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CONNIE.RODRIGUEZ at childrens

Oct 14, 2009, 10:55 AM

Post #1 of 5 (925 views)
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GNUPG HELP please

Hello All,

I am a rookie at encrypting and run into a brick wall when I tried to run gnupg on a different server......

I hope someone can help. I was able to successfully run the gnupg on a development system but when I set up gnupg on my test system I received the following warnings and errors. Can you help me?

+ /usr/local/bin/gpg -e -r REWARD /law/test/law/test/interface/watsonwyatt/data/epay.txt
gpg: WARNING: unsafe permissions on configuration file `/home/lawhr/.gnupg/gpg.conf'
gpg: WARNING: unsafe enclosing directory permissions on configuration file `/home/lawhr/.gnupg/gpg.conf'
gpg: WARNING: using insecure memory!
gpg: please see http://www.gnupg.org/faq.html for more information
gpg: 4D5AFE2E: There is no assurance this key belongs to the named user
gpg: cannot open `/dev/tty': There is a request to a device or address that does not exist.


Thank you in advance for any help you can provide
Connie Rodriguez
connie.rodriguez [at] childrens




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dkg at fifthhorseman

Oct 14, 2009, 1:17 PM

Post #2 of 5 (844 views)
Permalink
Re: GNUPG HELP please [In reply to]

Hi Connie--

On 10/14/2009 01:55 PM, CONNIE RODRIGUEZ wrote:
> + /usr/local/bin/gpg -e -r REWARD /law/test/law/test/interface/watsonwyatt/data/epay.txt
> gpg: WARNING: unsafe permissions on configuration file `/home/lawhr/.gnupg/gpg.conf'

This suggests that your configuration file may be readable or writable
by other users. You can view the permissions on that file with:

ls -l /home/lawbr/.gnupg/gpg.conf

You can lock it down with:

chmod go-rwx /home/lawbr/.gnupg/gpg.conf

(note here that "go-rwx" means "remove (-) read (r), write (w), and
execute (x) from group (g) and all other users (o)" )

If you're not sure about the concept of filesystem permissions, it's
worthwhile to think about them a bit. they'll come up fairly often on
unix systems. wikipedia has a good start:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_system_permissions#Notation_of_traditional_Unix_permissions

> gpg: WARNING: unsafe enclosing directory permissions on configuration file `/home/lawhr/.gnupg/gpg.conf'

This is due to a directory being potentially readable or writable by
other users. You can lock down the "enclosing directory" with:

chmod go-rwx`/home/lawhr/.gnupg/

> gpg: WARNING: using insecure memory!

Search for "insecure memory" in the gpg manual page (try "man gpg") for
more information about this error under the BUGS section. You may
either want to make gpg setuid root (if secure memory is important to
you) or to tell gpg to ignore this particular error by adding the
relvant option to your gpg.conf file.

> gpg: please see http://www.gnupg.org/faq.html for more information

have you read this? It's worth reading! You might be interested in
section 6.1 in particular:

http://www.gnupg.org/faq.html#q6.1

> gpg: 4D5AFE2E: There is no assurance this key belongs to the named user

this is likely because you've imported the "REWARD" key into your remote
system without indicating any particular "ultimate" ownertrust.

gpg does a fair amount of work to make sure that keys belong to who you
think they should belong to -- it doesn't make any sense to encrypt data
to a key if you aren't sure whose key it is.

Presumably, there is someone who is making reasonable assertions about
which keys belong to which entities, and signing those keys. You
probably want to designate "ultimate" ownertrust for that certifier on
your server. For example, if you hold key DECAFBAD privately
(off-server), but you use that key to sign the REWARD key, you could
import the DECAFBAD public key on the server, and then (still on the
server) do:

gpg --edit-key DECAFBAD
trust

and then choose "ultimate" ownertrust. Make sense?

> gpg: cannot open `/dev/tty': There is a request to a device or address that does not exist.

i dunno why this is coming up; what operating system are you running
this on? what version of gpg? did you build it yourself, or is it the
version provided by your OS?

hth,

--dkg
Attachments: signature.asc (0.87 KB)


CONNIE.RODRIGUEZ at childrens

Oct 14, 2009, 2:07 PM

Post #3 of 5 (842 views)
Permalink
Re: GNUPG HELP please [In reply to]

Thank you very much for the very informative information. I have locked down some of the permissions.

I attempted key signing but was not successful. I received the following output:

[.lawhr [at] lsftest/usr/local/bin # ./gpg --edit-key REWARD
pub 1024D/C2126D6D created: 2009-02-23 expires: never usage: SC
trust: unknown validity: unknown
sub 2048g/4D5AFE2E created: 2009-02-23 expires: never usage: E
[ unknown] (1). REWARD data interchange 2009

gpg: no default secret key: secret key not available


Any help is appreciated!

