
debug1: rekey after ###HASH### blocks
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received
debug1: rekey after ###HASH### blocks
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
debug1: Authentications that can continue: gssapi-keyex,gssapi-with-mic,publickey,password,keyboard-interactive
debug1: Next authentication method: gssapi-keyex
debug1: No valid Key exchange context
debug1: Next authentication method: gssapi-with-mic
debug1: Unspecified GSS failure.  Minor code may provide more information
No Kerberos credentials available (default cache: FILE:/tmp/krb5cc_38000069)

debug1: Unspecified GSS failure.  Minor code may provide more information
No Kerberos credentials available (default cache: FILE:/tmp/krb5cc_38000069)

debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
debug1: Offering RSA public key: /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_rsa
debug1: Server accepts key: pkalg ssh-rsa blen 279
debug1: Authentications that can continue: gssapi-keyex,gssapi-with-mic,publickey,password,keyboard-interactive
debug1: Trying private key: /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_dsa
debug1: Trying private key: /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_ecdsa
debug1: Trying private key: /SOMEPATH/SOMEDIR/SOMEFOLDER/.ssh/id_ed25519
debug1: Next authentication method: keyboard-interactive
Password:

Command which I'm using in order to generate key:

ssh-keygen -b 2048 -t rsa -E sha256 -f filename

I have also tried to:

  • Create key with different parameters:

    -t rsa1; -t ecdsa; -b 1024; -b 2048;

Best Answer

RSA keys themselves are neither "SHA1" nor "SHA2" – the key format doesn't involve any hash algorithm at all. The private key just consists of two large numbers, and unlike certificates, there is no attached signature.

However, SSH did not leave much flexibility in what hash algorithm to use with each pubkey algorithm – for example, it was originally specified that whenever an "ssh-rsa" key was used for signing it would be together with SHA1 and nothing else. So in order to allow people to use their existing RSA keys, new signature algorithm names had to be created purely for the connection handshakepkalg rsa-sha2-512 still means using the same ssh-rsa key, only performing signatures with SHA2 instead.

Usually this feature is enabled by agreement when both the client and the server claim to support it. If you want to disable it for servers which wrongly claim support for rsa-sha2, in the OpenSSH client you can customize PubkeyAcceptedKeyTypes:

ssh -o "PubkeyAcceptedKeyTypes=ssh-rsa" [...]

But it won't help in your case because the client already correctly detects that the server doesn't support RSA with SHA2. Your problem is most likely somewhere else entirely.

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