3 .\" Manual for the administration protocol
5 .\" (c) 2008 Straylight/Edgeware
8 .\"----- Licensing notice ---------------------------------------------------
10 .\" This file is part of Trivial IP Encryption (TrIPE).
12 .\" TrIPE is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
13 .\" the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
14 .\" Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your
15 .\" option) any later version.
17 .\" TrIPE is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
18 .\" ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
19 .\" FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License
22 .\" You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
23 .\" along with TrIPE. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
25 .\"--------------------------------------------------------------------------
26 .so ../common/defs.man \" @@@PRE@@@
28 .\"--------------------------------------------------------------------------
29 .TH tripe-admin 5tripe "18 February 2001" "Straylight/Edgeware" "TrIPE: Trivial IP Encryption"
31 .\"--------------------------------------------------------------------------
34 tripe-admin \- administrator commands for TrIPE
36 .\"--------------------------------------------------------------------------
39 This manual page describes the administration interface provided by the
45 program can be used either interactively or in scripts to communicate
46 with the server using this interface. Alternatively, simple custom
47 clients can be written in scripting languages such as Perl, Python or
48 Tcl, or more advanced clients such as GUI monitors can be written in C
49 with little difficulty.
51 Administration commands use a textual protocol. Each client command or
52 server response consists of a line of ASCII text terminated by a single
53 linefeed character. No command may be longer than 255 characters.
54 .SS "General structure"
55 Each command or response line consists of a sequence of
56 whitespace-separated tokens. The number and nature of whitespace
57 characters separating two tokens in a client command is not significant;
58 the server always uses a single space character. The first token in a
61 identifying the type of command or response contained. Keywords in
62 client commands are not case-sensitive; the server always uses uppercase
65 In order to allow tokens to contain internal whitespace, a quoting
66 mechanism is provided. Whitespace within matched pairs of quotes \(en
71 \(en is considered to be internal. Any character (other than newline)
72 may be escaped by preceding it with a backslash
74 in particular, this can be used to include quote characters. It is
75 impossible for a token to contain a newline character.
77 On output, the server will use double quotes when necessary.
79 For simple client command, the server responds with zero or more
81 lines, followed by either an
87 provides information requested in the command. An
89 response contains no further data. A
91 code is followed by a machine-readable explanation of why the command
94 Simple command processing is strictly synchronous: the server reads a
95 command, processes it, and responds, before reading the next command.
96 All commands can be run as simple commands. Long-running commands
101 block the client until they finish, but the rest of the server continues
103 .B "Background commands"
104 to find out how to issue long-running commands without blocking.
105 .SS "Asynchronous broadcasts"
106 There are three types of asynchronous broadcast messages which aren't
107 associated with any particular command. Clients can select which
108 broadcast messages they're interested in using the
114 message contains a machine-readable message warning of an error
115 encountered while processing a command, unexpected or unusual behaviour
116 by a peer, or a possible attack by an adversary. Under normal
117 conditions, the server shouldn't emit any warnings.
121 message contains a human-readable tracing message containing diagnostic
122 information. Trace messages are controlled using the
124 command-line option to the server, or the
126 administration command (see below). Support for tracing can be disabled
127 when the package is being configured, and may not be available in your
132 message is a machine-readable notification about some routine but
133 interesting event such as creation or destruction of peers.
134 .SS "Background commands"
139 take a long time to complete. To prevent these long-running commands
140 from tying up a server connection, they can be run in the background.
141 Not all commands can be run like this: the ones that can provide a
143 option, which must be supplied with a
146 A command may fail before it starts running in the background. In this
147 case, the server emits a
149 response, as usual. To indicate that a command has started running in
150 the background, the server emits a response of the form
151 .BI "BGDETACH " tag \fR,
154 is the value passed to the
156 option. From this point on, the server is ready to process more
157 commands and reply to them.
159 Responses to background commands are indicated by a line beginning with
165 followed by the command tag. These correspond to the
170 responses for simple commands:
172 indicates information from a background command which has not completed
177 indicates that a background command succeeded or failed, respectively.
179 A background command will never issue an
183 response: it will always detach and then issue any
188 .SS "Client-provided services"
189 .\"* 25 Service-related messages
190 An administration client can provide services to other clients.
191 Services are given names and versions. A client can attempt to
193 a particular service by issuing the
195 command. This may fail, for example, if some other client already
196 provides the same or later version of the service.
198 Other clients can issue
199 .I "service commands"
202 command; the service provider is expected to handle these commands and
205 There are three important asynchronous messages which will be sent to
208 .BI "SVCCANCEL " jobid
209 The named job has been cancelled, either because the issuing client has
210 disconnected or explicitly cancelled the job using the
214 .BI "SVCCLAIM " service " " version
215 Another client has claimed a later version of the named
217 The recipient is no longer the provider of this service.
219 .BI "SVCJOB " jobid " " service " " command " " args \fR...
220 Announces the arrival of a new job. The
222 is a simple token consisting of alphanumeric characters which
224 uses to identify this job.
