ssh install refuses stray arguments before -- and a symlinked authorized_keys (closes #61)

ssh install now takes the host alone before --: any other word there, or a second argument without --, is refused before the mnemonic is read or sftp runs, so keyfunc ssh install alice@host frank@host no longer installs the key for frank@host. The first listing of ~/.ssh is now ls -n, which shows the file type, so a symlinked authorized_keys is refused before any upload instead of being replaced by a regular file; the README says so.

Judgement calls: install -- host is refused; a symlinked authorized_keys is refused even when its target already holds the key.

Model: opus-5-5
Co-authored-by: clawbot <sneak+clawbot@sneak.cloud>

README.md

@@ -177,10 +177,13 @@ same way: one that cannot be read fails the first listing, and one that can be
 read but not entered fails the second, after which the tool says that `~/.ssh`
 cannot be entered. The wording of a missing file elsewhere does not count
 either, since `ssh` writes `No such file or directory` about an `-i` it cannot
-find on a session that then authenticates through the agent. If an identical
-line is already in the file, the tool prints `already present` and connects no
-further. Otherwise the line is added (after a newline, if the file did not end
-with one) and a second connection:
+find on a session that then authenticates through the agent. An
+`authorized_keys` that the first listing shows to be a symlink is refused and
+left as it is, since the rename below would replace the link itself and the file
+it points at would never get the key. If an identical line is already in the
+file, the tool prints `already present` and connects no further. Otherwise the
+line is added (after a newline, if the file did not end with one) and a second
+connection:
 
 - makes `~/.ssh` and sets it to mode `0700`, but only when the first connection
   found none; a `~/.ssh` that was already there keeps the mode it had;

internal/cli/ssh/install.go

@@ -49,6 +49,20 @@ var ErrCannotEnter = errors.New(
 	"~/.ssh is there on the host but cannot be entered",
 )
 
+// ErrSymlink is the refusal of a host whose authorized_keys is a
+// symlink: the rename that puts the new file in place would replace the
+// link itself, and the file it points at would never get the key.
+var ErrSymlink = errors.New(
+	"~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the host is a symlink, which the tool " +
+		"leaves alone",
+)
+
+// ErrStrayArgument is the refusal of anything but the host before --,
+// which would otherwise be handed to sftp in front of the host.
+var ErrStrayArgument = errors.New(
+	"only the host goes before --; options for sftp go after --",
+)
+
 // install returns the command that adds the public key to a host.
 func install() *cobra.Command {
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
@@ -60,7 +74,22 @@ func install() *cobra.Command {
 			"beside it which is then renamed over it. Nothing is run " +
 			"on the host. Anything after -- is given to sftp " +
 			"unchanged, which is where the port goes (-P).",
-		Args: cobra.MinimumNArgs(1),
+		Args: cobra.MatchAll(
+			cobra.MinimumNArgs(1),
+			func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+				// ArgsLenAtDash is -1 when there is no --.
+				before := cmd.ArgsLenAtDash()
+				if before == -1 {
+					before = len(args)
+				}
+
+				if before != 1 {
+					return ErrStrayArgument
+				}
+
+				return nil
+			},
+		),
 		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 			key, comment, err := derived(cmd)
 			if err != nil {
@@ -256,14 +285,23 @@ func merge(content, line string) (string, bool) {
 // it can be looked up, not even ".". The first listing of such a
 // directory comes up empty, as the server leaves out every name it
 // cannot look up.
+//
+// The first listing is a long one, which shows an authorized_keys that
+// is a symlink as one. That is refused before anything else sftp said
+// is read, so a link the get could not follow is refused in the same
+// words.
 func fetch(
 	cmd *cobra.Command, host string, options []string, into string,
 ) (string, bool, error) {
 	said, err := session(cmd, host, options, []string{
-		"ls -1 " + directory,
+		"ls -n " + directory,
 		"ls -1 " + directory + "/.",
 		"get " + authorized + " " + quoted(into),
 	})
+	if symlinked(said) {
+		return "", false, ErrSymlink
+	}
+
 	if err != nil {
 		if listingNotFound(said, directory) {
 			return "", false, nil
@@ -326,6 +364,22 @@ func reportedCannotList(line string) (string, bool) {
 	return strings.TrimSuffix(strings.TrimPrefix(line, before), after), true
 }
 
