Bad owner or permissions on /root/.ssh/config in a virtual machine

Question

I'm using a VirtualBox VM with Debian as guest OS. In order to share SSH keys between the Windows host and the Linux guest system, I've defined the folder ~/.ssh as a shared folder. Bun now I'm getting an error:

# git clone [e-mail]-user:user/project.git
Cloning into project...
Bad owner or permissions on /root/.ssh/config
fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly

Usually to resolve this problem it's only needed to set stricter permissions for ~/.ssh. But in this case it's not possible, since it's a shared folder.

Is there another solution/workaround for this issue?

Thx

Answer 1

I had mounted my shared folder with this command (saved in /etc/rc.local in order to mount the folder on system start automatically):

mount -t vboxsf -o uid=1000,gid=1000 sshkeys /root/.ssh

Now I've changed the user, the usergroup, and the access rights of the mounted folder in the mount commando:

mount -t vboxsf -o uid=0,gid=0,umask=077 sshkeys /root/.ssh

It works.

P.S. For everyone, who has participated in this discussion:

Since the thread became a bit chaotic, I would like to summarize it:

At first I had the problem, that I could not use my keys, when they came from a shared folder (Bad owner or permissions... error). The corollary for me was, that there were two ways: (a) either to set the user, group and the access rights for the folder how the SSH client (?) needs or (b) to make it ignore its access rights restrictions. Since I could not apply chown/chmod to my shared folder and thought, it were not possible to change the access rights for it, I saw (b) as the last possibility to resolve the issue -- and changed the question/title. It was a mistake and I've just made this change back.

To the discussion about the security: I'm working as root (on my dev VM!) and it's a deadly sin for every safety-conscious user. Actually I also think, that normally one should not log in as root. But I hold the opinion, that it doesn't apply to the case of a dev virtual machine. Anyway -- it is an offtopic, since it has nothing to do with the issue, I've described. This issue can occur for every user of every usergroup.

Answer 2

The proper solution is to stop using root to check out a git repository. Give each user their own account and keep the permissions tight enough that security isn't compromised.

A different solution would be to use one of the web-based git servers rather than an SSH-based one. I've never used any of those so I can't give you much advice there.

Answer 3

Disclaimer: I now believe this is a permissions check by the git client, not the ssh server. That would make this answer incorrect. I am leaving my answer here so that we don't have to go over the topic again.

I really don't want to answer this, but someone is going to post the answer you're looking for eventually and it may as well be with the appropriate disclaimers.

1. Don't do this. Everyone else has been steering you away from this answer for a reason. It's terrible security.
2. No, really. Don't do this. No matter how convenient it may seem, this goes against some of the most basic security conventions that are taken for granted in the Unix industry. You will lose a great deal of respect from those in your professional life if they discover that you have done this, even if it's casually on your own system.
3. You are asking to be owned.
4. If you're still determined on going through with this...

The answer is in man sshd_config, you're looking for StrictModes. It cannot be configured on a per-user basis; that's very deliberate.

Answer 4

A solution do this that would permit you to still have /root as a 'shared folder' would be to use the AuthorizedKeysFile in your sshd_config file, and set it to pull your authorized keys from some other directory.