226 The service provider can reply to the job using the commands
231 The first of these sends an
233 response and leaves the job active; the other two send an
237 response respectively, and mark the job as being complete.
241 is a potentially long-running command, it can be run in the background.
242 This detail is hidden from service providers:
244 will issue the corresponding
246 responses when appropriate.)
247 .SS "Network addresses"
248 A network address is a sequence of tokens. The first is a token
249 identifying the network address family. The length of an address and
250 the meanings of the subsequent tokens depend on the address family.
251 Address family tokens are not case-sensitive on input; on output, they
252 are always in upper-case.
254 The following address families are recognized.
256 .BI "ANY " address " \fR[" port \fR]
257 An address and port number for any supported address family. On output,
259 never uses this form. On input, the
261 is examined: if it is a numeric address for some recognized address
262 family, then it is interpreted as such; otherwise it is looked up using
263 the DNS (in the background). The background resolver's address-sorting
266 simply takes the first address in the returned list which is of a
267 supported address family. Symbolic port numbers are permitted; if
268 omitted, the default port 4070 is used.
270 .BI "INET " address " \fR[" port \fR]
271 An Internet socket, naming an IPv4 address and UDP port. On output, the
273 is always in numeric dotted-quad form, and the
275 is given as a plain decimal number. On input, DNS hostnames and
276 symbolic port names are permitted; if omitted, the default port 4070 is
279 .BI "INET6 " address " \fR[" port \fR]
280 An Internet socket, naming an IPv6 address and UDP port. On output, the
282 is always in numeric hex-and-colons form, and the
284 is given as a plain decimal number. On input, DNS hostnames and
285 symbolic port names may be permitted, depending on how
287 was compiled; if omitted, the default port 4070 is used.
289 If, on input, no recognized address family token is found, the following
290 tokens are assumed to represent an
292 address. Addresses output by the server always have an address family
293 token, and do not use
296 Name resolution never blocks the main server, but will block the
297 requesting client, unless the command is run in the background.
298 .SS "Key-value output"
303 produce output in the form of
305 pairs, one per token. Neither the
311 Commands which enable or disable kinds of output (e.g.,
315 work in similar ways. They take a single optional argument, which
316 consists of a string of letters selecting message types, optionally
321 to disable, the subsequently listed types.
323 If the argument is omitted, the available message types are displayed,
326 line, in a fixed-column format. Column zero contains the key letter for
327 selecting that message type; column one contains either a space or a
329 sign, if the message type is disabled or enabled respectively; and a
330 textual description of the message type begins at column 3 and continues
331 to the end of the line.
333 Lowercase key letters control individual message types. Uppercase key
334 letters control collections of message types.
336 .\"--------------------------------------------------------------------------
337 .SH "COMMAND REFERENCE"
340 The commands provided are:
342 .BI "ADD \fR[" options "\fR] " peer " " address "\fR..."
343 Adds a new peer. The peer is given the name
345 the peer's public key is assumed to be in the file
347 (or whatever alternative file was specified in the
349 option on the command line). The
351 is the network address (see above for the format) at which the peer can
352 be contacted. The following options are recognized.
356 .BI "\-background " tag
357 Run the command in the background, using the given
361 Don't send an immediate challenge to the peer; instead, wait until it
362 sends us something before responding.
364 .BI "\-keepalive " time
365 Send a no-op packet if we've not sent a packet to the peer in the last
367 interval. This is useful for persuading port-translating firewalls to
368 believe that the `connection' is still active. The
370 is expressed as a nonnegative integer followed optionally by
376 for days, hours, minutes, or seconds respectively; if no suffix is
377 given, seconds are assumed.
382 to authenticate the peer. The default is to use the key tagged
386 The peer is a mobile device, and is likely to change address rapidly.
387 If a packet arrives from an unknown address, the server's usual response
388 is to log a warning and discard it. If the server knows of any mobile
389 peers, however, it will attempt to decrypt the packet using their keys,
390 and if one succeeds, the server will update its idea of the peer's
398 to authenticate to the peer. The default is to use the key named in the
400 command-line option, or a key with type
408 .BI "\-tunnel " tunnel
409 Use the named tunnel driver, rather than the default.
416 line reporting the IP address and port number stored for
419 .BI "ALGS \fR[" peer \fR]
420 Emits information about the cryptographic algorithms in use, in
423 is given, then describe the algorithms used in the association with that
424 peer; otherwise describe the default algorithms.
427 The keys are as follows.
430 Type of key-exchange group in use, currently either
435 .B kx-group-order-bits
436 Length of the group order, in bits. This gives an approximate measure
437 of the group strength.
440 Length of a group element, in bits. This may be useful when analyzing
444 The hash function in use, e.g.,
448 The mask-generating function in use, e.g.,
452 The size of the hash function's output, in octets.
455 The name of the bulk-crypto transform.
458 The amount of overhead, in bytes, caused by the crypto transform.
461 The name of the bulk data cipher in use, e.g.,
465 The length of key used by the bulk data cipher, in octets.
468 The block size of the bulk data cipher, or zero if it's not based on a
472 The maximum amount of data to be encrypted using a single key. (A new
473 key exchange is instigated well before the limit is reached, in order to
474 allow for a seamless changeover of keys.)
