ircd-hybrid-8/doc/challenge.txt

                       Oper Challenge and Response System

   $Id$

   Copyright (c) 2001-2012 by ircd-hybrid team

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

   ircd-hybrid

   In an effort to reduce the damage caused to a network by a hacked O-line,
   Hybrid supports an OpenSSL based challenge-response system. This new
   system allows the admin to remove all oper block passwords from the conf
   file. Authentication is done through a public/private key.

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                                  Requirements

   The ircd must be compiled with the --enable-openssl option to configure.
   If configure detects a working openssl library, --enable-openssl is
   implicitly enabled.

   oper {} blocks should not have normal passwords, but should contain the
   the name of the private key file. However it is possible for the user to
   use both challenge and normal passwords, but this would defeat the purpose
   of the challenge system.

   m_challenge.la must be loaded.

   The oper has their private key file and an implementation of the RSA
   Respond tool available to be run.

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                                    Process

   Each oper should have a private key file and a public key file. The keys
   can be generated with the mkkeypair utility provided in tools/.

   The oper keeps their private key file in a safe place, and gives their
   public key file to their admin(s).

   The admin will place an entry for the public key file into a field called
   rsa_public_key_file of each oper's oper {} block in the conf file.

   The oper wishes to obtain their operator status, and issues the CHALLENGE
   command.

   The server will print out a long hexadecimal string, that needs to be fed
   to the respond utility provided in tools/rsa_respond.

   The respond program will generate an answer that is fed back to the
   CHALLENGE command.

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                            Generating the Key Files

   The keys can be generated with the openssl command as follows:

       openssl genrsa -des3(1) -out rsa.key 1024(2)
       openssl rsa -in rsa.key -pubout -out rsa.pub
   

   (1)
           The -des3 must be included in order to create a key with a
           passphrase. Omitting this option will create a non protected key.
   (2)
           The key size must be 1024 or below. The challenge sent for a
           longer keysize will be too long to fit into the ircd's 512 byte
           line constraint.

   It is highly recommended that you set a password on your private key.

   The tools/mkkeypair utility cannot be used to create a key suitable for
   use in CHALLENGE.

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                          Using CHALLENGE and respond

     Note: All examples assume the use of the stock respond client included
     with the ircd-hybrid-8 source, run on a UNIX(c) platform.

   The administrator of the server you oper on should remove the password in
   your oper {} block and replace it with an entry for your public key, so
   that /oper will be disabled.

     Note: The public key is a VERY long string.

   The oper will issue /challenge oper_nick, and see something like below:

 *** 56F1FDAE4C590C524CF758917E62C2A2A1376CB9C4C2E7D411BB0AD9C4A
 605A2D05A94E7254197E9D71438B5FB565B6FD35465E462305F35F4A2D45311
 F983B3E062F635912FA155B4B1E18EAA782CC107F4C9DA83092658D16A2E88A
 6BCF9820F5A044A29CDD4C062F05BF509CA3B561375CBC4179BD1CF6026BDE9
 60E52C6B

     Note: The challenge is all on one line.

     Note: With some clients, the oper will have to issue /quote CHALLENGE
     instead of /challenge.

   The oper will then have to feed that challenge to the respond program.

   +------------------------------------------------------------------+
   | The respond utility's syntax is:                                 |
   |                                                                  |
   |$ ./respond private_key_file challenge_from_server                |
   |                                                                  |
   |                                                                  |
   | Example:                                                         |
   |                                                                  |
   |wcampbel@botbay (rsa_respond): ./respond hwy.key \                |
   |56F1FDAE4C590C524CF758917E62C2A2A1376CB9C4C2E7D411BB0AD9C4A605A2D0|
   |5A94E7254197E9D71438B5FB565B6FD35465E462305F35F4A2D45311F983B3E062|
   |F635912FA155B4B1E18EAA782CC107F4C9DA83092658D16A2E88A6BCF9820F5A04|
   |4A29CDD4C062F05BF509CA3B561375CBC4179BD1CF6026BDE960E52C6B        |
   |Keyphrase:                                                        |
   |6B882932DD00F86123869E401F7334B9B0D0018A60F1DE244E90E47246AA87C7  |
   |                                                                  |
   |   Note: The challenge parameter must be on one line.             |
   +------------------------------------------------------------------+

   The keyphrase must be entered properly to get the response. The bottom
   line is the response that must be sent back to the server.

