Do not match Host * in ssh config if another rule was applied

Tc001

3/14/24, 12:17 PM

I have the following SSH config:

Host work.github.com
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/work
    IdentitiesOnly yes

Host *
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/personal

Where I want to use a work SSH key for a single repository by setting it's host to ssh://[email protected]:...

But what I think is happening is that the work SSH key is applied and host changed, but then the config is re-parsed with Host github.com and Host * now matches and re-sets the SSH key to my personal one

Here is a snippet from ssh -v [email protected]

OpenSSH_8.8p1, OpenSSL 3.0.8 7 Feb 2023
debug1: Reading configuration data /var/home/me/.ssh/config
debug1: /var/home/me/.ssh/config line 1: Applying options for *
// sets the correct SSH key
debug1: /var/home/me/.ssh/config line 4: Applying options for work.github.com
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config.d/50-redhat.conf
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/crypto-policies/back-ends/openssh.config
debug1: configuration requests final Match pass
debug1: re-parsing configuration
debug1: Reading configuration data /var/home/me/.ssh/config
// Re-pases the file with Host: github.com and re-sets the SSH key
debug1: /var/home/me/.ssh/config line 1: Applying options for *
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config.d/50-redhat.conf
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/crypto-policies/back-ends/openssh.config
debug1: Connecting to github.com [140.82.121.4] port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
...
Hi <PERSONAL>! You've successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.
debug1: channel 0: free: client-session, nchannels 1
Connection to github.com closed.
Transferred: sent 2340, received 2404 bytes, in 0.4 seconds
Bytes per second: sent 5866.3, received 6026.7
debug1: Exit status 1

How can I handle this case?

428

1 + 3

ssh

AlexD

3/14/24, 12:21 PM

Reverse the order of Host entries. The wildcard should go the last.

Tc001

3/14/24, 12:50 PM

Edited, it seems to have started randomly working again, I am unsure why or what I did. (but previously it didn't work both at the top or bottom)

AlexD

3/14/24, 12:56 PM

You can change wildcard to `Host * !work.github.com`

Score:0

Server

Ivangelion

3/20/24, 2:58 AM

You can use the "!" sign rule. For example:

Host work.github.com
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/work
    IdentitiesOnly yes

Host * !work.github.com
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/personal

+ 0

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Do not match Host * in ssh config if another rule was applied

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