ssh from OS Sierra to Ubuntu 14.04 says "No matching cipher found"

After updating to Sierra today, I cannot connect with ssh to my Ubuntu 14.04 box because it says

Unable to negotiate with port 22: no matching cipher found. Their offer: blowfish-cbc

I suppose, Apple has upgraded the OpenSSH version and doesn't support the cipher used on this Ubuntu version any more. But I'm quite lost, how to configure either side to work again.

I've already successfully tried ssh -c blowfish-cbc <my_host> (seems both sides support it) but I'm not sure if that is a secure choice.

EDIT

Here is the output of ssh -vvv -c blowfish-cbc <hostname>

OpenSSH_7.2p2, LibreSSL 2.4.1
debug1: Reading configuration data /Users/js/.ssh/config
debug1: /Users/js/.ssh/config line 27: Applying options for <hostname>
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug1: /etc/ssh/ssh_config line 20: Applying options for *
debug2: resolving "<hostname>" port 22
debug2: ssh_connect_direct: needpriv 0
debug1: Connecting to <hostname> [<ipaddress>] port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: identity file /Users/js/.ssh/id_rsa type 1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /Users/js/.ssh/id_rsa-cert type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /Users/js/.ssh/id_dsa type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /Users/js/.ssh/id_dsa-cert type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /Users/js/.ssh/id_ecdsa type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /Users/js/.ssh/id_ecdsa-cert type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /Users/js/.ssh/id_ed25519 type -1
debug1: key_load_public: No such file or directory
debug1: identity file /Users/js/.ssh/id_ed25519-cert type -1
debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_7.2
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_6.6.1p1 Ubuntu-2ubuntu2.8
debug1: match: OpenSSH_6.6.1p1 Ubuntu-2ubuntu2.8 pat OpenSSH_6.6.1* compat 0x04000000
debug2: fd 3 setting O_NONBLOCK
debug1: Authenticating to <hostname>:22 as 'www-data'
debug3: hostkeys_foreach: reading file "/Users/js/.ssh/known_hosts"
debug3: record_hostkey: found key type RSA in file /Users/js/.ssh/known_hosts:235
debug3: load_hostkeys: loaded 1 keys from <hostname>
debug3: order_hostkeyalgs: prefer hostkeyalgs: [email protected],rsa-sha2-512,rsa-sha2-256,ssh-rsa
debug3: send packet: type 20
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent
debug3: receive packet: type 20
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received
debug2: local client KEXINIT proposal
debug2: KEX algorithms: [email protected],ecdh-sha2-nistp256,ecdh-sha2-nistp384,ecdh-sha2-nistp521,diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256,diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha1,diffie-hellman-group14-sha1,ext-info-c
debug2: host key algorithms: [email protected],rsa-sha2-512,rsa-sha2-256,ssh-rsa,[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521,ssh-ed25519
debug2: ciphers ctos: blowfish-cbc
debug2: ciphers stoc: blowfish-cbc
debug2: MACs ctos: [email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],hmac-sha2-256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha1
debug2: MACs stoc: [email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],hmac-sha2-256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha1
debug2: compression ctos: none,[email protected],zlib
debug2: compression stoc: none,[email protected],zlib
debug2: languages ctos:
debug2: languages stoc:
debug2: first_kex_follows 0
debug2: reserved 0
debug2: peer server KEXINIT proposal
debug2: KEX algorithms: [email protected],ecdh-sha2-nistp256,ecdh-sha2-nistp384,ecdh-sha2-nistp521,diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256,diffie-hellman-group14-sha1,diffie-hellman-group1-sha1
debug2: host key algorithms: ssh-rsa,ssh-dss
debug2: ciphers ctos: blowfish-cbc
debug2: ciphers stoc: blowfish-cbc
debug2: MACs ctos: [email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],hmac-md5,hmac-sha1,[email protected],[email protected],hmac-sha2-256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-ripemd160,[email protected],hmac-sha1-96,hmac-md5-96
debug2: MACs stoc: [email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],hmac-md5,hmac-sha1,[email protected],[email protected],hmac-sha2-256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-ripemd160,[email protected],hmac-sha1-96,hmac-md5-96
debug2: compression ctos: none
debug2: compression stoc: none
debug2: languages ctos:
debug2: languages stoc:
debug2: first_kex_follows 0
debug2: reserved 0
debug1: kex: algorithm: [email protected]
debug1: kex: host key algorithm: ssh-rsa
debug1: kex: server->client cipher: blowfish-cbc MAC: [email protected] compression: none
debug1: kex: client->server cipher: blowfish-cbc MAC: [email protected] compression: none
debug3: send packet: type 30
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_ECDH_REPLY
debug3: receive packet: type 31
debug1: Server host key: ssh-rsa SHA256:vRBBlQuvgc/cSSjYB/xHrqW+tYPCcIwvvFN/By+fECI
