FACTOTUM(4)FACTOTUM(4)NAME
factotum, fgui - authentication agent
SYNOPSIS
auth/factotum [ -DdknpuS ] [ -a asaddr ] [ -s srvname ] [ -m mtpt ]
auth/factotum -g attribute=value ... attribute? ...
auth/fgui
DESCRIPTION
Factotum is a user-level file system that acts as the authentication
agent for a user. It does so by managing a set of keys. A key is a
collection of information used to authenticate a particular action.
Stored as a list of attribute=value pairs, a key typically contains a
user, an authentication domain, a protocol, and some secret data.
Factotum presents a two level directory. The first level contains a
single directory factotum, which in turn contains:
rpc each open represents a new private channel to factotum
proto when read lists the protocols available
confirm
for confiming the use of key
needkey
allows external programs to control the addition of new keys
log a log of actions
ctl for maintaining keys; when read, it returns a list of keys. For
secret attributes, only the attribute name follow by a is
returned.
In any authentication, the caller typically acts as a client and the
callee as a server. The server determines the authentication domain,
sometimes after a negotiation with the client. Authentication always
requires the client to prove its identity to the server. Under some
protocols, the authentication is mutual. Proof is accomplished using
secret information kept by factotum in conjunction with a cryptographic
protocol.
Factotum can act in the role of client for any process possessing the
same user id as it. For select protocols such as p9sk1 it can also act
as a client for other processes provided its user id may speak for the
other process' user id (see authsrv(6)). Factotum can act in the role
of server for any process.
Factotum's structure is independent of any particular authentication
protocol. Factotum supports the following protocols:
p9any a metaprotocol used to negotiate which actual protocol to use.
p9sk1 a Plan 9 shared key protocol described in authsrv(6)'s ``File
Service'' section.
p9sk2 a variant of p9sk1 described in authsrv(6)'s ``Remote Execu‐
tion'' section.
p9cr a Plan 9 protocol that can use either p9sk1 keys or SecureID
tokens.
apop the challenge/response protocol used by POP3 mail servers.
cram the challenge/response protocol also used by POP3 mail servers.
chap the challenge/response protocols used by PPP and PPTP.
mschap a proprietary Microsoft protocol also used by PPP and PPTP.
rsa RSA public key decryption, used by SSH and TLS.
pass passwords in the clear.
vnc vnc(1)'s challenge/response.
wep WEP passwords for wireless ethernet cards.
The options are:
-a supplies the address of the authentication server to use. With‐
out this option, it will attempt to find an authentication
server by querying the connection server, the file <mtpt>/ndb,
and finally the network database in /lib/ndb.
-m specifies the mount point to use, by default /mnt.
-s specifies the service name to use. Without this option, facto‐
tum does not create a service file in /srv.
-D turns on 9P tracing, written to standard error.
-d turns on debugging, written to standard error.
-g causes the agent to prompt for the key, write it to the ctl
file, and exit. The agent will prompt for values for any of the
attributes ending with a question mark (?) and will append all
the supplied attribute = value pairs. See the section on key
templates below.
-n don't look for a secstore.
-S indicates that the agent is running on a CPU server. On start‐
ing, it will attempt to get a p9sk1 key from NVRAM using read‐
nvram (see authsrv(2)), prompting for anything it needs. It
will never subsequently prompt for a key that it doesn't have.
This option is typically used by the kernel at boot time.
-k causes the NVRAM to be written. It is only valid with the -S
option. This option is typically used by the kernel at boot
time.
-u causes the agent to prompt for user id and writes it to
/dev/hostowner. It is mutually exclusive with -k and -S. This
option is typically used by the kernel at boot time.
-p causes the agent not to mark itself `private' via proc(3), so
that it can be debugged. It is implied by -d.
Fgui is a graphic user interface for confirming key usage and entering
new keys. It hides the window in which it starts and waits reading
requests from confirm and needkey. For each requests, it unhides
itself and waits for user input. See the sections on key confirmation
and key prompting below.
Key Tuples
A key tuple is a space delimited list of attribute=value pairs. An
attribute whose name begins with an exclamation point (!) does not
appear when reading the ctl file. The required attributes depend on
the authentication protocol.
P9sk1, p9sk2, and p9cr all require a key with proto=p9sk1, a dom
attribute identifying the authentication domain, a user name valid in
that domain, and either a !password or !hex attribute specifying the
password or hexadecimal secret to be used. Here is an example:
proto=p9sk1 dom=avayalabs.com user=presotto !password=lucent
Apop, cram, chap, and mschap, require a key with a proto attribute
whose value matches the protocol, in addition to server, user, and
!password attributes; e.g.
proto=apop server=mit.edu user=rsc !password=nerdsRus
Vnc is similar but does not require a user attribute.
Pass requires a key with proto=pass in addition to user and !password
attributes; e.g.
proto=pass user=tb !password=does.it.matter
Rsa requires a key with proto=rsa in addition to all the hex attributes
defining an RSA key: ek, n, !p, !q, !kp, !kq, !c2, and !dk. By conven‐
tion, programs using the RSA protocol also require a service attribute
set to ssh, sshserve, or tls.
Wep requires a key1, key2, or key3 set to the password to be used.
Starting the protocol causes factotum to configure the wireless ether‐
net card #l/ether0 for WEP encryption with the given password.
All keys can have additional attributes that act either as comments or
as selectors to distinguish them in the auth(2) library calls.
The factotum owner can use any key stored by factotum. Any key may
have one or more owner attributes listing the users who can use the key
as though they were the owner. For example, the TLS and SSH host keys
on a server often have an attribute owner=* to allow any user (and in
particular, to run the TLS or SSH server-side protocol.
Any key may have a role attribute for restricting how it can be used.