   The oper will issue the following command in order to obtain operator
   status:

   /challenge
   +6B882932DD00F86123869E401F7334B9B0D0018A60F1DE244E90E47246AA87C7

     Note: The '+' is needed

   If successful, the oper will obtain operator status on the server.

   +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
   |                                Warning                                 |
   |------------------------------------------------------------------------|
   | If the CHALLENGE fails, and you use ircII, EPIC, or BX, you may get    |
   | disconnected with the client asking for the server password. This is a |
   | client bug, not an ircd bug.                                           |
   +------------------------------------------------------------------------+

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                                RSA Respond Tool

   The RSA Respond tool is a vital part of challenge/response system. In
   order to function, the operator must have must have a way to quickly issue
   the respond command, and to copy and paste data to and from the IRC
   client.

   The respond source code is included with the ircd-hybrid source, in the
   tools/rsa_respond directory.

   A copy of the source tar file is available on
   http://www.wohmart.com/ircd/pub/irc_tools/rsa/rsa_respond-src-hyb7.tar.gz

   For Windows platforms, there are two available RSA Respond tools. One is a
   text only port of the stock tool. The binary is available from
   http://www.wohmart.com/ircd/pub/irc_tools/rsa/rsa_respond-bin.tar.gz.
   The other tool is a GUI enabled version[3]. The source tree[4] is available
   from http://www.wohmart.com/ircd/pub/irc_tools/rsa/winrespond-src.tar.gz.
   A binary distribution is available from
   http://www.wohmart.com/ircd/pub/irc_tools/rsa/winrespond-bin.tar.gz.

   With the appropriate version of the RSA Respond tool, any operator can
   protect their privileged access to the server, with little additional
   effort over using standard operator passwords.

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                                    Benefits

   The greatest benefit of using the challenge/response system is that there
   are no passwords sent over the network in plaintext. There are also no
   credentials left on the server side, as only public keys are kept in the
   conf. The use of public/private key encryption provides far greater
   security over having a single password, and may (if the key is kept
   secure, and has a good passphrase) virtually eliminate hacked O-lines.

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                                  A. Numerics

 :server 381 user :You have entered... the Twilight Zone!.
 :server 386 user :challenge-text
 :server 464 user :Password Incorrect
 :server 491 user :Only few of mere mortals may try to enter the twilight zone


     Note: The text used can be changed by the server administrator.

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                                  B. Scripting

   The following script is for EPIC 4 only. It was written by Greg Prosser,
   xyst <gregp@blackened.net>.

   Please note that passphrase protected keys cannot be used in conjunction
   with this script.

   The script is called challenge.irc and sits in contrib/. Please review
   it for more details.

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                                       Notes

