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authorJameson Graef Rollins <jrollins@phys.columbia.edu>2008-05-25 14:43:39 -0400
committerJameson Graef Rollins <jrollins@phys.columbia.edu>2008-05-25 14:43:39 -0400
commit491612988f2207deaa479249f5a42c9e916704d1 (patch)
tree9bae27c6ed8fa373ec5fc280c122bd565a87e33b
parentb05a928cfe0738f733d8bc95289aacc562068e67 (diff)
update to MonkeySpec:
- i took the liberty to reapportion some of the monkey names to new/different components. some components are no longer needed (eg. marmoset as originally defined is no longer needed since rhesus handles both ssh key file types). i also took the name "howler" and used it for a new component that generates and publishes server gpg keys. - fleshed out the Alice/Bob use case senario with some clarification and more detail.
-rw-r--r--doc/MonkeySpec187
1 files changed, 109 insertions, 78 deletions
diff --git a/doc/MonkeySpec b/doc/MonkeySpec
index c36e7de..45d6cf6 100644
--- a/doc/MonkeySpec
+++ b/doc/MonkeySpec
@@ -7,99 +7,130 @@ AGENDA
[ ] work
[x] jrollins will talk and gesture - in progress
+MONKEYNAMES
+===========
+
+rhesus, marmoset, howler, langur, tamarin, barbary
+
COMPONENTS
==========
-* client-side componants
-** "Marmoset": update known_hosts file with public key of server(s):
-*** be responsible for removing keys from the file as key revocation happens
-*** be responsible for updating a key in the file where there is a key replacement
-*** must result in a file that is parsable by the existing ssh client without errors
-*** manual management must be allowed without stomping on it
-*** provide a simple, intelligible, clear policy for key acceptance
-*** questions: should this query keyserver & update known host files? (we already
- have awesome tool that queries keyservers and updates a web of trust (gpg)
-** "Howler": simple script that could be placed as a trigger function (in your .ssh/config)
-*** runs on connection to a certain host
-*** triggers update to known_hosts file then makes connection
-*** proxy-command | pre-hook script | wrapper script
-** "Langur": policy-editor for viewing/editing policies
-
-* server-side componants
-** "Rhesus" updates a per-user authorized_keys file, instead of updating a
- known_hosts file from a public key by matching a specified user-id (for given
- user: update authkeys file with public keys derived from authorized_uids
- file)
-*** Needs to operate with the same principles that Marmoset client-side does
-** "Tamarin" triggers Rhesus during an attempt to initiate a connection or a scheduler (or both)
-** "Barbary" - policy editor / viewer
-
-* common componants
-** Create a ssh keypair from a openpgp keypair
-
-from ssh_config(5):
- LocalCommand
- Specifies a command to execute on the local machine after suc‐
- cessfully connecting to the server. The command string extends
- to the end of the line, and is executed with /bin/sh. This
- directive is ignored unless PermitLocalCommand has been enabled.
+(names in "" are code names until we think of better ones.)
+
+common components
+-----------------
+* "rhesus": update known_hosts/authorized_keys files:
+ - be responsible for removing keys from the file as key revocation
+ happens
+ - be responsible for updating a key in the file where there is a key
+ replacement
+ - must result in a file that is parsable by the existing ssh client
+ without errors
+ - manual management must be allowed without stomping on it
+ - provide a simple, intelligible, clear policy for key acceptance
+
+* "langur": policy-editor for viewing/editing policies
+
+* gpg2ssh: utility to convert gpg keys to ssh
+ known_hosts/authorized_keys lines
+
+* ssh2gpg: create openpgp keypair from ssh keypair
+
+server-side components
+----------------------
+* "howler": service gpg key generator/publisher
+
+* "tamarin": script to trigger rhesus during attempt to initiate
+ connection from client
+
+client-side components
+----------------------
+* "marmoset": script to trigger rhesus during attempt to initiate
+ connection to server
+ - runs on connection to a certain host
+ - triggers update to known_hosts file then makes connection
+ - proxy-command | pre-hook script | wrapper script
+ - (ssh_config "LocalCommand" is only run *after* connection)
+
+USE CASE
+========
+
+Dramatis Personae: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_and_Bob
+Backstory: http://www.conceptlabs.co.uk/alicebob.html
+
+Bob wants to sign on to the computer "mangabey" via monkeysphere
+framework. He doesn't yet have access to the machine, but he knows
+Alice, who is the admin of magabey. Alice and Bob, being the
+contientious netizens that they are, have already published their
+personal gpg keys to the web of trust, and being good friends, have
+both signed each other's keys and marked each others keys with "full"
+trust.
+
+Alice uses howler to publish a gpg key for magabey with the special
+"ssh://magabey" URI userid. Alice signs magabey's gpg key and
+publishes her signature. Alice then creates a user "bob" on magabey,
+and puts Bob's userid in the auth_user_ids file for user bob on
+magabey. tamarin triggers on magabey, which triggers rhesus, which
+takes all userids in bob's auth_user_ids file, look on a keyserver to
+find the public keys for each user, converts the gpg public keys into
+ssh public keys if the key validity is acceptable, and finally insert
+those keys into an authorized_keys file for bob.
+
+Bob now adds the "ssh://magabey" userid to the auth_host_ids file in
+his account on his localhost. Bob now goes to connect to bob@magabey.