If this attribute is missing, the key can be used in any role. The
possible values are:
client for authenticating outbound calls
server for authenticating inbound calls
speakfor
for authenticating processes whose user id does not match facto‐
tum's.
If a key has a disabled attribute (with any value), the key is not used
during any protocols. Factotum automatically marks keys with dis‐
abled=by.factotum when they fail during certain authentication proto‐
cols (in particular, the Plan 9 ones).
Whenever factotum runs as a server, it must have a p9sk1 key in order
to communicate with the authentication server for validating passwords
and challenge/responses of other users.
Key Templates
Key templates are used by routines that interface to factotum such as
auth_proxy and auth_challenge (see auth(2)) to specify which key and
protocol to use for an authentication. Like a key tuple, a key tem‐
plate is also a list of attribute=value pairs. It must specify at
least the protocol and enough other attributes to uniquely identify a
key, or set of keys, to use. The keys chosen are those that match all
the attributes specified in the template. The possible attribute/value
formats are:
attr=val The attribute attr must exist in the key and its value must
exactly match val
attr? The attribute attr must exist in the key but its value
doesn't matter.
attr The attribute attr must exist in the key with a null value
Key templates are also used by factotum to request a key either via an
RPC error or via the needkey interface. The possible attribute/value
formats are:
attr=val This pair must remain unchanged
attr? This attribute needs a value
attr The pair must remain unchanged
Control and Key Management
A number of messages can be written to the control file. The messages
are:
key attribute-value-list
add a new key. This will replace any old key whose public, i.e.
non ! attributes, match.
delkey attribute-value-list
delete a key whose attributes match those given.
debug toggle debugging on and off, i.e., the debugging also turned on
by the -d option.
By default when factotum starts it looks for a secstore(1) account on
$auth for the user and, if one exists, prompts for a secstore password
in order to fetch the file factotum, which should contain control file
commands. An example would be
key dom=x.com proto=p9sk1 user=boyd !hex=26E522ADE2BBB2A229
key proto=rsa service=ssh size=1024 ek=3B !dk=...
where the first line sets a password for challenge/response authentica‐
tion, strong against dictionary attack by being a long random string,
and the second line sets a public/private keypair for ssh authentica‐
tion, generated by ssh_genkey (see ssh(1)).
Confirming key use
The confirm file provides a connection from factotum to a confirmation
server, normally the program auth/fgui. Whenever a key with the con‐
firm attribute is used, factotum requires confirmation of its use. If
no process has confirm opened, use of the key will be denied. However,
if the file is opened a request can be read from it with the following
format:
confirm tag=tagno <key template>
The reply, written back to confirm, consists of string:
tag=tagno answer=xxx
If xxx is the string yes then the use is confirmed and the authentica‐
tion will proceed. Otherwise, it fails.
Confirm is exclusive open and can only be opened by a process with the
same user id as factotum.
Prompting for keys
The needkey file provides a connection from factotum to a key server,
normally the program auth/fgui. Whenever factotum needs a new key, it
first checks to see if needkey is opened. If it isn't, it returns a
error to its client. If the file is opened a request can be read from
it with the following format:
needkey tag=tagno <key template>
It is up to the reader to then query the user for any missing fields,
write the key tuple into the ctl file, and then reply by writing into
the needkey file the string:
tag=tagno
Needkey is exclusive open and can only be opened by a process with the
same user id as factotum.
The RPC Protocol
Authentication is performed by
1) opening rpc
2) setting up the protocol and key to be used (see the start RPC
below),
3) shuttling messages back and forth between factotum and the other
party (see the read and write RPC's) until done
4) if successful, reading back an AuthInfo structure (see auth‐
srv(2)).
The RPC protocol is normally embodied by one of the routines in
auth(2). We describe it here should anyone want to extend the library.
An RPC consists of writing a request message to rpc followed by reading
a reply message back. RPC's are strictly ordered; requests and replies
of different RPC's cannot be interleaved. Messages consist of a verb,
a single space, and data. The data format depends on the verb. The
request verbs are:
start attribute-value-list
start a new authentication. Attribute-value-pair-list must
include a proto attribute, a role attribute with value client or
server, and enough other attributes to uniquely identify a key
to use. A start RPC is required before any others. The pos‐
sible replies are:
ok start succeeded.
error string
where string is the reason.
read get data from factotum to send to the other party. The possible
replies are:
ok read succeeded, this is zero length message.
ok data
read succeeded, the data follows the space and is unfor‐
matted.
done authentication has succeeded, no further RPC's are neces‐
sary
done haveai
authentication has succeeded, an AuthInfo structure (see
auth(2)) can be retrieved with an authinfo RPC
phase string
its not your turn to read, get some data from the other
party and return it with a write RPC.
error string
authentication failed, string is the reason.
protocol not started
a start RPC needs to precede reads and writes
needkey attribute-value-list
a key matching the argument is needed. This argument may
be passed as an argument to factotum-g in order to
prompt for a key. After that, the authentication may
proceed, i.e., the read restarted.
write data
send data from the other party to factotum. The possible
replies are:
ok the write succeeded
needkey attribute-value-list
see above
toosmall n
the write is too short, get more data from the other
party and retry the write. n specifies the maximun total
number of bytes.
phase string
its not your turn to write, get some data from factotum
first.
done see above
done haveai
see above
authinfo
retrieve the AuthInfo structure. The possible replies are:
ok data
data is a marshaled form of the AuthInfo structure.
error string
where string is the reason for the error.
attr retrieve the attributes used in the start RPC. The possible
replies are:
ok attribute-value-list
error string
where string is the reason for the error.
SOURCE
/sys/src/cmd/auth/factotum
FACTOTUM(4)