   [1] Some platforms may require Makefile changes in order to link in the    
       OpenSSL library. This may change in the future.                        
   [2] Platforms known to function include: Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and      
       Cygwin.                                                                
   [3] A screenshot of the program is available on                            
       http://www.wohmart.com/ircd/pub/irc_tools/rsa/winrespond.png .                               
   [4] The winrespond source depends on a working, up to date, Cygwin         
       installation.
Revision:	1336
Committed:	Sun Apr 1 18:23:29 2012 UTC (12 years ago) by michael
Content type:	text/plain
File size:	9592 byte(s)
Log Message:	- Update documents, remove outdated ones
#	Content
1	Oper Challenge and Response System
2
3	$Id$
4
5	Copyright (c) 2001-2012 by ircd-hybrid team
6
7	----------------------------------------------------------------------
8
9	ircd-hybrid
10
11	In an effort to reduce the damage caused to a network by a hacked O-line,
12	Hybrid supports an OpenSSL based challenge-response system. This new
13	system allows the admin to remove all oper block passwords from the conf
14	file. Authentication is done through a public/private key.
15
16	----------------------------------------------------------------------
17
18	Requirements
19
20	The ircd must be compiled with the --enable-openssl option to configure.
21	If configure detects a working openssl library, --enable-openssl is
22	implicitly enabled.
23
24	oper {} blocks should not have normal passwords, but should contain the
25	the name of the private key file. However it is possible for the user to
26	use both challenge and normal passwords, but this would defeat the purpose
27	of the challenge system.
28
29	m_challenge.la must be loaded.
30
31	The oper has their private key file and an implementation of the RSA
32	Respond tool available to be run.
33
34	----------------------------------------------------------------------
35
36	Process
37
38	Each oper should have a private key file and a public key file. The keys
39	can be generated with the mkkeypair utility provided in tools/.
40
41	The oper keeps their private key file in a safe place, and gives their
42	public key file to their admin(s).
43
44	The admin will place an entry for the public key file into a field called
45	rsa_public_key_file of each oper's oper {} block in the conf file.
46
47	The oper wishes to obtain their operator status, and issues the CHALLENGE
48	command.
49
50	The server will print out a long hexadecimal string, that needs to be fed
51	to the respond utility provided in tools/rsa_respond.
52
53	The respond program will generate an answer that is fed back to the
54	CHALLENGE command.
55
56	----------------------------------------------------------------------
57
58	Generating the Key Files
59
60	The keys can be generated with the openssl command as follows:
61
62	openssl genrsa -des3(1) -out rsa.key 1024(2)
63	openssl rsa -in rsa.key -pubout -out rsa.pub
64
65
66	(1)
67	The -des3 must be included in order to create a key with a
68	passphrase. Omitting this option will create a non protected key.
69	(2)
70	The key size must be 1024 or below. The challenge sent for a
71	longer keysize will be too long to fit into the ircd's 512 byte
72	line constraint.
73
74	It is highly recommended that you set a password on your private key.
75
76	The tools/mkkeypair utility cannot be used to create a key suitable for
77	use in CHALLENGE.
78
79	----------------------------------------------------------------------
80
81	Using CHALLENGE and respond
82
83	Note: All examples assume the use of the stock respond client included
84	with the ircd-hybrid-8 source, run on a UNIX(c) platform.
85
86	The administrator of the server you oper on should remove the password in
87	your oper {} block and replace it with an entry for your public key, so
88	that /oper will be disabled.
89
90	Note: The public key is a VERY long string.
91
92	The oper will issue /challenge oper_nick, and see something like below:
93
94	*** 56F1FDAE4C590C524CF758917E62C2A2A1376CB9C4C2E7D411BB0AD9C4A
95	605A2D05A94E7254197E9D71438B5FB565B6FD35465E462305F35F4A2D45311
96	F983B3E062F635912FA155B4B1E18EAA782CC107F4C9DA83092658D16A2E88A
97	6BCF9820F5A044A29CDD4C062F05BF509CA3B561375CBC4179BD1CF6026BDE9
98	60E52C6B
99
100	Note: The challenge is all on one line.
101
102	Note: With some clients, the oper will have to issue /quote CHALLENGE
103	instead of /challenge.
104
105	The oper will then have to feed that challenge to the respond program.
106
107	+------------------------------------------------------------------+
108	\| The respond utility's syntax is: \|
109	\| \|
