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This makes me think about something I thought of a while back, is there any library/app which lets me expose a TUI/cli-app over ssh without actually caring abou

This makes me think about something I thought of a while back, is there any library/app which lets me expose a TUI/cli-app over ssh without actually caring about securing OpenSSH for this use case?

gopalv 3y ago
Are you thinking of something like the Blinkenlights Star Wars telnet demo from a while ago? The "securing" part aside, ssh still gives you a whole terminal experience very similar to the telnet one & the ability to draw into it (like if you were using Emacs on the shell host). You can set something like that up by forcing a command on ssh instead of a shell (like what github does for git).
- hultner 3y ago
  Yeah I was thinking of something like that. But I still feel a bit uneasy with configuring OpenSSH securely, I’ve escaped such setups before, gaining full shell access through exploits. Maybe I’m overly paranoid.
  - tinus_hn 3y ago
    No you’re not, there are far too many unexplored interfaces. Then again many programs aren’t secure against untrusted input either.
yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago
Like ForceCommand, or turning off authentication?
AceJohnny2 3y ago
Do you mean something like Paramiko, an SSH library for Python? https://www.paramiko.org https://www.paramiko.org
dizhn 3y ago
https://github.com/charmbracelet/wish https://github.com/charmbracelet/wish If you're actually willing to write the app.
VLM 3y ago
Something like Apache Guacamole as a https web to SSH "something" gateway? Go to http-something in your web browser which is a Guacamole install and log in to Guacamole as "guest" / "guest" then in guac the only connection option is some SSH login that'll appear in your web browser As a warning people have tried to supply "nethack as-a-service" or whatever and people are really creative about gaining shell access somehow anyway, via buffer overflows or who knows what. You can do it, just be careful.
Eduard 3y ago
Maybe "poor man's SSH via websocketd" could be a building block? https://github.com/rowanthorpe/ws-repl https://github.com/rowanthorpe/ws-repl
codethief 3y ago
Tailscale comes to mind, see https://tailscale.com/kb/1100/services/ https://tailscale.com/kb/1100/services/
tingletech 3y ago
someone posted an ssh bbs the other week https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35412416 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35412416
e12e 3y ago
The go ssh packages are a popular choice: https://github.com/shazow/ssh-chat https://github.com/shazow/ssh-chat https://github.com/zachlatta/sshtron https://github.com/zachlatta/sshtron https://github.com/quackduck/devzat https://github.com/quackduck/devzat https://github.com/donuts-are-good/shhhbb/ https://github.com/donuts-are-good/shhhbb/ There's also a assembly library: https://2ton.com.au/sshtalk/ https://2ton.com.au/sshtalk/ And for rust there's trush, and for python paramiko as mentioned. > expose a TUI/cli-app over ssh without actually caring about securing OpenSSH If you already have an app, see maybe: https://drewdevault.com/2019/09/02/Interactive-SSH-programs.html https://drewdevault.com/2019/09/02/Interactive-SSH-programs....
- quackduck 3y ago
  Hello, I made devzat. I can try to answer if anyone has any questions about ssh-based apps
- thayne 3y ago
  > And for rust there's trush Do you mean thrussh? It looks like that hasn't been updated in 2 years. But there is an active fork of it called russh.
russellendicott 3y ago
Not exactly what you're looking for but to solve a similar problem I've been working on a TUI-over-the-wire protocol. http://uggly.bytester.net http://uggly.bytester.net

This makes me think about something I thought of a while back, is there any library/app which lets me expose a TUI/cli-app over ssh without actually caring about securing OpenSSH for this use case?

gopalv 3y ago

Are you thinking of something like the Blinkenlights Star Wars telnet demo from a while ago? The "securing" part aside, ssh still gives you a whole terminal experience very similar to the telnet one & the ability to draw into it (like if you were using Emacs on the shell host). You can set something like that up by forcing a command on ssh instead of a shell (like what github does for git).

hultner 3y ago
Yeah I was thinking of something like that. But I still feel a bit uneasy with configuring OpenSSH securely, I’ve escaped such setups before, gaining full shell access through exploits. Maybe I’m overly paranoid.
- tinus_hn 3y ago
  No you’re not, there are far too many unexplored interfaces. Then again many programs aren’t secure against untrusted input either.

yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago

Like ForceCommand, or turning off authentication?

AceJohnny2 3y ago

Do you mean something like Paramiko, an SSH library for Python? https://www.paramiko.org https://www.paramiko.org

dizhn 3y ago

https://github.com/charmbracelet/wish https://github.com/charmbracelet/wish If you're actually willing to write the app.

VLM 3y ago

Something like Apache Guacamole as a https web to SSH "something" gateway? Go to http-something in your web browser which is a Guacamole install and log in to Guacamole as "guest" / "guest" then in guac the only connection option is some SSH login that'll appear in your web browser As a warning people have tried to supply "nethack as-a-service" or whatever and people are really creative about gaining shell access somehow anyway, via buffer overflows or who knows what. You can do it, just be careful.

Eduard 3y ago

Maybe "poor man's SSH via websocketd" could be a building block? https://github.com/rowanthorpe/ws-repl https://github.com/rowanthorpe/ws-repl

codethief 3y ago

Tailscale comes to mind, see https://tailscale.com/kb/1100/services/ https://tailscale.com/kb/1100/services/

tingletech 3y ago

someone posted an ssh bbs the other week https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35412416 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35412416

e12e 3y ago

The go ssh packages are a popular choice: https://github.com/shazow/ssh-chat https://github.com/shazow/ssh-chat https://github.com/zachlatta/sshtron https://github.com/zachlatta/sshtron https://github.com/quackduck/devzat https://github.com/quackduck/devzat https://github.com/donuts-are-good/shhhbb/ https://github.com/donuts-are-good/shhhbb/ There's also a assembly library: https://2ton.com.au/sshtalk/ https://2ton.com.au/sshtalk/ And for rust there's trush, and for python paramiko as mentioned. > expose a TUI/cli-app over ssh without actually caring about securing OpenSSH If you already have an app, see maybe: https://drewdevault.com/2019/09/02/Interactive-SSH-programs.html https://drewdevault.com/2019/09/02/Interactive-SSH-programs....

quackduck 3y ago
Hello, I made devzat. I can try to answer if anyone has any questions about ssh-based apps
thayne 3y ago
> And for rust there's trush Do you mean thrussh? It looks like that hasn't been updated in 2 years. But there is an active fork of it called russh.

russellendicott 3y ago

Not exactly what you're looking for but to solve a similar problem I've been working on a TUI-over-the-wire protocol. http://uggly.bytester.net http://uggly.bytester.net