SSH Suddenly returning Invalid format

rsassh

So a while ago I set up a server on AWS, and used their generated SSH key. I saved the key to Lastpass, and have successfully retrieved it from there before, and got it working. However, after trying that again today, I can't get it to work.

-rw------- 1 itsgreg users 1674 Jun 6 12:51 key_name

I've tried ssh -i key_name, ssh-keygen -f key_name, but nothing works, I always get this error message:

Load key "key_name": invalid format

Is there any way to fix this?

Best Answer

Check the contents of key_name, if the agent says invalid format, then there's something wrong with the key - like .. are you sure that's the correct key? Even if it's not the private key you need, the ssh agent won't return invalid format if the key is working, you simply won't be able to connect. You might have placed your public key in there, for some reason. Check it!

Related Solutions

Ssh “WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED!”

The line:

Offending key in /home/myaccount/.ssh/known_hosts:7

indicates that the old key is on line 7 of your known_hosts file. Use your favourite editor to delete line 7. That should make it go away.

You can also use ssh-keygen -R to remove a entry:

# ssh-keygen -R hostname -f ~/.ssh/known_hosts

FYI, those are not public keys but a hashed representation of the hosts.

You can list the known hosts file with:

$ ssh-keygen -lv -f ~/.ssh/known_hosts

It will then display the key and ascii art representation:

2048 0f:3b:8a:02:75:f1:68:0f:32:8a:7a:0f:ef:69:f8:a0 |1|aa3F96t0nzhqLpt+lJx4msNAGQI=|740B4+NTrQhAx/DWXHf6QLrBpz8= (RSA)
+--[ RSA 2048]----+
|                 |
|  .              |
|   =             |
|o * .            |
|o= o    S        |
|+   .    +       |
|..o.    o .      |
|..++.o . .       |
|E. *B .          |
+-----------------+

In theory you print this out and keep it in a safe place. When something suspicious happens you have a copy for reference.

Ssh – How to automate SSH login with password

Don't use a password. Generate a passphrase-less SSH key and push it to your VM.

If you already have an SSH key, you can skip this step… Just hit Enter for the key and both passphrases:

$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/username/.ssh/id_rsa):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /home/username/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/username/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.

Copy your keys to the target server:

$ ssh-copy-id id@server
id@server's password:

Now try logging into the machine, with ssh 'id@server', and check-in:

.ssh/authorized_keys

Note: If you don't have .ssh dir and authorized_keys file, you need to create it first

to make sure we haven’t added extra keys that you weren’t expecting.

Finally, check to log in…

$ ssh id@server

id@server:~$

You may also want to look into using ssh-agent if you want to try keeping your keys protected with a passphrase.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ssh “WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED!”

Ssh – How to automate SSH login with password

Related Topic