477 The message authentication algorithm in use, e.g.,
481 The length of the key used by the message authentication algorithm, in
485 The length of the message authentication tag, in octets.
488 The block cipher in use, e.g.,
492 The length of key used by the block cipher, in octets.
495 The block size of the block cipher.
497 The various sizes are useful, for example, when computing the MTU for a
500 is the MTU of the path to the peer, then the tunnel MTU should be
510 = 20 (IPv4) or 40 (IPv6) bytes of IP header, 8 bytes of UDP header, a
511 packet type octet, and the bulk-crypto transform overhead (which
512 includes the sequence number).
516 Cancels the background job with the named
519 .BI "CHECKCHAL " challenge
520 Verifies a challenge as being one earlier issued by
522 and not previously either passed to
524 or in a greeting message.
527 Causes the server to disassociate itself from its terminal and become a
528 background task. This only works once. A notification is issued.
530 .BI "EPING \fR[" options "\fR] " peer
531 Sends an encrypted ping to the peer, and expects an encrypted response.
532 This checks that the peer is running (and not being impersonated), and
533 that it can encrypt and decrypt packets correctly. Options and
534 responses are the same as for the
539 Requests the server to begin a new key exchange with
544 Requests a challenge. The challenge is returned in an
546 line, as a base64-encoded string. See
549 .BI "GREET " peer " " challenge
550 Sends a greeting packet containing the
552 (base-64 encoded) to the named
554 The expectation is that this will cause the peer to recognize us and
555 begin a key-exchange.
558 Causes the server to emit an
560 line for each command it supports. Each line lists the command name,
561 followed by the names of the arguments. This may be helpful as a memory
562 aid for interactive use, or for program clients probing for features.
567 line containing the name of the network interface used to collect IP
568 packets which are to be encrypted and sent to
570 Used by configuration scripts so that they can set up routing tables
571 appropriately after adding new peers.
576 line giving the tag for each outstanding background job.
579 Causes the server to forget all about
581 All keys are destroyed, and no more packets are sent. No notification
582 is sent to the peer: if it's important that the peer be notified, you
583 must think of a way to do that yourself.
586 For each currently-known peer, an
588 line is written containing the peer's name, as given to
591 .BI "NOTIFY " tokens\fR...
594 notification to all interested administration clients.
597 Returns information about a peer, in key-value form. The following keys
602 The tunnel driver used for this peer.
605 The keepalive interval, in seconds, or zero if no keepalives are to be
609 The (short) key tag being used for the peer, as passed to the
614 The full key tag of the peer's public key currently being used. This
615 may change during the life of the association.
618 The private key tag being used for the peer, as passed to the
622 command-line option. If neither of these was given explicitly, the
623 private key tag is shown as
625 since there is no fixed tag used under these circumstances.
627 .B current-private-key
628 The full key tag of the private key currently being used for this
629 association. This may change during the life of the association.
636 depending on whether or not (respectively) key-exchange is waiting for
637 the peer to initiate.
644 depending on whether or not (respectively) the peer is expected to
645 change its address unpredictably.
648 .BI "PING \fR[" options "\fR] " peer
649 Send a transport-level ping to the peer. The ping and its response are
650 not encrypted or authenticated. This command, possibly in conjunction
651 with tracing, is useful for ensuring that UDP packets are actually
652 flowing in both directions. See also the
658 line is printed describing the outcome:
661 .BI "ping-ok " millis
662 A response was received
664 after the ping was sent.
667 No response was received within the time allowed.
670 The peer was killed (probably by another admin connection) before a
671 response was received.
674 Options recognized for this command are:
678 .BI "\-background " tag
679 Run the command in the background, using the given
682 .BI "\-timeout " time
685 seconds before giving up on a response. The default is 5 seconds. The
687 is expressed as a nonnegative integer followed optionally by
693 for days, hours, minutes, or seconds respectively; if no suffix is
694 given, seconds are assumed.
702 line containing just the number of the UDP port used by the
704 server, for the given address
706 (or one chosen arbitrarily if omitted -- though
708 tries to use the same port number consistently so this is not a likely
709 problem in practice). If you've allowed your server to allocate a port
710 dynamically, this is how to find out which one it chose.
713 Instructs the server to recheck its keyring files. The server checks
714 these periodically anyway but it may be necessary to force a recheck,
715 for example after adding a new peer key.
718 Instructs the server to exit immediately. A warning is sent.
721 Returns information about the server, in the form of key-value pairs.
722 The following keys are used.
726 A keyword naming the implementation of the
728 server. The current implementation is called
732 The server's version number, as reported by
740 if the server has or hasn't (respectively) become a daemon.
