openssh bugs - Oct 2003 - [Bug 734] Misleading error message when host key verification is impossible / SSH_ASKPASS impossible.

http://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=734

           Summary: Misleading error message when host key verification is
                    impossible / SSH_ASKPASS impossible.
           Product: Portable OpenSSH
           Version: 3.6.1p2
          Platform: All
        OS/Version: Linux
            Status: NEW
          Severity: trivial
          Priority: P5
         Component: ssh
        AssignedTo: openssh-bugs at mindrot.org
        ReportedBy: jim at iNode.co.nz


When connecting to an unknown machine, ssh presents the host key fingerprint to 
the user, and asks for verification. If the user does not verify the 
fingerprint, ssh outputs "Host key verification failed." and
terminates.

If (for some strange reason) /dev/tty is unwriteable, and there is no other 
SSH_ASKPASS on the system, ssh still outputs "Host key verification
failed." and
terminates. However, in this case it might be more accurate or helpful to report
that there is no method to even ask for verification, e.g. "No method
available
to ask for Host key verification".

(I was trying to debug a new sshd setup on a possibly-unstable server from a 
client machine with a broken /dev/tty and no ssh-askpass - the host key message 
made me think that the sshd was sending invalid data, not that the client 
machine had problems of its own)

This is a very low priority/severity report, because the phrase "Host key 
verification failed." could arguably still be correct in these
circumstances.
You might want to view it as an enhancement, except that I feel you
shouldn't
use a single error message for two different conditions.

I note that under the same circumstances, a connection to a known host that 
would normally use a password method outputs "Permission denied"
messages for
keyboard-interactive, which is not as misleading.



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http://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=734

dtucker at zip.com.au changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|NEW                         |RESOLVED
         Resolution|                            |DUPLICATE



------- Additional Comments From dtucker at zip.com.au  2003-10-08 12:30 -------
All good points, and there's already a bug open for this.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 471 ***



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