debug3: hostkeys_foreach: reading file "/Users/js/.ssh/known_hosts"
debug3: record_hostkey: found key type RSA in file /Users/js/.ssh/known_hosts:235
debug3: load_hostkeys: loaded 1 keys from <hostname>
debug3: hostkeys_foreach: reading file "/Users/js/.ssh/known_hosts"
debug3: record_hostkey: found key type RSA in file /Users/js/.ssh/known_hosts:220
debug3: load_hostkeys: loaded 1 keys from <ipaddress>
debug1: Host '<hostname>' is known and matches the RSA host key.
debug1: Found key in /Users/js/.ssh/known_hosts:235
debug3: send packet: type 21
debug2: set_newkeys: mode 1
debug1: rekey after 134217728 blocks
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS
debug3: receive packet: type 21
debug2: set_newkeys: mode 0
debug1: rekey after 134217728 blocks
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received
debug2: key: /Users/js/.ssh/id_rsa (0x7fe84a600590)
debug2: key: /Users/js/.ssh/id_dsa (0x0)
debug2: key: /Users/js/.ssh/id_ecdsa (0x0)
debug2: key: /Users/js/.ssh/id_ed25519 (0x0)
debug3: send packet: type 5
debug3: receive packet: type 6
debug2: service_accept: ssh-userauth
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
debug3: send packet: type 50
debug3: receive packet: type 51
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password
debug3: start over, passed a different list publickey,password
debug3: preferred publickey,keyboard-interactive,password
debug3: authmethod_lookup publickey
debug3: remaining preferred: keyboard-interactive,password
debug3: authmethod_is_enabled publickey
debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
debug1: Offering RSA public key: /Users/js/.ssh/id_rsa
debug3: send_pubkey_test
debug3: send packet: type 50
debug2: we sent a publickey packet, wait for reply
debug3: receive packet: type 60
debug1: Server accepts key: pkalg ssh-rsa blen 279
debug2: input_userauth_pk_ok: fp SHA256:thGa/AzMX48YkZKyLnbqRcDRQNm4F/ZF7iqGMvzwe6k
debug3: sign_and_send_pubkey: RSA SHA256:thGa/AzMX48YkZKyLnbqRcDRQNm4F/ZF7iqGMvzwe6k
debug3: Search for item with query: {
    acct = "/Users/js/.ssh/id_rsa";
    agrp = "com.apple.ssh.passphrases";
    class = genp;
    labl = "SSH: /Users/js/.ssh/id_rsa";
    nleg = 1;
    "r_Data" = 1;
    svce = OpenSSH;
}
debug2: using passphrase from keychain
debug3: send packet: type 50
debug3: receive packet: type 52
debug1: Authentication succeeded (publickey).
Authenticated to <hostname> ([<ipaddress>]:22).
debug1: channel 0: new [client-session]
debug3: ssh_session2_open: channel_new: 0
debug2: channel 0: send open
debug3: send packet: type 90
debug1: Requesting [email protected]
debug3: send packet: type 80
debug1: Entering interactive session.
debug1: pledge: network
debug3: receive packet: type 91
debug2: callback start
debug1: Requesting authentication agent forwarding.
debug2: channel 0: request [email protected] confirm 0
debug3: send packet: type 98
debug2: fd 3 setting TCP_NODELAY
debug3: ssh_packet_set_tos: set IP_TOS 0x10
debug2: client_session2_setup: id 0
debug2: channel 0: request pty-req confirm 1
debug3: send packet: type 98
debug1: Sending environment.
debug3: Ignored env rvm_bin_path
debug3: Ignored env TERM_PROGRAM
debug3: Ignored env TERM
debug3: Ignored env SHELL
debug3: Ignored env TMPDIR
debug3: Ignored env Apple_PubSub_Socket_Render
debug3: Ignored env TERM_PROGRAM_VERSION
debug3: Ignored env TERM_SESSION_ID
debug3: Ignored env ANT_HOME
debug3: Ignored env USER
debug3: Ignored env rvm_path
debug3: Ignored env SSH_AUTH_SOCK
debug3: Ignored env __CF_USER_TEXT_ENCODING
debug3: Ignored env rvm_prefix
debug3: Ignored env PATH
debug3: Ignored env PWD
debug1: Sending env LANG = de_DE.UTF-8
debug2: channel 0: request env confirm 0
debug3: send packet: type 98
debug3: Ignored env XPC_FLAGS
debug3: Ignored env XPC_SERVICE_NAME
debug3: Ignored env rvm_version
debug3: Ignored env HOME
debug3: Ignored env SHLVL
debug3: Ignored env LOGNAME
debug3: Ignored env DISPLAY
debug3: Ignored env SECURITYSESSIONID
debug3: Ignored env _
debug2: channel 0: request shell confirm 1
debug3: send packet: type 98
debug2: callback done
debug2: channel 0: open confirm rwindow 0 rmax 32768
debug3: receive packet: type 99
debug2: channel_input_status_confirm: type 99 id 0
debug2: PTY allocation request accepted on channel 0
debug2: channel 0: rcvd adjust 2097152
debug3: receive packet: type 99
debug2: channel_input_status_confirm: type 99 id 0
debug2: shell request accepted on channel 0

Solution 1:

In fact, there was a line

Ciphers blowfish-cbc

in my /etc/ssh/sshd_config file, which allows only this one cipher for ssh connections. I don't know how it got there. After commenting it out, connections work again as expected.

I think there should be no security risk in using the default ciphers.

Solution 2:

This the same problem on my recent upgrade to High Sierra.

Try editing the file /etc/ssh/ssh_config and look for a line

#   Ciphers aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,aes128-cbc,3des-cbc

If it is commented out, uncomment it and save the file.

Just removing the comment cured the issue for me.