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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
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"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
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<!ENTITY VERSION "1.0">
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<!ENTITY COMMANDNAME "password-request">
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<!ENTITY TIMESTAMP "2008-09-04">
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<!ENTITY COMMANDNAME "mandos-client">
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<!ENTITY TIMESTAMP "2009-01-24">
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<!ENTITY % common SYSTEM "../common.ent">
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<refentry xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
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<title>Mandos Manual</title>
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<!-- Nwalsh’s docbook scripts use this to generate the footer: -->
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<!-- NWalsh’s docbook scripts use this to generate the footer: -->
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<productname>Mandos</productname>
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<productnumber>&VERSION;</productnumber>
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<productnumber>&version;</productnumber>
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<date>&TIMESTAMP;</date>
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<holder>Teddy Hogeborn</holder>
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<holder>Björn Påhlsson</holder>
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<xi:include href="../legalnotice.xml"/>
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<refentrytitle>&COMMANDNAME;</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>8mandos</manvolnum>
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</refsynopsisdiv>
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<refsect1 id="description">
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<title>DESCRIPTION</title>
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<command>&COMMANDNAME;</command> is a client program that
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communicates with <citerefentry><refentrytitle
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>mandos</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
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to get a password. It uses IPv6 link-local addresses to get
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network connectivity, Zeroconf to find servers, and TLS with an
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OpenPGP key to ensure authenticity and confidentiality. It
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keeps running, trying all servers on the network, until it
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receives a satisfactory reply or a TERM signal is received.
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to get a password. In slightly more detail, this client program
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brings up a network interface, uses the interface’s IPv6
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link-local address to get network connectivity, uses Zeroconf to
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find servers on the local network, and communicates with servers
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using TLS with an OpenPGP key to ensure authenticity and
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confidentiality. This client program keeps running, trying all
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servers on the network, until it receives a satisfactory reply
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or a TERM signal is received. If no servers are found, or after
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all servers have been tried, it waits indefinitely for new
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This program is not meant to be run directly; it is really meant
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specifies the interface to use to connect to the address
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Note that since this program will normally run in the
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initial RAM disk environment, the interface must be an
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interface which exists at that stage. Thus, the interface
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can not be a pseudo-interface such as <quote>br0</quote>
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or <quote>tun0</quote>; such interfaces will not exist
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until much later in the boot process, and can not be used
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<term><option>--delay=<replaceable
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>SECONDS</replaceable></option></term>
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After bringing the network interface up, the program waits
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for the interface to arrive in a <quote>running</quote>
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state before proceeding. During this time, the kernel log
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level will be lowered to reduce clutter on the system
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console, alleviating any other plugins which might be
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using the system console. This option sets the upper
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limit of seconds to wait. The default is 2.5 seconds.
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<term><option>--debug</option></term>
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<filename>/etc/crypttab</filename>, but it would then be
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impossible to enter a password for the encrypted root disk at
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the console, since this program does not read from the console
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at all. This is why a separate plugin (<citerefentry>
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<refentrytitle>password-prompt</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>8mandos</manvolnum></citerefentry>) does that, which
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will be run in parallel to this one by the plugin runner.
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at all. This is why a separate plugin runner (<citerefentry>
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<refentrytitle>plugin-runner</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>8mandos</manvolnum></citerefentry>) is used to run
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both this program and others in in parallel,
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<emphasis>one</emphasis> of which will prompt for passwords on
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program will exit with a non-zero exit status only if a critical
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error occurs. Otherwise, it will forever connect to new
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<application>Mandos</application> servers as they appear, trying
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to get a decryptable password.
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to get a decryptable password and print it.
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The only remaining weak point is that someone with physical
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access to the client hard drive might turn off the client
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computer, read the OpenPGP keys directly from the hard drive,
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and communicate with the server. The defense against this is
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that the server is supposed to notice the client disappearing
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and will stop giving out the encrypted data. Therefore, it is
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important to set the timeout and checker interval values tightly
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on the server. See <citerefentry><refentrytitle
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and communicate with the server. To safeguard against this, the
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server is supposed to notice the client disappearing and stop
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giving out the encrypted data. Therefore, it is important to
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set the timeout and checker interval values tightly on the
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server. See <citerefentry><refentrytitle
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>mandos</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
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plugins.d/mandos-client.xml
