LFCS · Question #280
When using ssh, which of the following can an administrator do to recover a lost passphrase for a DSA or RSA authentication key?
The correct answer is C. A lost passphrase cannot be recovered. A lost passphrase for an SSH authentication key cannot be recovered due to the strong cryptographic design of key protection.
Question
Options
- ARun the ssh-keygen command.
- BRun the ssh --recover command.
- CA lost passphrase cannot be recovered.
- DDecrypt the authentication key with gpg.
- EDecrypt the authentication key with ssh --decrypt.
How the community answered
(24 responses)- A4% (1)
- C92% (22)
- D4% (1)
Why each option
A lost passphrase for an SSH authentication key cannot be recovered due to the strong cryptographic design of key protection.
The `ssh-keygen` command can change an existing passphrase (if the old one is known) or generate a new key pair, but it cannot recover a lost passphrase.
There is no standard `ssh --recover` command available for passphrase recovery.
SSH key passphrases are used to encrypt the private key, making it unreadable without the passphrase. This is a one-way cryptographic process; if the passphrase is lost, the private key becomes permanently unusable, and there is no method to recover the original passphrase or decrypt the key.
GnuPG (gpg) is a different encryption system for PGP-compatible keys and files, not designed for decrypting SSH private keys.
There is no `ssh --decrypt` command; SSH client tools do not offer a facility to decrypt private keys without their passphrase.
Concept tested: SSH key passphrase security
Source: https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/ssh-keygen.1.html
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