Thank you,
Connie Rodriguez


>>> Daniel Kahn Gillmor <dkg [at] fifthhorseman> 10/14/2009 3:17 PM >>>
Hi Connie--

On 10/14/2009 01:55 PM, CONNIE RODRIGUEZ wrote:
> + /usr/local/bin/gpg -e -r REWARD /law/test/law/test/interface/watsonwyatt/data/epay.txt
> gpg: WARNING: unsafe permissions on configuration file `/home/lawhr/.gnupg/gpg.conf'

This suggests that your configuration file may be readable or writable
by other users. You can view the permissions on that file with:

ls -l /home/lawbr/.gnupg/gpg.conf

You can lock it down with:

chmod go-rwx /home/lawbr/.gnupg/gpg.conf

(note here that "go-rwx" means "remove (-) read (r), write (w), and
execute (x) from group (g) and all other users (o)" )

If you're not sure about the concept of filesystem permissions, it's
worthwhile to think about them a bit. they'll come up fairly often on
unix systems. wikipedia has a good start:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_system_permissions#Notation_of_traditional_Unix_permissions

> gpg: WARNING: unsafe enclosing directory permissions on configuration file `/home/lawhr/.gnupg/gpg.conf'

This is due to a directory being potentially readable or writable by
other users. You can lock down the "enclosing directory" with:

chmod go-rwx`/home/lawhr/.gnupg/

> gpg: WARNING: using insecure memory!

Search for "insecure memory" in the gpg manual page (try "man gpg") for
more information about this error under the BUGS section. You may
either want to make gpg setuid root (if secure memory is important to
you) or to tell gpg to ignore this particular error by adding the
relvant option to your gpg.conf file.

> gpg: please see http://www.gnupg.org/faq.html for more information

have you read this? It's worth reading! You might be interested in
section 6.1 in particular:

http://www.gnupg.org/faq.html#q6.1

> gpg: 4D5AFE2E: There is no assurance this key belongs to the named user

this is likely because you've imported the "REWARD" key into your remote
system without indicating any particular "ultimate" ownertrust.

gpg does a fair amount of work to make sure that keys belong to who you
think they should belong to -- it doesn't make any sense to encrypt data
to a key if you aren't sure whose key it is.

Presumably, there is someone who is making reasonable assertions about
which keys belong to which entities, and signing those keys. You
probably want to designate "ultimate" ownertrust for that certifier on
your server. For example, if you hold key DECAFBAD privately
(off-server), but you use that key to sign the REWARD key, you could
import the DECAFBAD public key on the server, and then (still on the
server) do:

gpg --edit-key DECAFBAD
trust

and then choose "ultimate" ownertrust. Make sense?

> gpg: cannot open `/dev/tty': There is a request to a device or address that does not exist.

i dunno why this is coming up; what operating system are you running
this on? what version of gpg? did you build it yourself, or is it the
version provided by your OS?

hth,

--dkg




Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

This e-mail, facsimile, or letter and any files or attachments transmitted with it contains
information that is confidential and privileged. This information is intended only for the
use of the individual(s) and entity(ies) to whom it is addressed. If you are the intended
recipient, further disclosures are prohibited without proper authorization. If you are not
the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, printing, or use of this information is
strictly prohibited and possibly a violation of federal or state law and regulations. If you
have received this information in error, please notify Children's Medical Center Dallas
immediately at 214-456-4444 or via e-mail at privacy [at] childrens Children's Medical
Center Dallas and its affiliates hereby claim all applicable privileges related to this
information.


_______________________________________________
Gnupg-users mailing list
Gnupg-users [at] gnupg
http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users


dkg at fifthhorseman

Oct 14, 2009, 2:40 PM

Post #4 of 5 (846 views)
Permalink
Re: GNUPG HELP please [In reply to]

Hi Connie--

I'm glad that was useful.

On 10/14/2009 05:07 PM, CONNIE RODRIGUEZ wrote:
> I attempted key signing but was not successful. I received the following output:
>
> [.lawhr [at] lsftest/usr/local/bin # ./gpg --edit-key REWARD
> pub 1024D/C2126D6D created: 2009-02-23 expires: never usage: SC
> trust: unknown validity: unknown
> sub 2048g/4D5AFE2E created: 2009-02-23 expires: never usage: E
> [ unknown] (1). REWARD data interchange 2009
>
> Command> sign
> gpg: no default secret key: secret key not available
>
> Command>
>
> Any help is appreciated!

It sounds to me like you might be confusing validity with ownertrust.
In my earlier note, i suggested that you *trust* the keyholder of some
key that will certify the keys you are encrypting to.

Instead, it looks to me like you've chosen to try to *sign* one of the
keys you're encrypting to directly from the server.

It helps me to separate out these concepts into two ideas:

0) who do you know (i.e. who can you identify)?

1) who do you trust to identify others?

