[Bug 877] ssh 3.8.1p1 client cannot disable encryption with "-c none"

[bugzilla-daemon at mindrot.org]

http://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=877





------- Additional Comments From mohit_aron at hotmail.com  2004-06-08 03:54 -------

> Running ssh protocol 2 without a MAC renders sessions vulnerable to active as
> well as passive attacks.
>
> Therefore, the chances of us implementing the "none" MAC are even less than that
> of the "none" cipher. Feel free to patch your own OpenSSH distribution, but
> don't say we didn't warn you.

I cannot force your hand of course. But I again feel that these are policy 
decisions that should be left to the user. If a user chooses Mac=none, he 
obviously should be aware of the security risks. If his environment permits 
those (e.g. over VPN and transferring public data), openssh should allow him
to turn off the cipher/mac and get higher performance.

These days ssh seems to have completely replaced rsh/telnet - why run rsh/telnet
when you have ssh that gives you many more features such as compression, port
forwarding, security etc. Unfortunately, it seems there's no way for the user
to achieve higher performance when security is not required. People are ending
up patching their ssh distributions - which is very risky compared to the 
developers themselves providing the option.

If people are really opposed to providng cipher=none and mac=none options, 
is it possible to provide an option to the "configure" command so that these
options can be put in when the build is appropriately configured ? E.g. a build
made after running "./configure --support-plain-text" should make appropriate
ssh/sshd binaries where the cipher/mac can be turned off. That way people like
me can at least make builds appropriately without the need to start hacking
into the code.





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