743 .BI "SETIFNAME " peer " " new-name
744 Informs the server that the
746 tunnel-interface name has been changed to
748 This is useful if firewalling decisions are made based on interface
749 names: a setup script for a particular peer can change the name, and
750 then update the server's records so that they're accurate.
755 lines, each containing one or more statistics in the form
756 .IB name = value \fR.
757 The statistics-gathering is experimental and subject to change.
759 .BI "SVCCLAIM " service " " version
760 Attempts to claim the named
764 The claim is successful if the service is currently unclaimed, or if
765 a version earlier than
767 is provided; otherwise the command fails with the error
768 .BR "service-exists" .
770 .BI "SVCENSURE " service " \fR[" version \fR]
773 is provided, and (if specified) to at least the given
775 An error is reported if these conditions are not met; otherwise the
776 command succeeds silently.
778 .BI "SVCFAIL " jobid " " tokens \fR...
783 response to the service job with the given
787 as the reason for failure. The job is closed.
789 .BI "SVCINFO " jobid " " tokens \fR...
794 response to the service job with the given
798 as the info message. The job remains open.
801 Output a line of the form
808 for each service currently provided.
816 response to the service job with the given
820 .BI "SVCQUERY " service
823 lines in key-value format, describing the named
825 The following keys are used.
832 The service's version string.
835 .BI "SVCRELEASE " service
836 Announce that the client no longer wishes to provide the named
839 .BI "SVCSUBMIT \fR[" options "\fR] " service " " command " " arguments \fR...
840 Submit a job to the provider of the given
846 The following options are accepted.
850 .BI "\-background " tag
851 Run the command in the background, using the given
854 .BI "\-version " version
855 Ensure that at least the given
857 of the service is available before submitting the job.
861 .BR "TRACE " [\fIoptions\fP]
862 Selects trace outputs: see
864 above. Message types provided are:
867 Currently, the following tracing options are supported:
870 Tunnel events: reception of packets to be encrypted, and injection of
871 successfully-decrypted packets.
874 Peer management events: creation and destruction of peer attachments,
875 and arrival of messages.
878 Administration interface: acceptance of new connections, and handling of
879 the backgroud name-resolution required by the
884 Handling of symmetric keysets: creation and expiry of keysets, and
885 encryption and decryption of messages.
888 Key exchange: reception, parsing and emission of key exchange messages.
891 Key management: loading keys and checking for file modifications.
894 Display information about challenge issuing and verification.
897 Display contents of packets sent and received by the tunnel and/or peer
901 Display inputs, outputs and intermediate results of cryptographic
902 operations. This includes plaintext and key material. Use with
914 outputs provide extra detail for other outputs. Specifying
920 isn't useful; neither is specifying
931 For each available tunnel driver, an
933 line is printed giving its name.
936 Causes the server to emit an
938 line stating its software version, as two tokens: the server name, and
939 its version string. The server name
941 is reserved to the Straylight/Edgeware implementation.
943 .BR "WATCH " [\fIoptions\fP]
944 Enables or disables asynchronous broadcasts
945 .IR "for the current connection only" .
948 above. The default watch state for the connection the server opens
949 automatically on stdin/stdout is to show warnings and trace messages;
950 other connections show no asynchronous broadcast messages. (This is
951 done in order to guarantee that a program reading the server's stdout
952 does not miss any warnings.)
955 Message types provided are:
973 .BI "WARN " tokens\fR...
976 warning to all interested administration clients.
978 .\"--------------------------------------------------------------------------
981 .\"* 20 Error messages (FAIL codes)
986 messages are sent to clients as a result of errors during command
994 server is already running as a daemon.
996 .BI "bad-addr-syntax " message
997 (For commands accepting socket addresses.) The address couldn't be
1000 .BI "bad-base64 " message
1001 (For commands accepting Base64-encoded input.) The Base64-encoded
1004 .BI "bad-syntax " cmd " " message
1005 (For any command.) The command couldn't be understood: e.g., the number
1006 of arguments was wrong.
1008 .BI "bad-time-spec " token
1011 is not a valid time interval specification. Acceptable time
1012 specifications are nonnegative integers followed optionally by
1018 for days, hours, minutes, or seconds, respectively.
1020 .BI "bad-trace-option " char
1023 An unknown trace option was requested.
1025 .BI "bad-watch-option " char
1028 An unknown watch option was requested.
1030 .BI "daemon-error " ecode " " message
1033 An error occurred during the attempt to become a daemon, as reported by
1036 .BI "disabled-address-family " afam
1043 is supported, but was disabled using command-line arguments.
1045 .BI "invalid-port " number
1048 The given port number is out of range.
1050 .BI "not-service-provider " service
1053 The invoking client is not the current provider of the named
1055 and is therefore not allowed to release it.
1057 .BI "peer-create-fail " peer
1062 failed for some reason. A warning should have been emitted explaining
1065 .BI "peer-addr-exists " address\fR...