+Bob's ssh client, which is monkeysphere enabled, triggers marmoset,
+which triggers rhesus on Bob's computer, which takes all server
+userids in his auth_host_ids file, looks on a keyserver to find the
+public key for each server (based on the server's URI), converts the
+gpg public keys into ssh public keys if the key validity is
+acceptable, and finally insert those keys into Bob's known_hosts file.
+
+On Bob's side, since mangabey's key had "full" validity (since it was
+signed by Alice whom he fully trusts), Bob's ssh client deems magabey
+"known" and no further host key checking is required.
+
+On magabey's side, since Bob's key has "full" validity (since it had
+also been signed by Alice whom magabey fully trusts (since Alice told
+him to)), Bob is authenticated to log into bob@magabey.
NOTES
=====
+
* Daniel and Elliot lie. <check>
-* We will use a distributed VCS, each developer will create their own git repository and publish it publically for others to pull from, mail out
+* We will use a distributed VCS, each developer will create their own
+ git repository and publish it publicly for others to pull from, mail
+ out
* public project page doesn't perhaps make sense yet
-* approximate goal - using the web of trust to authenticate ppl for SSH
+* approximate goal - using the web of trust to authenticate ppl for
+ SSH
* outline of various components of monkeysphere
-* M: what does it mean to be in the monkeysphere? not necessarily a great coder.
-* J: interested in seeing project happen, not in actually doing it. anybody can contribute as much as they want.
-* J: if we put the structure in place to work on monkeysphere then we don't have to do anything
+* M: what does it mean to be in the monkeysphere? not necessarily a
+ great coder.
+* J: interested in seeing project happen, not in actually doing it.
+ anybody can contribute as much as they want.
+* J: if we put the structure in place to work on monkeysphere then we
+ don't have to do anything
* D: we are not creating
-* understand gpg's keyring better, understanding tools better, building scripts
+* understand gpg's keyring better, understanding tools better,
+ building scripts
* Some debian packages allow automated configuration of config files.
-
* GENERAL GOAL - use openpgp web-of-trust to authenticate ppl for SSH
-* SPECIFIC GOAL - allow openssh to tie into pgp web-of-trust without modifying either openpgp and openssh
-* DESIGN GOALS - authentication, use the existing generic OpenSSH client, the admin can make it default, although end-user should be decide to use monkeysphere or not
-* DESIGN GOAL - use of monkeysphere should not radically change connecting-to-server experience
+* SPECIFIC GOAL - allow openssh to tie into pgp web-of-trust without
+ modifying either openpgp and openssh
+* DESIGN GOALS - authentication, use the existing generic OpenSSH
+ client, the admin can make it default, although end-user should be
+ decide to use monkeysphere or not
+* DESIGN GOAL - use of monkeysphere should not radically change
+ connecting-to-server experience
* GOAL - pick a monkey-related name for each component
-Dramatis Personae: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_and_Bob
-Backstory: http://www.conceptlabs.co.uk/alicebob.html
+Host identity piece of monkeysphere could be used without buying into
+the authorization component.
-* Use Case: Bob wants to sign on to the computer "mangabey" via monkeysphere
- framework. He doesn't have access to the machine, but he knows Alice, who is
- the admin of magabey. Alice creates a user bob and puts bob's userid in the
- auth_user_ids file for bob. Tamarin triggers which causes Rhesus to take all
- the things in the auth_userids file, takes those users, look son a keyserver
- finds the public keys for the users, converts the gpg public keys into ssh
- public keys and inserts those into a user_authorized_keys file. Bob goes to
- connect, bob's ssh client which is monkeysphere enbaled, howler is triggered
- which triggers marmoset which looks out into the web of trust and find an
- OpenPGP key that has a userid that matches the URI of magabey. Marmoset checks
- to see if this key for mangabey has been signed by any keys that you trust
- (based on your policy). Has this key been signed by somebody that you trust?
- If yes, connect, if no: abort or fail-through or whatever. Alice has signed
- this uid, so Marmoset says "OK, this server has been verified" it then
- converts the gpg public key into a ssh public key and then adds this gpg key
- to the known_host file. ssh says, "you" are about to connect to magabey and
- you know this is magabey because alice says so and you trust alice". The gpg
- private key of bob has to be converted (somehow, via agent or something) into
- a ssh private_key. SSH connection happens.
-
-Host identity piece of monkeysphere could be used without buying into the
-authorization component.
-
-Monkeysphere is authentication layer that allows the sysadmin to perform
-authorization on user identities instead of on keys, it additionally allows the
-sysadmin also to authenticate the server to the end-user.
+Monkeysphere is authentication layer that allows the sysadmin to
+perform authorization on user identities instead of on keys, it
+additionally allows the sysadmin also to authenticate the server to
+the end-user.
git clone http://git.mlcastle.net/monkeysphere.git/ monkeysphere
-
-Fix gpgkey2ssh so that the entire key fingerprint will work, accept full fingerprint, or accept a pipe and do the conversion
-Write manpage for gpgkey2ssh
-gpg private key (start with passwordless) to PEM encoded private key: perl libraries, libopencdk / gnutls, gpgme
-setup remote git repo
-think through / plan merging of known_hosts (& auth_keys?)
-think about policies and their representation