Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)

FreeBSD Manual Pages

  
 
  

home | help
MODULI(5)		      File Formats Manual		     MODULI(5)

NAME
       moduli -- Diffie-Hellman	moduli

DESCRIPTION
       The  /etc/ssh/moduli file contains prime	numbers	and generators for use
       by sshd(8) in the Diffie-Hellman	Group Exchange key exchange method.

       New moduli  may	be  generated  with  ssh-keygen(1)  using  a  two-step
       process.	  An  initial  candidate generation pass, using	ssh-keygen -G,
       calculates numbers that are likely to be	useful.	  A  second  primality
       testing	pass, using ssh-keygen -T, provides a high degree of assurance
       that the	numbers	are prime and are safe for use in Diffie-Hellman oper-
       ations by sshd(8).  This	moduli format is used as the output from  each
       pass.

       The  file  consists of newline-separated	records, one per modulus, con-
       taining seven space-separated fields.  These fields are as follows:

	     timestamp	  The time that	the  modulus  was  last	 processed  as
			  YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.

	     type	  Decimal  number specifying the internal structure of
			  the prime modulus.  Supported	types are:

			  0	Unknown, not tested.
			  2	"Safe" prime; (p-1)/2 is also prime.
			  4	Sophie Germain;	2p+1 is	also prime.

			  Moduli    candidates	  initially    produced	    by
			  ssh-keygen(1)	 are  Sophie  Germain primes (type 4).
			  Further primality testing  with  ssh-keygen(1)  pro-
			  duces	 safe prime moduli (type 2) that are ready for
			  use  in  sshd(8).   Other  types  are	 not  used  by
			  OpenSSH.

	     tests	  Decimal  number  indicating  the  type  of primality
			  tests	that the number	has been subjected  to	repre-
			  sented as a bitmask of the following values:

			  0x00	Not tested.
			  0x01	Composite number - not prime.
			  0x02	Sieve of Eratosthenes.
			  0x04	Probabilistic Miller-Rabin primality tests.

			  The  ssh-keygen(1)  moduli candidate generation uses
			  the Sieve of Eratosthenes (flag  0x02).   Subsequent
			  ssh-keygen(1)	primality tests	are Miller-Rabin tests
			  (flag	0x04).

	     trials	  Decimal  number  indicating  the number of primality
			  trials that have been	performed on the modulus.

	     size	  Decimal number indicating the	size of	the  prime  in
			  bits.

	     generator	  The  recommended generator for use with this modulus
			  (hexadecimal).

	     modulus	  The modulus itself in	hexadecimal.

       When performing Diffie-Hellman Group Exchange, sshd(8) first  estimates
       the  size of the	modulus	required to produce enough Diffie-Hellman out-
       put to sufficiently key the selected symmetric  cipher.	 sshd(8)  then
       randomly	 selects  a  modulus  from /etc/ssh/moduli that	best meets the
       size requirement.

SEE ALSO
       ssh-keygen(1), sshd(8)

       Diffie-Hellman Group Exchange for  the  Secure  Shell  (SSH)  Transport
       Layer Protocol, RFC 4419, 2006.

FreeBSD	15.0			 July 19, 2012			     MODULI(5)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=moduli&sektion=5&manpath=FreeBSD+15.0-RELEASE+and+Ports.quarterly>

home | help