RACF-SSH based connector fails with Unable to Negotiate Key Exchange error in RSA Governance & Lifecycle
a year ago
Article Number
000073283
Applies To
  • RSA Governance & Lifecycle 8.0.0 P03 and later
Issue

Clicking on Test Connector Settings button to test the connection for a RACF-SSH connector fails with the following error on the UI. A similar error is also logged in the connector log file.

Connection error: Unable to negotiate key exchange for server host key algorithms
 (client: ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01@openssh.com, ecdsa-sha2-nistp384-cert-v01@openssh.com, 
 ecdsa-sha2-nistp521-cert-v01@openssh.com, ssh-ed25519-cert-v01@openssh.com, rsa-sha2-512-cert-v01@openssh.com,
 rsa-sha2-256-cert-v01@openssh.com, ecdsa-sha2-nistp256, ecdsa-sha2-nistp384, ecdsa-sha2-nistp521,
 ssh-ed25519, sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256@openssh.com, sk-ssh-ed25519@openssh.com, rsa-sha2-512,
 rsa-sha2-256, ssh-rsa / server: ssh-dss)

 

Cause

The RACF server, that the RACF-SSH Connector is connecting to, is configured with algorithms deprecated in RSA Governance & Lifecycle.

As part of continued security improvements, RSA Governance & Lifecycle version 8.0.0 P03 includes an upgrade to cryptographic standards. As part of the upgrade, support for weaker algorithms has been removed.  The following ciphers are no longer supported in RSA Governance & Lifecycle 8.0.0 P03 and later for RACF-SSH connectors:

  • ssh-dss (DSA authentication)
  • diffie-hellman-group14-sha1
  • diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256
  • diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha1
  • diffie-hellman-group1-sha1

 

Resolution

If the RACF-SSH server is configured to use weaker ciphers such as ssh-dss, authentication or key exchange will fail.  The RACF server's SSH configuration must be updated to use stronger, supported ciphers. Please work with your RACF server's administrator to update the ciphers as recommended below.

Strong Ciphers Supported in RSA Governance & Lifecycle 8.0 P03 and later:
Customers should ensure that the RACF endpoint supports at least one of the following secure algorithms:

  • rsa-sha2-512
  • rsa-sha2-256
  • ssh-ed25519
  • ecdsa-sha2-nistp256
  • ecdsa-sha2-nistp384
  • ecdsa-sha2-nistp521

Recommended strong ciphers when using OpenSSH certificates: