Bug Report - sshd invoked by inetd on Solaris 8

[Adam Benjamin]

Hello,

My apologies if this is a known "feature" and I'm simply reporting
something already known.

The situation is this:

- the sshd in openssh-2.3.0p1 (and also previously in openssh-2.1.1p4)
  fail when invoked via inetd on Solaris 8

- the sshd is invoked with:

  1) an entry in /etc/services:

     sshback         10000/tcp       sshdback        # SSH Back Door

  2) an entry in /etc/inetd.conf

     sshback stream  tcp     nowait  root    /usr/local/sbin/sshd sshd -i -f \
           /usr/local/etc/ssh/sshd_config.inetd

     (line split exists in this email, but not in original file)

- the sshd_config.inetd is pretty standard with nothing special other
  than (for example) the port number changed

- when connecting from an ssh client (also openssh-2.3.0p1) with
  verbose mode turned on, session appears as follows.  Only the last 11
  lines are shown (please let me know if you wish to see more) and
  the hex values after debug: Wait SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_GROUP have been
  changed... I wasn't sure if I was exposing my private key data.  Is
  someone can explain to me what that data is and why it will help your
  debugging, I'd be happy to pass it on:

   debug: got kexinit:
   debug: first kex follow: 0
   debug: reserved: 0
   debug: done
   debug: kex: server->client blowfish-cbc hmac-sha1 none
   debug: kex: client->server blowfish-cbc hmac-sha1 none
   debug: Sending SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REQUEST.
   debug: Wait SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_GROUP.
    ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff              <------ please see above notes
   Disconnecting: Bad packet length 796226418.
   debug: Calling cleanup 0x805d910(0x0)

- note that this same method works properly on other OS's and versions

- I would be happy to answer any questions that assist in your
  diagnosis, but I expect you'll be able to reproduce the problem
  readily with access to another solaris 8 server.

I hope that helps,

Adam Benjamin
Systems Administrator
Open Text Corporation