3 ms·

The main issue identified by Qualys is a more generic memory disclosure bug: https://www.qualys.com/2016/01/14/cve-2016-0777-cve-2016-0778/openssh-cve-2016-077

by pquerna 11y ago

The main issue identified by Qualys is a more generic memory disclosure bug: https://www.qualys.com/2016/01/14/cve-2016-0777-cve-2016-0778/openssh-cve-2016-0777-cve-2016-0778.txt https://www.qualys.com/2016/01/14/cve-2016-0777-cve-2016-077... This means they are basically able to dump the memory of just the running `ssh` process -- eerily similar to Heartbleed. This means private keys stored by the `ssh-agent` process, outside of the `ssh` process connecting to an Evil Server(TM) are not affected. This is because the protocol used between SSH Agent and SSH client does not transfer the entire private key, rather the SSH client asks the Agent to do a signing operation on it's behalf.

hamburglar 11y ago
Good to know. Note regarding your final sentence, however: this design does not necessarily prevent the SSH agent from having a bug which can cause key disclosure via the agent protocol. It returns data buffers, so if it could be tricked into leaking key material into those data buffers, it may end up getting sent back to the server just the same (e.g. as a signature value). This would, however, be a bug in the agent and not the client.