1068 There is already a peer with the given
1071 .BI "peer-exists " peer
1074 There is already a peer named
1077 .B "ping-send-failed"
1078 The attempt to send a ping packet failed, probably due to lack of
1081 .B "provider-failed"
1084 The service provider disconnected without sending back a final reply to
1087 .B "provider-overloaded"
1090 The service provider has too many jobs queued up for it already.
1092 .BI "resolve-error " hostname
1097 could not be resolved.
1099 .BI "resolver-timeout " hostname
1104 took too long to resolve.
1106 .BI "service-exists " service " " version
1109 Another client is already providing the stated
1114 .BI "service-too-old " service " " version
1123 is available, which does not meet the stated requirements.
1125 .BI "tag-exists " tag
1126 (For long-running commands.) The named
1128 is already the tag of an outstanding job.
1130 .BI "unknown-address-family " afam
1137 .BI "unknown-command " token
1142 .BI "unknown-jobid " jobid
1150 is not recognized as identifying an outstanding job. It may have just
1153 .BI "unknown-peer " name
1161 There is no peer called
1164 .BI "unknown-port " port
1169 couldn't be found in
1172 .BI "unknown-service " service
1181 is not recognized as the name of a client-provided service.
1183 .BI "unknown-tag " tag
1188 is not the tag for any outstanding background job. It may have just
1191 .BI "unknown-tunnel " tun
1196 is not the name of any known tunnel driver.
1198 .\"--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1201 .\"* 30 Notification broadcasts (NOTE codes)
1202 The following notifications are sent to clients who request them.
1204 .BI "ADD " peer " " ifname " " address \fR...
1205 A new peer has been added. The peer's name is
1207 its tunnel is network interface
1209 and its network address is
1213 The server has forked off into the sunset and become a daemon.
1215 .BI "GREET " challenge " " address \fR...
1216 A valid greeting was received, with the given challenge (exactly as it
1229 finished successfully.
1234 has begun or restarted. If key exchange keeps failing, this message
1235 will be repeated periodically.
1237 .BI "NEWADDR " peer " " address
1240 IP address has been changed to
1243 .BI "NEWIFNAME " peer " " old-name " " new-name
1246 tunnel interface name has been changed from
1254 .BI "SVCCLAIM " service " " version
1257 is now available, at the stated
1260 .BI "SVCRELEASE " service
1263 is no longer available.
1265 .BI "USER " tokens\fR...
1266 An administration client issued a notification using the
1270 .\"--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1273 .\"* 40 Warning broadcasts (WARN codes)
1275 There are many possible warnings. They are categorized according to
1278 Many of these warnings report system errors. These are reported as a
1279 pair of tokens, described below as
1285 is a string of the form
1289 value of the error; the
1291 is the `human-readable' form of the message, as reported by
1293 .SS "ABORT warnings"
1294 These all indicate that the
1296 server has become unable to continue. If enabled, the server will dump
1297 core in its configuration directory.
1299 .BI "ABORT repeated-select-errors"
1300 The main event loop is repeatedly failing. If the server doesn't quit,
1301 it will probably waste all available CPU doing nothing.
1302 .SS "ADMIN warnings"
1303 These indicate a problem with the administration socket interface.
1305 .BI "ADMIN accept-error " ecode " " message
1306 There was an error while attempting to accept a connection from a new
1309 .BI "ADMIN client-write-error " ecode " " message
1310 There was an error sending data to a client. The connection to the
1311 client has been closed.
1313 These indicate errors in challenges, either in the
1315 command or in greeting packets.
1317 .B "CHAL impossible-challenge"
1318 The server hasn't issued any challenges yet. Quite how anyone else
1319 thought he could make one up is hard to imagine.
1321 .B "CHAL incorrect-tag"
1322 Challenge received contained the wrong authentication data. It might be
1323 very stale, or a forgery.
1325 .B "CHAL invalid-challenge"
1326 Challenge received was the wrong length. We might have changed MAC
1327 algorithms since the challenge was issued, or it might just be rubbish.
1329 .B "CHAL replay duplicated-sequence"
1330 Challenge received was a definite replay of an old challenge. Someone's
1333 .B "CHAL replay old-sequence"
1334 Challenge received was old, but maybe not actually a replay. Try again.
1335 .SS "KEYMGMT warnings"
1336 These indicate a problem with the keyring files, or the keys stored in
1337 them. The first token is either
1343 in the descriptions below) indicating which keyring file is problematic,
1344 and the second token is the filename of the keyring. Frequently a key
1345 tag may be given next, preceded by the token
1348 .BI "KEYMGMT private-keyring " file " key " tag " incorrect-public-key"
1349 The private key doesn't record the correct corresponding public key.
1351 .BI "KEYMGMT public-keyring " file " key " tag " algorithm-mismatch"
1352 A peer's public key doesn't request the same algorithms as our private
1355 .BI "KEYMGMT " which "-keyring " file " key " tag " bad-tag-length " len
1356 The key attributes specify the length of MAC tag as
1358 but this is an invalid value \(en either too large or not a multiple of
1361 .BI "KEYMGMT " which "-keyring " file " key " tag " bad-tag-length-string " str
1362 The key attributes contain
1364 where a MAC tag length was expected. The key was generated wrongly.
