Configuring OpenSSH to use the eHSM Hardware Security Module or MIRkey

Last updated 2019-04-12

You can setup SSH to use an eHSM or MIRkey using either the eHSM Manager or a standard PKCS#11 command-line tool like p11tool.

Using the eHSM Manager

Download the eHSM Manager for your platform here.

  1. From the Tools menu, select “Generate RSA Key Pair”:

    Generate RSA dialog

  2. After the key is created, save the public key PEM file as “ssh.pem”, then convert the .pem file to OpenSSH format:

     ssh-keygen -f ssh.pem -i -mPKCS8
    
  3. Copy this key to the remote server authorized_keys file (or use ssh-copy-id)

  4. Now you can Login with the key stored on the eHSM, OpenSSH will automatically match the key on the server with the key in the eHSM:

     ssh -I /usr/local/lib/libehsm.dylib user@example.com
    

Using the commandline p11tool

If your platform supports the p11tool, you can use it to accomplish the same task (with a bit more typing).

  1. Listing the available tokens:

     p11tool --provider=/usr/local/lib/libehsm.dylib --list-tokens
    
  2. Use the URL from the command above to generate a key pair on the eHSM:

     p11tool --provider=/usr/local/lib/libehsm.dylib --login "url" --generate-rsa --outfile="ssh.pem"\
      --label="ssh" --bits 2048
    
  3. Optionally list the generated key pairs:

     p11tool --provider=/usr/local/lib/libehsm.dylib --login "url" --list-all
    
  4. Check if ssh can see the public key:

     ssh-keygen -D /usr/local/lib/libehsm.dylib
     ssh-rsa "key output in base 64"
    
  5. Follow steps 3-4 from above.

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