110	\|$ ./respond private_key_file challenge_from_server \|
111	\| \|
112	\| \|
113	\| Example: \|
114	\| \|
115	\|wcampbel@botbay (rsa_respond): ./respond hwy.key \ \|
116	\|56F1FDAE4C590C524CF758917E62C2A2A1376CB9C4C2E7D411BB0AD9C4A605A2D0\|
117	\|5A94E7254197E9D71438B5FB565B6FD35465E462305F35F4A2D45311F983B3E062\|
118	\|F635912FA155B4B1E18EAA782CC107F4C9DA83092658D16A2E88A6BCF9820F5A04\|
119	\|4A29CDD4C062F05BF509CA3B561375CBC4179BD1CF6026BDE960E52C6B \|
120	\|Keyphrase: \|
121	\|6B882932DD00F86123869E401F7334B9B0D0018A60F1DE244E90E47246AA87C7 \|
122	\| \|
123	\| Note: The challenge parameter must be on one line. \|
124	+------------------------------------------------------------------+
125
126	The keyphrase must be entered properly to get the response. The bottom
127	line is the response that must be sent back to the server.
128
129	The oper will issue the following command in order to obtain operator
130	status:
131
132	/challenge
133	+6B882932DD00F86123869E401F7334B9B0D0018A60F1DE244E90E47246AA87C7
134
135	Note: The '+' is needed
136
137	If successful, the oper will obtain operator status on the server.
138
139	+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
140	\| Warning \|
141	\|------------------------------------------------------------------------\|
142	\| If the CHALLENGE fails, and you use ircII, EPIC, or BX, you may get \|
143	\| disconnected with the client asking for the server password. This is a \|
144	\| client bug, not an ircd bug. \|
145	+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
146
147	----------------------------------------------------------------------
148
149	RSA Respond Tool
150
151	The RSA Respond tool is a vital part of challenge/response system. In
152	order to function, the operator must have must have a way to quickly issue
153	the respond command, and to copy and paste data to and from the IRC
154	client.
155
156	The respond source code is included with the ircd-hybrid source, in the
157	tools/rsa_respond directory.
158
159	A copy of the source tar file is available on
160	http://www.wohmart.com/ircd/pub/irc_tools/rsa/rsa_respond-src-hyb7.tar.gz
161
162	For Windows platforms, there are two available RSA Respond tools. One is a
163	text only port of the stock tool. The binary is available from
164	http://www.wohmart.com/ircd/pub/irc_tools/rsa/rsa_respond-bin.tar.gz.
165	The other tool is a GUI enabled version[3]. The source tree[4] is available
166	from http://www.wohmart.com/ircd/pub/irc_tools/rsa/winrespond-src.tar.gz.
167	A binary distribution is available from
168	http://www.wohmart.com/ircd/pub/irc_tools/rsa/winrespond-bin.tar.gz.
169
170	With the appropriate version of the RSA Respond tool, any operator can
171	protect their privileged access to the server, with little additional
172	effort over using standard operator passwords.
173
174	----------------------------------------------------------------------
175
176	Benefits
177
178	The greatest benefit of using the challenge/response system is that there
179	are no passwords sent over the network in plaintext. There are also no
180	credentials left on the server side, as only public keys are kept in the
181	conf. The use of public/private key encryption provides far greater
182	security over having a single password, and may (if the key is kept
183	secure, and has a good passphrase) virtually eliminate hacked O-lines.
184
185	----------------------------------------------------------------------
186
187	A. Numerics
188
189	:server 381 user :You have entered... the Twilight Zone!.
190	:server 386 user :challenge-text
191	:server 464 user :Password Incorrect
192	:server 491 user :Only few of mere mortals may try to enter the twilight zone
193
194
195	Note: The text used can be changed by the server administrator.
196
197	----------------------------------------------------------------------
198
199	B. Scripting
200
201	The following script is for EPIC 4 only. It was written by Greg Prosser,
202	xyst <gregp@blackened.net>.
203
204	Please note that passphrase protected keys cannot be used in conjunction
205	with this script.
206
207	The script is called challenge.irc and sits in contrib/. Please review
208	it for more details.
209
210	----------------------------------------------------------------------
211
212	Notes
213
214	[1] Some platforms may require Makefile changes in order to link in the
215	OpenSSL library. This may change in the future.
216	[2] Platforms known to function include: Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and
217	Cygwin.
218	[3] A screenshot of the program is available on
219	http://www.wohmart.com/ircd/pub/irc_tools/rsa/winrespond.png .
220	[4] The winrespond source depends on a working, up to date, Cygwin
221	installation.