1366 .BI "KEYMGMT private-keyring " file " key " tag " changed-group"
1367 The private keyring has been changed, but the new private key can't be
1368 used because it uses a different group for Diffie\(enHellman key
1371 .BI "KEYMGMT " which "-keyring " file " io-error " ecode " " message
1372 A system error occurred while opening or reading the keyring file.
1374 .BI "KEYMGMT " which "-keyring " file " key " tag " unknown-bulk-transform " bulk
1375 The key specifies the use of an unknown bulk-crypto transform
1377 Maybe the key was generated wrongly, or maybe the version of Catacomb
1378 installed is too old.
1380 .BI "KEYMGMT " which "-keyring " file " key " tag " unknown-cipher " cipher
1381 The key specifies the use of an unknown symmetric encryption algorithm
1383 Maybe the key was generated wrongly, or maybe the version of
1384 Catacomb installed is too old.
1386 .BI "KEYMGMT " which "-keyring " file " key " tag " unknown-group-type " type
1387 The key specifies the use of a Diffie\(enHellman group of an unknown
1389 Maybe the key was generated wrongly, or maybe the version of
1393 .BI "KEYMGMT " which "-keyring " file " key " tag " unknown-hash " hash
1394 The key specifies the use of an unknown hash function
1396 Maybe the key was generated wrongly, or maybe the version of Catacomb
1397 installed is too old.
1399 .BI "KEYMGMT " which "-keyring " file " key " tag " unknown-mac " mac
1400 The key specifies the use of an unknown message authentication code
1402 Maybe the key was generated wrongly, or maybe the version of Catacomb
1403 installed is too old.
1405 .BI "KEYMGMT " which "-keyring " file " key " tag " unknown-mgf-cipher " mgf
1406 The key specifies the use of an unknown symmetric encryption function
1408 for mask generation. Maybe the key was generated wrongly, or maybe the
1409 version of Catacomb installed is too old.
1411 .BI "KEYMGMT " which "-keyring " file " key " tag " unknown-serialization-format " ser
1412 The key specifies the use of an unknown serialization format
1414 for hashing group elements. Maybe the key was generated wrongly, or
1415 maybe the version of Catacomb installed is too old.
1417 .BI "KEYMGMT " which "-keyring " file " key " tag " no-hmac-for-hash " hash
1418 No message authentication code was given explicitly, and there's no
1419 implementation of HMAC for the selected hash function
1422 .BI "KEYMGMT " which "-keyring " file " key " tag " " alg " " name " no-key-size " hashsz
1429 The named algorithm requires more key material than the hash function
1430 can provide. You must change either the hash function, or the cipher or
1433 .BI "KEYMGMT " which "-keyring " file " key " tag " mgf " mgf " restrictive-key-schedule"
1434 The cipher selected for mask-generation is unsuitable because it can't
1435 accept arbitrary-sized keys.
1437 .BI "KEYMGMT " which "-keyring " file " key-not-found " tag
1440 couldn't be found in the keyring.
1442 .BI "KEYMGMT " which "-keyring " file " line " line " " message
1443 The contents of the keyring file are invalid. There may well be a bug
1448 These indicate problems during key-exchange. Many indicate either a bug
1449 in the server (either yours or the remote one), or some kind of attack
1450 in progress. All name a
1452 as the second token: this is the peer the packet is apparently from,
1453 though it may have been sent by an attacker instead.
1455 In the descriptions below,
1457 is one of the tokens
1466 .BI "KX " peer " algorithms-mismatch local-private-key " privtag " peer-public-key " pubtag
1467 The algorithms specified in the peer's public key
1469 don't match the ones described in the private key
1472 .BI "KX " peer " bad-expected-reply-log"
1475 uses in its protocol contain a check value which proves that the
1476 challenge is honest. This message indicates that the check value
1477 supplied is wrong: someone is attempting to use bogus challenges to
1480 server to leak private key information. No chance!
1482 .BI "KX " peer " decrypt-failed reply\fR|\fBswitch-ok"
1483 A symmetrically-encrypted portion of a key-exchange message failed to
1486 .BI "KX " peer " invalid " msgtoken
1487 A key-exchange message was malformed. This almost certainly indicates a
1490 .BI "KX " peer " incorrect cookie\fR|\fBswitch-rq\fR|\fBswitch-ok"
1491 A message didn't contain the right magic data. This may be a replay of
1492 some old exchange, or random packets being sent in an attempt to waste
1495 .BI "KX " peer " " which "-key-expired"
1496 The local private key or the peer's public key (distinguished by
1498 has expired. Either you or the peer's maintainer should have arranged
1499 for a replacement before now.
1501 .BI "KX " peer " sending-cookie"
1502 We've received too many bogus pre-challenge messages. Someone is trying
1503 to flood us with key-exchange messages and make us waste CPU on doing
1504 hard asymmetric crypto sums.
