1

Last year I created an 4096 bit RSA key pair with GPG / Enigmail in Thunderbird. Enigmail lists me a primary key used to sign and authenticate e-mails, and a subkey used to encrypt e-mails. I exported the key pair to an .asc file.

Now I wanted to use these keys for a SSH connection and exported the keys like this:

gpg2 --armor --export-secret-keys [key] > sec_key.txt
ssh-add sec_key.txt

When ssh-add asks me for a passphrase, I enter the right one (that works in Enigmail) but it is rejected:

Bad passphrase, try again

Using the public key (exported with --export) leads to the same error, as well as using the subkey. "ssh -v -i sec_key.txt localhost" gives this error:

key_parse_private_pem: PEM_read_PrivateKey failed

But the passphrase must be correct because I'm able to change the passphrase with GPG:

gpg --edit-key [key]

I also tried to remove the passphrase completely but then I cannot log into ssh. "ssh-add sec_key.txt" then gives no output but returns 1.

What can I do to use this keys for ssh connections?

jellysheep
  • 11
  • 2
  • 1
    You cannot use a PGP key directly with SSH; see [How do SSH keys differ from keys used for other purposes?](http://superuser.com/questions/273998/how-if-at-all-do-ssh-keys-differ-from-asymmetric-keys-used-for-other-purposes) for details on differences and [Are GPG and SSH keys interchangable?](http://superuser.com/questions/360507/are-gpg-and-ssh-keys-interchangable) for how to make it work. – u1686_grawity Apr 02 '13 at 17:08
  • Thanks, I will give that a try. :) How can I upvote your answer? Or should I remove the question because it is a near duplicate? – jellysheep Apr 02 '13 at 17:54
  • It will be closed as a duplicate after at least 5 people vote so. (What I posted isn't an "answer" technically, but only a comment.) – u1686_grawity Apr 02 '13 at 18:41

1 Answers1

1

You cannot use a PGP key directly with SSH; see How do SSH keys differ from keys used for other purposes? for details on differences and Are GPG and SSH keys interchangable? for how to make it work.

Community
  • 1
u1686_grawity
  • 426,297
  • 64
  • 894
  • 966
  • Thank you very much! I got it working, especially using [this howto](http://budts.be/weblog/2012/08/ssh-authentication-with-your-pgp-key). Also thanks for the explanation about votes and answers. :) (PS: sorry, I cannot upvote your answer yet, too few reputation...) – jellysheep Apr 02 '13 at 20:46