systemd-user-pam-ssh

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Systemd User PAM SSH script

This script has a rather specific use case. If you fit the following demographic then this script might just be for you!

• You use systemd
• You login at the linux VT using a getty
• You have a systemd --user service called ssh-agent.service that starts your ssh agent.
• You have to type your passphrase after logging in in order to decrypt your SSH key.

This script allows you to only type your password once. When logging in, your SSH key will be decrypted and added to your ssh-agent for you.

Installation

(1) Set up your ssh-agent systemd user service with the proper environment using lingering to start it at boot

# setup module
echo '[Unit]
Description=SSH key agent

[Service]
Type=simple
Environment=SSH_AUTH_SOCK=%t/ssh-agent.socket
ExecStart=/usr/bin/ssh-agent -D -a $SSH_AUTH_SOCK

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target' \
  > ~/.config/systemd/user/ssh-agent.service

# setup environment
echo 'SSH_AUTH_SOCK DEFAULT="${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/ssh-agent.socket"' \
  > ~/.pam_environment

# enable now and at boot
systemctl --user start ssh-agent
systemctl --user enable ssh-agent

# enable lingering
loginctl enable-linger $(whoami)

(2) Install the script to a well-known location (You can modify /usr/lib)

sudo curl -o /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-user-pam-ssh \
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/capocasa/systemd-user-pam-ssh/master/systemd-user-pam-ssh

chmod +x /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-user-pam-ssh

(3) Configure pam

echo "auth  optional  pam_exec.so  expose_authtok /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-user-pam-ssh" \
| sudo tee -a /etc/pam.d/login

(4a) Use your system password as your private key passphrase (not recommended)

ssh-keygen -p -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa
# type your system password

(4b) Encrypt a passphrase with your system password and a heavy derivation function (recommended)

## Change your passphrase (optional)

ssh-keygen -p -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa
# type your passphrase

## Save your passphrase encrypted with your system password

read -s PASSWORD
# type your system password

read -s PASSPHRASE
# type your passphrase

echo $PASSPHRASE | openssl enc -pbkdf2 -in - -out ~/.ssh/passphrase -e -aes256 -k "$PASSWORD"

unset PASSWORD
unset PASSPHRASE

This is an extended version of the original script by EvanPurkhiser