Delphi ActiveX

SSH Authenticate with a SecureString Password and Private Key

Demonstrates the Chilkat Ssh.AuthenticateSecPwPk method, which performs the same combined password/private-key authentication as AuthenticatePwPk but receives the username and password as SecureString objects. The third argument is the SshKey private key.

Note: The private-key path is relative to the application's current working directory. Supply the path to your own key file.

Background: This is the SecureString form of multi-factor SSH authentication: the password is held encrypted in memory and combined with a private key for servers that require both. It is the most protective option when a deployment mandates two-factor SSH and you also want to minimize plaintext credential exposure in the process.

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var
success: Integer;
ssh: TChilkatSsh;
sshPort: Integer;
password: WideString;
privKey: TChilkatSshKey;
keyStr: WideString;
secureLogin: TChilkatSecureString;
securePassword: TChilkatSecureString;

begin
success := 0;

//  Demonstrates the Ssh.AuthenticateSecPwPk method, which authenticates using SecureString login
//  and password objects together with a private key.  The 1st argument is the username, the 2nd
//  is the password, and the 3rd is an SshKey private key.

ssh := TChilkatSsh.Create(Self);

//  Connect to the SSH server.  Port 22 is the usual SSH port.
sshPort := 22;
success := ssh.Connect('ssh.example.com',sshPort);
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(ssh.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

//  Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
//  from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
password := 'mySshPassword';

//  Load the SSH private key.  LoadText reads the file's text, which is then imported.
privKey := TChilkatSshKey.Create(Self);
keyStr := privKey.LoadText('qa_data/id_rsa');
if (privKey.LastMethodSuccess = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(privKey.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;
success := privKey.FromOpenSshPrivateKey(keyStr);
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(privKey.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

//  Place the login and password into SecureString objects.
secureLogin := TChilkatSecureString.Create(Self);
secureLogin.Append('mySshLogin');
securePassword := TChilkatSecureString.Create(Self);
securePassword.Append(password);

success := ssh.AuthenticateSecPwPk(secureLogin.ControlInterface,securePassword.ControlInterface,privKey.ControlInterface);
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(ssh.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;
Memo1.Lines.Add('Authenticated.');

ssh.Disconnect();