1506 .BI "KX " peer " unexpected " msgtoken
1507 The message received wasn't appropriate for this stage of the key
1508 exchange process. This may mean that one of our previous packets got
1511 it may simply mean that the peer has recently restarted.
1513 .BI "KX " peer " unknown-challenge"
1514 The peer is asking for an answer to a challenge which we don't know
1515 about. This may mean that we've been inundated with challenges from
1516 some malicious source
1517 .I who can read our messages
1518 and discarded the valid one.
1520 .BI "KX " peer " unknown-message 0x" nn
1521 An unknown key-exchange message arrived.
1523 These are largely concerned with management of peers and the low-level
1524 details of the network protocol. The second token is usually the name of
1527 if none is relevant.
1529 .BI "PEER " peer " bad-packet no-type"
1530 An empty packet arrived. This is very strange.
1532 .BI "PEER " peer " bad-packet unknown-category 0x" nn
1533 The message category
1535 (in hex) isn't understood. Probably a strange random packet from
1536 somewhere; could be an unlikely bug.
1538 .BI "PEER " peer " bad-packet unknown-type 0x" nn
1541 (in hex) isn't understood. Probably a strange random packet from
1542 somewhere; could be an unlikely bug.
1544 .BI "PEER " peer " corrupt-encrypted-ping"
1545 The peer sent a ping response which matches an outstanding ping, but its
1546 payload is wrong. There's definitely a bug somewhere.
1548 .BI "PEER " peer " corrupt-transport-ping"
1549 The peer (apparently) sent a ping response which matches an outstanding
1550 ping, but its payload is wrong. Either there's a bug, or the bad guys
1551 are playing tricks on you.
1553 .BI "PEER " peer " decrypt-failed"
1554 An encrypted IP packet failed to decrypt. It may have been mangled in
1555 transit, or may be a very old packet from an expired previous session
1556 key. There is usually a considerable overlap in the validity periods of
1557 successive session keys, so this shouldn't occur unless the key exchange
1558 takes ages or fails.
1560 .BI "PEER " peer " malformed-encrypted-ping"
1561 The peer sent a ping response which is hopelessly invalid. There's
1562 definitely a bug somewhere.
1564 .BI "PEER " peer " malformed-transport-ping"
1565 The peer (apparently) sent a ping response which is hopelessly invalid.
1566 Either there's a bug, or the bad guys are playing tricks on you.
1568 .BI "PEER " peer " packet-build-failed"
1569 There wasn't enough space in our buffer to put the packet we wanted to
1570 send. Shouldn't happen.
1572 .BI "PEER \- socket-read-error " ecode " " message
1573 An error occurred trying to read an incoming packet.
1575 .BI "PEER " peer " socket-write-error " ecode " " message
1576 An error occurred attempting to send a network packet. We lost that
1579 .BI "PEER " peer " unexpected-encrypted-ping 0x" id
1580 The peer sent an encrypted ping response whose id doesn't match any
1581 outstanding ping. Maybe it was delayed for longer than the server was
1582 willing to wait, or maybe the peer has gone mad.
1584 .BI "PEER \- unexpected-source " address\fR...
1585 A packet arrived from
1587 (a network address \(en see above), but no peer is known at that
1588 address. This may indicate a misconfiguration, or simply be a result of
1589 one end of a connection being set up before the other.
1591 .BI "PEER " peer " unexpected-transport-ping 0x" id
1592 The peer (apparently) sent a transport ping response whose id doesn't
1593 match any outstanding ping. Maybe it was delayed for longer than the
1594 server was willing to wait, or maybe the peer has gone mad; or maybe
1595 there are bad people trying to confuse you.
1596 .SS "PRIVSEP warnings"
1597 These indicate problems with the privilege-separation helper process.
1598 (The server tries to drop its privileges when it starts up, leaving a
1599 privileged helper process behind which will create and hand over tunnel
1600 descriptors on request, but hopefully not do anything else especially
1601 dangerous. Tunnel descriptors are not completely safe, but this is
1602 probably better than nothing.)
1604 .BI "PRIVSEP child-exited " rc
1605 The helper process exited normally with status
1607 Status 0 means that it thought the server didn't want it any more; 1
1608 means that it was invoked incorrectly; 127 means that some system call
1611 .BI "PRIVSEP child-killed " sig
1612 The helper process was killed by signal number
1615 .BI "PRIVSEP child-died " status
1616 The helper process died in some unexpected way;
1617 .I status is the raw status code returned by
1619 because the server didn't understand how to decode it.
1621 .BI "PRIVSEP helper-died"
1622 A tunnel driver requires a tunnel descriptor from the helper, but the
1623 helper isn't running so this won't work.
1625 .BI "PRIVSEP helper-read-error " ecode " " message
1626 The server failed to read a response from the helper process.
1628 .BI "PRIVSEP helper-short-read"
1629 The helper process didn't send back enough data, and has likely crashed.
1631 .BI "PRIVSEP helper-write-error " ecode " " message
1632 The server failed to send a message to the helper process.
1634 .BI "PRIVSEP no-fd-from-helper"
1635 The helper process sent back a positive response, but didn't include the
1636 requested tunnel descriptor.
