How to secure SSH Private key on Windows 10
I'm using the new ssh client for windows 10 and when trying to connect with a private key I'm getting this error:
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@ WARNING: UNPROTECTED PRIVATE KEY FILE! @
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Permissions for 'MyPair.pem' are too open. It is required that your
private key files are NOT accessible by others. This private key will
be ignored. Load key "MyPair.pem": bad permissions [email protected]:
Permission denied (publickey).
I know that if I was on Linux I would need to run chmod 600
to set the file permissions, but what do you use on Windows 10?
Solution 1:
Keys must only be accessible to the user they're intended for and no other account, service, or group.
-
GUI:
[File] Properties → Security → Advanced- Owner: The key's user
- Permission Entries: Remove all except for the key's user
- Set key's user to Full Control
-
Cmd
:::# Set Key File Variable: Set Key="%UserProfile%\.ssh\id_rsa" ::# Remove Inheritance: Icacls %Key% /c /t /Inheritance:d ::# Set Ownership to Owner: Icacls %Key% /c /t /Grant %UserName%:F ::# Remove All Users, except for Owner: Icacls %Key% /c /t /Remove Administrator BUILTIN\Administrators BUILTIN Everyone System Users ::# Verify: Icacls %Key% ::# Remove Variable: set "Key="
-
PowerShell
:# Set Key File Variable: New-Variable -Name Key -Value "$env:UserProfile\.ssh\id_rsa" # Remove Inheritance: Icacls $Key /c /t /Inheritance:d # Set Ownership to Owner: Icacls $Key /c /t /Grant $env:UserName:F # Remove All Users, except for Owner: Icacls $Key /c /t /Remove Administrator BUILTIN\Administrators BUILTIN Everyone System Users # Verify: Icacls $Key # Remove Variable: Remove-Variable -Name Key
-
WSL/Cygwin:
# Set Variables: # Key File: key="/path/to/key" # User: user="$(echo $USER)" # Set Ownership to Owner: (assumes user's name is also user's group name) chown $user:$user $key # Set Access Rights chmod 0600 $key # Verify ls -l $key