+// symlinked says whether the long listing of .ssh shows authorized_keys
+// as a symlink. With -n the client writes each line itself, as ls -l
+// does, whatever the server: the type comes first, "l" for a symlink,
+// and the path as the listing named it comes last.
+func symlinked(said string) bool {
+	for line := range strings.Lines(said) {
+		fields := strings.Fields(line)
+		if len(fields) > 0 && strings.HasPrefix(fields[0], "l") &&
+			fields[len(fields)-1] == authorized {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+
+	return false
+}
+
 // absent says whether sftp reported the file that was asked for as
 // not being there, which is the one failure of the fetch that is read
 // as an empty authorized_keys. The reading is taken only from the

internal/cli/ssh/install_test.go

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import "testing"
 const (
 	echoed = `sftp> get .ssh/authorized_keys "/tmp/keyfunc/authorized_keys"
 `
-	listed  = "sftp> ls -1 .ssh\n"
+	listed  = "sftp> ls -n .ssh\n"
 	warning = `Warning: Identity file /gone not accessible: ` +
 		"No such file or directory.\n"
 )

internal/cli/ssh_test.go

@@ -99,6 +99,8 @@ const marker = "KEYFUNC_TEST_MARKER"
 //
 // The listing and the two ways a get can fail are worded as the
 // OpenSSH client words them, each naming the path the server expanded.
+// A long listing (-n) writes each entry as the client does, its type
+// first, so that a symlink shows as one.
 // A listing fails one way when .ssh is not there and another when it is
 // there but shut to the user; the first is the only failure read as a
 // host with no file. A get fails one way for a file that is not there,
@@ -137,8 +139,7 @@ while IFS= read -r line; do
 	worked=yes
 	case "$1" in
 	ls)
-		dir=$2
-		[ "$dir" = -1 ] && dir=$3
+		dir=$3
 		if [ ! -e "$home/$dir" ]; then
 			worked=no
 			printf 'Can'\''t ls: "%s" not found\n' "$home/$dir" >&2
@@ -149,7 +150,13 @@ while IFS= read -r line; do
 		else
 			for entry in "$home/$dir"/*; do
 				[ -e "$entry" ] || continue
-				printf '%s/%s\n' "$dir" "$(basename "$entry")"
+				name="$dir/$(basename "$entry")"
+				if [ "$2" = -n ]; then
+					printf '%s    ? someone  users  0 Oct  4 15:44 %s\n' \
+						"$(stat -c '%A' "$entry")" "$name"
+				else
+					printf '%s\n' "$name"
+				fi
 			done
 		fi
 		;;
@@ -306,7 +313,7 @@ func TestTheFileIsUploadedBesideTheOldOneAndThenRenamedOverIt(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// The listing fails on a host with no .ssh, so the get never runs;
 	// the write session then makes the directory and puts the file.
-	require.Equal(t, "ls -1 .ssh", sent[0])
+	require.Equal(t, "ls -n .ssh", sent[0])
 	require.Equal(t, "-mkdir .ssh", sent[1])
 	require.Equal(t, "chmod 700 .ssh", sent[2])
 	require.Equal(t, "put", strings.Fields(sent[3])[0])
@@ -372,6 +379,59 @@ func TestADirectoryThatCannotBeEnteredIsRefusedBeforeAnyUpload(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(t, notADirectory, read(t, inTheWay))
 }
 
+func TestASymlinkedFileIsRefusedBeforeAnyUpload(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Setenv(mnemonic.Variable, example())
+
+	pretend := pretendHost(t)
+
+	// The file the link points at, which the key would never reach.
+	target := filepath.Join(pretend.home, "keys")
+	require.NoError(t,
+		os.WriteFile(target, []byte("somebody else\n"), fileMode),
+	)
+
+	directory := filepath.Join(pretend.home, keptUnder)
+	require.NoError(t, os.Mkdir(directory, directoryMode))
+
+	link := filepath.Join(directory, keptIn)
+	require.NoError(t, os.Symlink(target, link))
+
+	printed, _, err := attempt(t, host)
+	require.ErrorIs(t, err, ssh.ErrSymlink)
+	require.Empty(t, printed)
+
+	// The read and nothing after it: no upload was tried, the link
+	// still points where it did, and what it points at is unchanged.
+	require.Equal(t, 1, connections(t, pretend))
+
+	pointsAt, err := os.Readlink(link)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, target, pointsAt)
+	require.Equal(t, "somebody else\n", read(t, target))
+}
+
+func TestAnArgumentBesideTheHostIsRefusedBeforeAnyConnection(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Setenv(mnemonic.Variable, example())
+
+	pretend := pretendHost(t)
+
+	runs := [][]string{
+		{host, "frank@example.com"},
+		{host, "2222"},
+		{host, "frank@example.com", "--", "-P", "2222"},
+		{"--", host},
+	}
+
+	for _, args := range runs {
+		printed, _, err := attempt(t, args...)
+		require.ErrorIs(t, err, ssh.ErrStrayArgument)
+		require.Empty(t, printed)
+	}
+
+	// sftp was never started, so nothing was uploaded.
+	require.NoFileExists(t, pretend.arguments)
+}
+
 func TestAnExistingDirectoryKeepsItsModeAndIsNotRemade(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Setenv(mnemonic.Variable, example())