Failed to clone repository: Unable to exchange encryption keys

[benjaminbhollon]

This started recently, but every time I try to clone from my password repository I get this error:

Failed to clone repository from ssh://feynman/~/git/passwords to file file://private/var/mobile/Containers/Shared/AppGroup/273C16E8-30FE-4A34-B427-9987462E427D/Library/password-store-temp
Underlying Error: failed to start SSH session: Unable to exchange encryption keys

This exact configuration worked previously. I think it stopped after some updates on the server I'm trying to clone from.

Any pointers you have are much appreciated.

[apfohl]

I also get a similar error now. „Unable to exchange encryption keys“. Can someone tell what algorithms are now used when connecting via ssh? I’m no swift expert, but might be due to a dependency update.

[apfohl]

Might be related to #624

[benjaminbhollon]

My best guess is that it's an incompatibility between whatever library the app is using and more recent versions of git—or, more likely, ssh—on the server side.

Looking at that issue, I am running NixOS for the server I'm trying to sync to (though I'm using just a bare git repo rather than a frontend like Gitea) so it could definitely be related.

[charlie-collard]

Exactly the same issue for me, also running NixOS on the server. Definitely seems related to the linked issue.

[adamoudad]

Having the same issue too. passforios on iPad, and my password-store on a NixOS machine accessible via SSH.

It could be a problem related to the key generation algorithm: #153 .

I used ssh-keygen in iSH app to generate keys using RSA with default settings, is there any other algorithm that works?

Edit: I was able to succesfully clone my password-store with the same configuration using password-store app on Android. So the issue with passforios is likely coming from the git or ssh version/implementation they use.

[charlie-collard]

@adamoudad as a workaround, adding this to my server NixOS config fixed this issue, along with using a ssh-ed25519 key instead of ssh-rsa. Definitely not ideal though, as I assume there was a security reason this MAC was disabled in the first place.

services.openssh.settings.Macs = [ "hmac-sha2-512" ];

[adamoudad]

Thanks for the workaround @charlie-collard !

For compatibility, it might be best to append hmac-sha2-512 to the default list used by the Nix option.

services.openssh.settings.Macs = [
      "[email protected]"
      "[email protected]"
      "[email protected]"
      "hmac-sha2-512" # For compatibility with passforios
      ];

In case hmac-sha2-512 does not work, more options to try out can found here https://github.com/mssun/passforios/issues/624#issuecomment-1630883156