1638 .BI "PRIVSEP unknown-response-code"
1639 The helper process sent back an incomprehensible reply. It's probably
1640 very confused and may crash.
1641 .SS "SERVER warnings"
1642 These indicate problems concerning the server process as a whole.
1644 .BI "SERVER ignore signal " name
1645 A signal arrived, but the server ignored it. Currently this happens for
1647 because that's a popular way of telling daemons to re-read their
1648 configuration files. Since
1650 re-reads its keyrings automatically and has no other configuration
1651 files, it's not relevant, but it seemed better to ignore the signal than
1654 .BI "SERVER quit signal " \fR[\fInn\fR|\fIname\fR]
1655 A signal arrived and
1659 .BI "SERVER quit admin-request"
1660 A client of the administration interface issued a
1664 .BI "SERVER quit foreground-eof"
1665 The server is running in foreground mode (the
1667 option), and encountered end-of-file on standard input.
1669 .BI "SERVER select-error " ecode " " message
1670 An error occurred in the server's main event loop. This is bad: if it
1671 happens too many times, the server will abort.
1673 .BI "SERVER waitpid-error " ecode " " message
1674 The server was informed that one of its child processes had exited, but
1675 couldn't retrieve the child's status.
1677 These are concerned with the symmetric encryption and decryption
1680 .BI "SYMM replay old-sequence"
1681 A packet was received with an old sequence number. It may just have
1682 been delayed or duplicated, or it may have been an attempt at a replay
1685 .BI "SYMM replay duplicated-sequence"
1686 A packet was received with a sequence number we've definitely seen
1687 before. It may be an accidental duplication because the 'net is like
1688 that, or a deliberate attempt at a replay.
1690 These concern the workings of the system-specific tunnel driver. The
1691 second token is the name of the tunnel interface in question, or
1695 .BI "TUN \- bsd no-tunnel-devices"
1696 The driver couldn't find an available tunnel device. Maybe if you
1699 files, it will work.
1701 .BI "TUN \- " tun-name " open-error " device " " ecode " " message
1702 An attempt to open the tunnel device file
1706 .BI "TUN \- linux config-error " ecode " " message
1707 Configuring the Linux TUN/TAP interface failed.
1709 .BI "TUN " ifname " " tun-name " read-error " ecode " " message
1710 Reading from the tunnel device failed.
1712 .BI "TUN " ifname " " tun-name " write-error " ecode " " message
1713 Writing from the tunnel device failed.
1715 .BI "TUN " ifname " slip bad-escape"
1716 The SLIP driver encountered a escaped byte it wasn't expecting to see.
1717 The erroneous packet will be ignored.
1719 .BI "TUN " ifname " slip eof"
1720 The SLIP driver encountered end-of-file on its input descriptor.
1721 Pending data is discarded, and no attempt is made to read any more data
1722 from that interface ever.
1724 .BI "TUN " ifname " slip escape-end"
1725 The SLIP driver encountered an escaped `end' marker. This probably
1726 means that someone's been sending it junk. The erroneous packet is
1727 discarded, and we hope that we've rediscovered synchronization.
1729 .BI "TUN \- slip fork-error " ecode " " message
1730 The SLIP driver encountered an error forking a child process while
1731 allocating a new dynamic interface.
1733 .BI "TUN \- slip no-slip-interfaces"
1734 The driver ran out of static SLIP interfaces. Either preallocate more,
1735 or use dynamic SLIP interface allocation.
1737 .BI "TUN " ifname " slip overflow"
1738 The SLIP driver gave up reading a packet because it got too large.
1740 .BI "TUN \- slip pipe-error " ecode " " message
1741 The SLIP driver encountered an error creating pipes while allocating a
1742 new dynamic interface.
1744 .BI "TUN \- slip read-ifname-failed " ecode " " message
1745 The SLIP driver encountered an error reading the name of a dynamically
1746 allocated interface. Maybe the allocation script is broken.
1748 .BI "TUN \- unet config-error " ecode " " message
1749 Configuring the Linux Unet interface failed. Unet is obsolete and
1750 shouldn't be used any more.
1752 .BI "TUN \- unet getinfo-error " ecode " " message
1753 Reading information about the Unet interface failed. Unet is obsolete
1754 and shouldn't be used any more.
1756 These are issued by administration clients using the
1760 .BI "USER " tokens\fR...
1761 An administration client issued a warning.
1764 .\"--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1767 .SS "Command responses"
1770 .BI "BGFAIL " tag " " tokens \fR...
1771 .BI "BGINFO " tag " " tokens \fR...
1773 .BI "FAIL " tokens \fR...
1774 .BI "INFO " tokens \fR...
1779 .\"--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1785 .IR "The Trivial IP Encryption Protocol" .
1787 .\"--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1790 Mark Wooding, <mdw@distorted.org.uk>
1792 .\"----- That's all, folks --------------------------------------------------
~mdw / tripe / blob