PHP ActiveX

SSH Tunnel Authenticate with a SecureString Password and Private Key

Demonstrates the Chilkat SshTunnel.AuthenticateSecPwPk method, which authenticates using SecureString login and password objects together with a private key. The third argument is the SshKey private key.

Note: The private-key path is relative to the application's current working directory. Absolute paths may also be used. Supply the path to your own key file.

Background: This is the SecureString form of two-factor tunnel 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 a long-running process.

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<?php

$success = 0;

//  Demonstrates the SshTunnel.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.

$tunnel = new COM("Chilkat.SshTunnel");

//  The tunnel forwards accepted local connections to this destination through the SSH server.
$tunnel->DestHostname = 'db.internal.example.com';
$tunnel->DestPort = 5432;

//  Connect to the SSH server.  This performs the TCP/proxy connection and SSH handshake, but
//  does not authenticate yet.
$sshPort = 22;
$success = $tunnel->Connect('ssh.example.com',$sshPort);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $tunnel->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}

//  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 = new COM("Chilkat.SshKey");
$keyText = $privKey->loadText('qa_data/id_rsa');
if ($privKey->LastMethodSuccess == 0) {
    print $privKey->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}

$success = $privKey->FromOpenSshPrivateKey($keyText);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $privKey->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}

//  Place the login and password into SecureString objects.
$secureLogin = new COM("Chilkat.SecureString");
$secureLogin->Append('mySshLogin');
$securePassword = new COM("Chilkat.SecureString");
$securePassword->Append($password);

$success = $tunnel->AuthenticateSecPwPk($secureLogin,$securePassword,$privKey);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $tunnel->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}

print 'Authenticated.' . "\n";

//  After authenticating, call BeginAccepting to start listening for local connections to forward.

$waitForThreadExit = 1;
$success = $tunnel->CloseTunnel($waitForThreadExit);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $tunnel->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}


?>