CkPython

SFTP Authenticate with a SecureString Password and Private Key

Demonstrates the Chilkat SFtp.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. Supply the path to your own key file.

Background: This is the SecureString form of two-factor SFTP 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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import sys
import chilkat

success = False

#  Demonstrates the SFtp.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.

sftp = chilkat.CkSFtp()

#  Step 1: Connect the SSH transport.  Port 22 is the usual port.
port = 22
success = sftp.Connect("sftp.example.com",port)
if (success == False):
    print(sftp.lastErrorText())
    sys.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 = chilkat.CkSshKey()
keyText = privKey.loadText("qa_data/id_rsa")
if (privKey.get_LastMethodSuccess() == False):
    print(privKey.lastErrorText())
    sys.exit()

success = privKey.FromOpenSshPrivateKey(keyText)
if (success == False):
    print(privKey.lastErrorText())
    sys.exit()

#  Place the login and password into SecureString objects.
secureLogin = chilkat.CkSecureString()
secureLogin.Append("mySshLogin")
securePassword = chilkat.CkSecureString()
securePassword.Append(password)

success = sftp.AuthenticateSecPwPk(secureLogin,securePassword,privKey)
if (success == False):
    print(sftp.lastErrorText())
    sys.exit()

#  Step 3: Open the SFTP subsystem.  This must be done after authentication and before any
#  file or directory operations.
success = sftp.InitializeSftp()
if (success == False):
    print(sftp.lastErrorText())
    sys.exit()

print("Authenticated.")

sftp.Disconnect()