SSH helps keep us secure in many ways, one of those is the host-key fingerprint which is unique.  If you have been connecting to an SSH server that you've made no changes to and suddenly ssh warns that the key doesn't match then you have a problem.

But how about connecting to an existing server for the first time on a new machine or client?

A lot of new clients calculate it using an SHA256 hash but it is not as easy on your host machine to produce the same style hash without some hacking around.

The authenticity of host 'somehow (172.16.5.2)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is SHA256:alalalalleieieieieiala.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?


If using ecdsa just do this:

ssh-keygen -l -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ecdsa_key.pub

The key should match the SHA256 shown in your connection attempt.

So we can get the MD5 hash by using this option:


ssh -o fingerprinthash=md5 user@host
The authenticity of host 'somehow (172.16.5.2)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is MD5:aa:sldka;:ksdkjd::kala:kfdkls:1.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?
 

How do we get the md5 hash on our host?

ssh-keygen -l -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub
aa:sldka;:ksdkjd::kala:kfdkls:1 /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub (RSA1)
 

On newer versions you will need to do it like this:

ssh-keygen -l -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub -E md5

ssh, verify, mim, attacksssh, fingerprint, connecting, server, ve, warns, doesn, existing, calculate, sha, hash, hacking, authenticity, established, rsa, alalalalleieieieieiala, md, fingerprinthash, user, aa, sldka, ksdkjd, kala, kfdkls, keygen, etc, ssh_host_key, pub, newer, versions,

Latest Articles