And since you're dealing with two different gpg installations (one on
the server and one that you control elsewhere) you probably want to
think about those from separate perspectives.

I don't know what you're planning to do on your server, but i'll pretend
for the moment that you're working with a web application which is
expected to recieve information over the web, and then encrypt it to
someone. I'll refer to that someone as the "encryption target".

from the webapp's view, how does it know it's encrypting info to the
right person?

let's say you're the administrator of such a system, and you want the
webapp to believe you when you certify that a certain key belongs to a
given person. Then you (as the admin) would have your own OpenPGP key,
stored off of the server (probably on your own workstation someplace).
Let's assume that key is key ID 0xDECAFBAD. You'd upload the public part
of 0xDECAFBAD to the server, and import it into the webapp's keyring.
After import *as the webapp user* you'd say "i trust the sysadmin to
identify encryption targets" by doing:

gpg --edit-key 0xDECAFBAD
trust

and then designate "ultimate" ownertrust.

Then, you'd use your own key to certify the key belonging to the
encryption target -- you'd "sign the target's public key" with your own
key. Then you'd upload the target's public key (with your
certification) to the server, and import it into the webapp's keyring.

Does this make sense? The advantage of this arrangement is that now
your webapp can be used to encrypt to a variety of people -- you'll just
need to sign their keys, and they can be encryption targets as well.

hope this helps,

--dkg
Attachments: signature.asc (0.87 KB)


CONNIE.RODRIGUEZ at childrens

Oct 15, 2009, 7:20 AM

Post #5 of 5 (823 views)
Permalink
Re: GNUPG HELP please [In reply to]

Great!! Signed and edit key ...Works like a charm. Thank you

>>> Daniel Kahn Gillmor <dkg [at] fifthhorseman> 10/14/2009 4:40 PM >>>
Hi Connie--

I'm glad that was useful.

On 10/14/2009 05:07 PM, CONNIE RODRIGUEZ wrote:
> I attempted key signing but was not successful. I received the following output:
>
> [.lawhr [at] lsftest/usr/local/bin # ./gpg --edit-key REWARD
> pub 1024D/C2126D6D created: 2009-02-23 expires: never usage: SC
> trust: unknown validity: unknown
> sub 2048g/4D5AFE2E created: 2009-02-23 expires: never usage: E
> [ unknown] (1). REWARD data interchange 2009
>
> Command> sign
> gpg: no default secret key: secret key not available
>
> Command>
>
> Any help is appreciated!

It sounds to me like you might be confusing validity with ownertrust.
In my earlier note, i suggested that you *trust* the keyholder of some
key that will certify the keys you are encrypting to.

Instead, it looks to me like you've chosen to try to *sign* one of the
keys you're encrypting to directly from the server.

It helps me to separate out these concepts into two ideas:

0) who do you know (i.e. who can you identify)?

1) who do you trust to identify others?

And since you're dealing with two different gpg installations (one on
the server and one that you control elsewhere) you probably want to
think about those from separate perspectives.

I don't know what you're planning to do on your server, but i'll pretend
for the moment that you're working with a web application which is
expected to recieve information over the web, and then encrypt it to
someone. I'll refer to that someone as the "encryption target".

from the webapp's view, how does it know it's encrypting info to the
right person?

let's say you're the administrator of such a system, and you want the
webapp to believe you when you certify that a certain key belongs to a
given person. Then you (as the admin) would have your own OpenPGP key,
stored off of the server (probably on your own workstation someplace).
Let's assume that key is key ID 0xDECAFBAD. You'd upload the public part
of 0xDECAFBAD to the server, and import it into the webapp's keyring.
After import *as the webapp user* you'd say "i trust the sysadmin to
identify encryption targets" by doing:

gpg --edit-key 0xDECAFBAD
trust

and then designate "ultimate" ownertrust.

Then, you'd use your own key to certify the key belonging to the
encryption target -- you'd "sign the target's public key" with your own
key. Then you'd upload the target's public key (with your
certification) to the server, and import it into the webapp's keyring.

Does this make sense? The advantage of this arrangement is that now
your webapp can be used to encrypt to a variety of people -- you'll just
need to sign their keys, and they can be encryption targets as well.

hope this helps,

--dkg




Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

This e-mail, facsimile, or letter and any files or attachments transmitted with it contains
information that is confidential and privileged. This information is intended only for the
use of the individual(s) and entity(ies) to whom it is addressed. If you are the intended
recipient, further disclosures are prohibited without proper authorization. If you are not
the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, printing, or use of this information is
strictly prohibited and possibly a violation of federal or state law and regulations. If you
have received this information in error, please notify Children's Medical Center Dallas
immediately at 214-456-4444 or via e-mail at privacy [at] childrens Children's Medical
Center Dallas and its affiliates hereby claim all applicable privileges related to this
information.


_______________________________________________
Gnupg-users mailing list
Gnupg-users [at] gnupg
http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users

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